Page 16 - Ambassdor Delano Lewis Sample

Orient Hall. It was very lonely. I was an only child. I had good

friends in high school. I belonged to social clubs and was very
active in high school—in drama and music, and as a drum major
and tap dancer. I was a very social person, and coming to KU, I
made some friends, but my living situation was very lonely. I was

in just one room with a desk, a lamp, and a bed, and that was it.
It was just a lonely existence. I was a little bit depressed in that
first semester, I guess. But I loved my studies. I was in political
science and history and loved it.

When I was recruited to join Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity in the
spring of 1957, I jumped at that chance. I joined the fraternity and
moved to the fraternity house the second semester with two
roommates who became my friends for life. I was at a house with

ten or fifteen other boys, and I learned so much and grew so
much from that experience. But those early days, that first
semester, was a little bit lonely. Also, it was being away from

home for the first time, for an extended period of time. But
anyway, Alpha House was a great place to be.

The schools you went to prior to K.U. were all Black. Tell

me what that was it like in terms of growing up as a Black
American during that particular time, tell me how you, and
the community viewed yourself. Was there a greater
understanding of what was going on in terms of Black

America, across the country? What sort of dynamic was that?

Well, it was a very, very strong black community in Kansas
City. As a matter of fact, when I look back on it, it was a small

radius. It was not very big. Although when I walked from 10th
and Freeman to Northeast Junior High School (maybe that was a
mile, mile and a half) it seemed like it was on the other side of

town. It seemed like a long way, but it was not. My high school

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