Not very much is known of his early childhood in New Orleans,but what is known are the achievements he would make in the later years to come. Born to Louis Victor & Alice Saucier Alexis,he was educated in the local schools where he excelled academically. Lucien was determined to attend Harvard University. Not having the finances to do so,he began working in 1907 (at the age of twenty) as a railway mail clerk, saving for the education he so desperately desired.
By the time he reached twenty-seven he had set aside enough money for four years of college. He applied and was accepted at Harvard but was asked to attend (for one year) Philllips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire,a prestigious preparatory high school. While at Exeter,he lived in the home of Mr.H.F.Quimby and soon developed a keen interest in foreign languages and the sciences. By now he had had only enough money for three years upon entering Harvard,so he managed by graduating “cum laude” a year early (1917). It was there,at Harvard,that he earned the nickname: “The Negro Einstein.”

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