Harvard University|Cambridge Area in "Elly" (Location)

Elly tells her grandmother that Paul "went to" Harvard as part of her attempt to convince the disbelieving old woman that Paul is "not a negro" (218). When the grandmother says she "can understand Harvard" (218), she may simply mean it's a 'Yankee' school, but in fact historically Harvard began admitting black students, in small numbers at first, shortly after the Civil War.