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Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity develops leaders, promotes brotherhood and academic excellence, while providing service and advocacy for our communities.
Table of Contents Author’s Biography Page 1 Advocacy & Action Page 3 References Page 33
This document was prepared at the request of General President Ward as a commemorative booklet to show Alpha’s history of Advocacy and Action. The issues we face as a nation and a Fraternity call on the men of Alpha to continue this legacy.
Special Thanks to Bro. Robert L. Harris Jr. for his tireless work chronicling this piece of Alpha history.
AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY
ROBERT L. HARRIS JR. is professor emeritus of African American history, American studies, and public affairs at Cornell University, where he is also vice provost for diversity and faculty development emeritus.
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ROBERT L HARRIS JR. received his Ph.D. in U.S. history from Northwestern University and has been a Rockefeller Foundation humanities fellow at the State University of New York/Buffalo, W.E.B. Du Bois fellow at Harvard University, Ford Foundation postdoctoral fellow, Rockefeller research fellow, and National Endowment for the Humanities fellow. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History awarded him the Carter G. Woodson Scholar’s Medallion for distinguished research, writing, and activism. He is author of Teaching African American History, The History of Alpha Phi Alpha: A Tradition of Leadership and Service: Volume 2, and co-editor of The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939, as well as more than 50 articles, chapters in books, and dictionary entries. He is a past president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, co-chair of the History/Social Studies Committee of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and consultant to the Law School Admission Council, among other positions. He was history consultant for Rubicon Productions’ Emmy award-winning Building the Dream about the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. and Alpha Phi Alpha: A Century of Leadership and Service. He has also served as history consultant for the Writers Guild of America’s Best Television Documentary, Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life, American Experience: Ulysses S. Grant, and Trouble Behind: A Documentary of the 1919 Corbin, Kentucky Race Riot. He wrote the Prime School Television teacher guides for I Remember Harlem, Roots: the Next Generation, and Roots: The Original Saga of an American Family. Initiated into Theta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. on April 27, 1963, he served as Theta Chapter president and from 1965–66 as midwestern assistant vice president, and is the national historian. The Robert L. Harris Jr. award for Outstanding Multi-cultural Greek Letter Council Leader, inaugurated in 2004 by the Cornell Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs; Robert L. Harris Jr. ADVANCEments in Science Lecture Series, inaugurated in 2008 by the Cornell University-Advance Center; and the Robert L. Harris Jr. Ithaca High School Outstanding African American Male Senior Award, started in 2013, are all named in his honor.
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advocacy
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“
Alpha Phi Alpha does not idly boast of its record but does take inspiration out of its significant and evolving past, which gives challenges to the present and the future. BRO. H. COUNCILL TRENHOLM Director of Educational Activities, 1940
”
At its July 1905 meeting in Buffalo, New York, the Niagara Movement issued a Declaration of Principles in which it proclaimed that, “persistent manly agitation is the way to liberty.” Precursor to Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in 1906 and the NAACP in 1909, the Niagara Movement insisted that, “…the voice of protest…must never cease…so long as America is unjust.”1 The Niagara Movement had a profound influence on the founding of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and its enduring legacy. Jewel Henry Arthur Callis, in Bro. Charles H. Wesley’s biography, related that, 1 The Niagara Movement Declaration of Principles. 1905
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“We wanted more than the traditional American college fraternity. Our job ahead required a fellowship, which would embrace those millions outside the ‘talented tenth.’ We realized that the leaders of any people emerge chiefly from the best trained, best oriented members of the group.2 Alpha Phi Alpha has been dedicated to using its talents to benefit “downtrodden humanity,” especially their brothers and sisters of African descent on the African continent and throughout the diaspora. Jewel Callis indicated that African Americans had been “robbed” of their self-respect with the ascendancy of Booker T. Washington and his acquiesce to second-class citizenship. “Then the clouds parted and we saw, over Niagara Falls, hope in the sky. Their platform allowed for no compromise concerning full and unfettered citizenship. We, ourselves, had come to the recognition of human brotherhood as a workable creed, not merely a visionary ideal.”3 Although the founders of Alpha Phi Alpha were dedicated to uplift “downtrodden humanity,” they realized that they needed to prepare themselves for the task ahead and that they required fellowship in the bond of a fraternity for common purpose and action. Jewel Callis observed that,
“Alpha Phi Alpha was born in the shadows of slavery, on the lap of disfranchisement. We proposed to foster scholarship and excellence among students; to bring leadership and vision to the social problems of our communities and the Nation; to fight, with courage and self-sacrifice, every bar to the democratic way of life. So long as we swerve not from these purposes, ALPHA PHI ALPHA LIVES.”4 2 Charles H. Wesley, Henry Arthur Callis: Life and Legacy. Baltimore: The Foundation Publishers, 1977; p. 279. 3 Callis, p. 280. 4 Callis, p. 282.
