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Alpha
Phi Alpha History
Since
its founding on December 4, 1906, Alpha
Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has supplied
voice and vision to the struggle of African-Americans
and people of color around the world.Alpha
Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter
fraternity established for African-Americans,
was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca,
New York by seven college men who recognized
the need for a strong bond of Brotherhood
among African descendants in this country.
The visionary founders, known as the "Jewels" of
the Fraternity, are Henry Arthur Callis,
Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones,
George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison
Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner
Woodson Tandy.The Fraternity initially
served as a study and support group for
minority students who faced racial prejudice,
both educationally and socially, at Cornell.
The Jewel founders and early leaders of
the Fraternity succeeded in laying a firm
foundation for Alpha Phi Alpha's principles
of scholarship, fellowship, good character,
and the uplifting of humanity.Alpha Phi
Alpha chapters were developed at other
colleges and universities, many of them
historically black institutions, soon after
the founding at Cornell. While continuing
to stress academic excellence among its
members, Alpha also recognized the need
to help correct the educational, economic,
political, and social injustices faced
by African-Americans.Alpha Phi Alpha has
long stood at the forefront of the African-American
community's fight for civil rights through
leaders such as: W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton
Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke, Martin Luther
King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young,
William Gray, Paul Robeson, and many others.
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| The
founders of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
were no ordinary achievers. Given racial
attitudes in 1906, their accomplishments
were monumental. As founder Henry Arthur
Callis euphemistically stated—because
the half-dozen African American students
at Cornell University during the school year
1904-05 did not return to campus the following
year, the incoming students in 1905-06, in
founding Alpha Phi Alpha, were determined
to bind themselves together to ensure that
each would survive in the racially hostile
environment. In coming together with this
simple act, they preceded by decades the
emergence of such on-campus programs as affirmative
action, upward bound and remedial assistance.
The students set outstanding examples of
scholarship, leadership and success—preceding
the efforts even of the NAACP and similar
civil rights organizations. |
 Henry
Arthur Callis became a
practicing physician, Howard University Professor
of Medicine and prolific contributor to medical journals.
Often regarded as the
“philosopher of the founders,” and
a moving force in the Fraternity’s development,
he was the only one of the “Cornell Seven” to
become General President. Prior to moving to
Washington, D.C., he was a medical consultant
to the Veterans Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Upon his death in 1974, at age 87, the Fraternity
entered a time without any living Jewels. His
papers were donated to Howard’s Moorland-Spingarn
Research Center.
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Charles
Henry Chapman entered higher education
and eventually became Professor of Agriculture
at what is now Florida A&M University.
A university funeral was held with considerable
Fraternity participation when he became
the first Jewel to enter Omega Chapter
in 1934. Described as “a Brother
beloved in the bonds,” Chapman
was a founder of FAMU’s Beta Nu
Chapter. During the organization stages
of Alpha Chapter, he was the first chairman
of the Committees on Initiation and Organization.
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Eugene
Kinckle Jones became the first Executive
Secretary of the National Urban League.
His 20-year tenure with the Urban League
thus far has exceeded those of all his
successors in office. A versatile leader,
he organized the first three Fraternity
chapters that branched out from Cornell—Beta
at Howard, Gamma at Virginia Union and
the original Delta at the University
of Toronto in Canada. In addition to
becoming Alpha Chapter’s second
President and joining with Callis in
creating the Fraternity name, Jones was
a member of the first Committees on Constitution
and Organization and helped write the
Fraternity ritual. Jones also has the
distinction of being one of the first
initiates as well as an original founder.
His status as a founder was not finally
established until 1952. He died in 1954. |
George
Biddle Kelley became
the first African American engineer registered
in the state of New York. Not only was
he the strongest proponent of the Fraternity
idea among the organization’s founders,
the civil engineering student also became
Alpha Chapter’s first President.
In addition, he served on committees
that worked out the handshake and ritual.
Kelley was popular with the Brotherhood.
He resided in Troy, New York and was
active with Beta Pi Lambda Chapter in
Albany. He died in 1963.
|
 Nathaniel
Allison Murray pursued graduate work
after completing his undergraduate studies
at Howard. He later returned home to
Washington, D.C., where he taught in
public schools. Much of his career was
spent at Armstrong Vocational High School
in the District of Columbia. He was a
member of Alpha Chapter’s first
committee on organization of the new
fraternal group, as well as the Committee
on the Grip. The charter member of Washington’s
Mu Lambda Chapter was a frequent attendee
of General Conventions. He died in 1959.
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Robert
Harold Ogle entered the career secretarial
field and had the unique privilege of
serving as a professional staff member
to the United States Senate Committee
on Appropriations. He was an African
American pioneer in his Capitol Hill
position. He proposed the Fraternity’s
colors and was Alpha Chapter’s
first secretary. Ogle joined Kelley in
working out the first ritual and later
became a charter member of Washington’s
Mu Lambda Chapter. He died in 1936.
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Vertner
Woodson Tandy became the state of New York’s
first registered architect, with offices on
Broadway in New York City. The designer of
the Fraternity pin holds the distinction of
being the first African American to pass the
military commissioning examination and was
commissioned First Lieutenant in the 15th Infantry
of the New York State National Guard. He was
Alpha Chapter’s first treasurer and took
the initiative to incorporate the Fraternity.
Among the buildings designed by the highly
talented architect is Saint Phillips Episcopal
Church in New York City. He died in 1949, at
age 64
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Alpha
Phi Alpha
Gamma Theta Lambda Chapter
P.O. Box 1622
Wilmington, DE 19899 |
