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July 28, 2005

Requiescat in pace

There are some who serve the cause of black equality without reservation and with no publicity or public acclaim. Such a man was Samuel Perry who died on June 14th at the age of 82 with as little notice as he had lived.

Sam was a very private man who might be considered by some to be eccentric. He always wore a coat and tie in public, and his greetings to those who were not friends were always anachronistically formal. He never owned a car and walked everywhere unless obliging friends would give him a lift.

At a time when the nation is veering recklessly toward illiteracy, he was committed to high culture. For the past 45 years or more he was totally devoted to the mission of awakening black students to the life of the mind and preparing them to be admitted to the best colleges and universities.

Throughout his life, Sam Perry was driven by the desire to attain academic excellence. This was an idea implanted in him by his parents. His father was an AME minister and his mother had attended the New England Conservatory. As a student at Boston Latin School, Sam was fastidious about his studies and became an excellent debater.

Upon graduation from Latin School, Sam entered Harvard in the fall of 1941. As was the case with many young men at that time, his studies were interrupted by World War II, and he was drafted into the army. A friend who served with him in the army suggested that the rank racial segregation had a damaging effect on Perry’s psyche. He was accustomed to Boston’s genteel discrimination, but he found the more blatant version intolerable.

After the war he finished Harvard and went to work for a short time in the textile industry. However, his military experience had generated in him a strong desire to work for racial progress. He became a reporter for The Boston Chronicle, a black newspaper then in publication, and he became accredited as a United Nations correspondent.

There was a point at which Sam perceived that his prospects for success in the white dominated world were fair to negligible. He then decided to foreswear personal achievement and mobilize the next generation for academic success. Such an epiphany was not an uncommon occurrence among the older generations of black men.

The decision to become a tutor was the right one for Sam, who was by nature a scholar. In 1980 he wrote in the class report for the 1945 class, “the incessant challenge of mental stimulus is vital to my life.” He taught math, English, history, Latin and French. He would also personally research other subjects to assist any of his students.

Even more important than the subjects he taught was the self-affirmation with which he imbued his students and their parents. He made those students who showed promise aware that they could achieve academic success if they were willing to do the work.

The most unusual aspect of Sam’s academy is that his classroom was Bates Hall in the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. Parents would deliver their often protesting children to Sam after school or on Saturday morning. Students of various ages would be sitting at tables in the library completing the assignments Sam had prepared for them.

Sam tutored over 3,000 students, most of whom went on to graduate from major colleges and to enjoy successful careers in the professions and business. Sam had the respect of his students and those in the community who understood the nature of his service.

As is common with scholars, Sam preferred the company of books. Scholarly research was his form of entertainment. Other than afternoons during the week and Saturdays with his students he lived a solitary life. Yet his presence in Roxbury was a beacon urging those who were aware to attain academic excellence. He will be missed.

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