“[Between] 1960, when the first freedom riots happened, and my going back to Harvard, the whole mood of the country had changed,” Perdew recalled, adding, “there were many more students who were concerned about civil rights issues, who were aware of the protests.”
According to Howard L. Shecter ’65 and W. Bowman Cutter III ’64, much of the change on Harvard’s campus took place in the year following Perdew’s initial involvement with SNCC.
Shecter, Bowman, and many other Harvard students attended the March on Washington and heard Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech that August. According to Cutter, across campus in the fall, students were closely following the progress of President Kennedy’s proposed civil rights legislation.
News of Perdew’s arrest in the fall of 1963 sparked action among students and administrators.
On October 7, 1963, the Kirkland House Committee voted unanimously to initiate a College-wide fundraising drive for Perdew, with a target of $6000.
John U. Monro ’34, dean of the College at the time, hailed the fundraising effort as “extremely important.” He feared that Georgia state authorities would seek the highest sentence for Perdew and fellow activists as a warning to other “outsiders” wishing to protest Southern segregation.
University officials also sought assurance from Solicitor General Archibald Cox ’34 that the Justice Department would monitor the developments in Americus.
According to Cutter, several students were also interested in traveling to Americus to protest Perdew’s arrest. But they soon decided that a fundraising drive for Perdew’s legal defense would be a more effective measure.
Playing upon the French word for lost, “perdu,” the fund touted the slogan “Perdew is not lost.” Shecter, who was a member of the Kirkland House Committee and a key organizer of the drive, collected funds from undergraduates in various locations around campus, from the Freshman Union to the Radcliffe Quad.
“I didn’t find people who said, ‘He shouldn’t have done what he did,’” Shecter said. “The sentiment was largely, ‘That should not have happened to him. He was doing something that should have been done a long time ago. It’s not fair. It’s not justice.’”
A few days after his release, Perdew spoke of his experiences to students in Lowell Lecture Hall on Nov. 4, 1963. He then learned of the fundraising campaign that had been launched on his behalf. Although Perdew was bailed out of jail before the drive ended, the funds did eventually go towards compensating his legal team, according to coverage in The Crimson at the time.
‘THE EDUCATION OF A HARVARD GUY’
Students at the College during the 1960s witnessed a moment when race relations in the U.S. were being renegotiated. For many, this instilled a lifelong sensitivity to racial politics and a commitment to furthering equality.
In an e-mail to The Crimson, Shecter described race relations as “one of America’s most intractable (and continuing) issues.” He credited his current understanding of that issue to coming of age during the civil rights era.
Similarly, Perdew has continued to advocate for social change, supporting endeavors to curb income inequality and poverty in his current home of Atlanta.
In 2010, he documented his life story, publishing a book entitled ‘The Education of a Harvard Guy.’ Proceeds from the book as well as its play adaptation went to support a mentoring program that he runs for urban youth in Atlanta.
“The title is meant to be an ironic statement,” Perdew said, referring to his book ‘The Education of a Harvard Guy.’ “Yes, I went to Harvard, but I also got an education outside of Harvard.”
—Staff writer Sonali Y. Salgado can be reached at sonali.salgado@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @SonaliSalgado16.