Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity ( ΑΦΑ ) was founded on December 4, 1906 on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Alpha Phi Alpha was the first intercollegiate fraternity founded for African American men.

The founders of the fraternity, known as the Seven Jewels are Henry A. Callis, Charles H. Chapman, Eugene K. Jones, George B. Kelley, Nathaniel A. Murray, Robert H. Ogle and Vertner W. Tandy.

The Fraternity was born out of a desire to promote close association and mutual support among African-Americans at the turn of the century and over 150,000 men have been initiated into the Fraternity since its founding.

Alpha Phi Alpha chapters were developed at other colleges and universities, many of them historically black institutions, with the second chapter established at Howard University.

The Sphinx is the fraternity journal and has been printed quarterly since 1914.

National Programs

The Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Foundation is a project of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., of which Dr. King was a member. In 1998, the fraternity was authorized by the United States Congress to establish a foundation to manage the fundraising and design of a memorial to Dr. King [1].

The fraternity sponors Project Alpha in conjuntion with the March of Dimes. Voteless People Is A Hopeless People, and Go–To–High School, Go–To–College are other programs of the fraternity. The organization work with Head Start, Boy Scouts of America and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America

Notable members of Alpha Phi Alpha include:

• W.E.B. Dubois
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Paul Robeson
• Thurgood Marshall
• Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
• Edward Brooke
• Andrew Young
• Maynard Jackson
• Jesse Owens

External Links

• Official Home Page
• Fraternity Iconography

References

Wesley, Charles H., The History of Alpha Phi Alpha, A Development in College Life, Chicago, Foundation Publishers, 1981