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From left to right: Bro. Anthoney Overton, Bro. Dr. William H. Benson, Bro. George R. Arthur, Bro. Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, Bro. Atty. Sydney P. Brown, Bro. Dr. Julian H. Lewis
Alpha Phi Alpha has been devoted to developing leadership and advocacy, not for personal, professional, or fraternal aggrandizement but for the benefit of others. In April 1911, Alpha Chapter started an advocacy program that became the nucleus of the fraternity’s first national program, to encourage black students to attend institutions of higher education.5 At the 12th General Convention in 1919, the fraternity passed a resolution to start a movement to influence African-American students to go to high school and to college. The Commission on Graduate Work and Public Affairs supervised the initial campaign in 1920. The commission established a goal of reaching every high school through personal contact or through the distribution of educational pamphlets.6 For the second campaign in April 1921, past General President, Dr. Roscoe C. Giles, who now chaired the commission, wrote to the chapters: “We must blaze the way and let others follow.… Our opportunity is here. We must not and will not fail now!” A brochure for the campaign presented data contrasting incomes for dropouts and those who remained in school. Newspapers and radio stations endorsed the campaign. Even U.S. President Warren Harding 5 Charles H. Wesley, The History of Alpha Phi Alpha: A Development in College Life. Baltimore: The Foundation Publishers, p. 75. 6 Thomas D. Pawley III, “The Go-to-High School, Go-to-College Movement: Our First Educational Mission,” Centennial Book of Essays and Letters: Excerpts from the Brotherhood of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., 2015, p. 109
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provided his support, stating that, “The need to reduce illiteracy among (African Americans) is very great.… You may be sure of my earnest sympathy and good will.”7 This campaign came during the period 1910–1940 when the American high school was beginning to emerge.8 The Sphinx magazine, in its education issue, publicized the campaign and published articles on how to advance the project. Many brothers suggested that there was a need for a broader campaign to address issues of literacy and personal responsibility. The 27th anniversary General Convention in 1933 created the Education Foundation, which incorporated Go to High School, Go to College in its program, later discontinued the slogan, and then replaced it with Education for Citizenship. Many brothers deemed it important to emphasize a purpose for education, for instance that African Americans needed to be educated about their rights and obligations as citizens and needed to make use of those rights.9 The Education Foundation had a mandate:
1. To assist in the encouragement, maintenance, and development of scholarship, 2. To promote research, 3. To aid in the publication of literary, scientific, and professional materials prepared by Negroes, and 4. To foster a program of educational guidance and placement. Bro. Wesley wrote, “Through the year 1936, the chapters were conducting programs that were designed to translate the ideals of the fraternity into action.” Through mass meetings, radio talks, plays and pageants, displays of placards, and distributing tags with the slogan “A Voteless People is a Hopeless People,” the programs reached new heights. Bro. H. Councill Trenholm, director of educational activities in 1940, reminded the fraternity that, “Alpha Phi Alpha does not idly boast of its record but 7 Ibid. 8 Claudia Goldin, “How America Graduated from High School, 1910–1960.” Working Paper No. 4762. National Bureau of Economic Research. June, 1994, p. 26. 9 Pawley, p. 111.
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does take inspiration out of its significant and evolving past which gives challenges to the present and the future.”10 With outbreak of war in Europe in 1914, Alpha leaders in Washington, D.C. anticipated that the United States would soon enter the battle to “make the world safe for democracy.” Thirteen percent of the active duty military was African American but fewer than 1 percent were officers. The Marine Corps refused black enlistees while the Navy used them only as mess men and servants. College and alumni brothers met at Beta House in Washington, D.C. to begin a campaign for the establishment of an officers’ training camp for African-American soldiers. A training camp was opened at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, with 58 Alpha men in the program, a larger number than any other black fraternity. On October 15, 1917, 32 brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. received commissions, with four as captains and 90 percent of the rest as lieutenants. Some 600 black men received commissions as a result of the advocacy of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Eighth General President William A. Pollard stated,
“If for another ten years, we should do no more than continue as before to furnish to the various communities strong, influential men, we may yet consider that we have accomplished this year a feat sufficient to justify the existence and claims of the fraternity. In this one accomplishment, we have rendered to our race a service that shall mark an epoch in its history.”11 Alpha men also fought segregation in the Army Training Corps on college campuses in Ohio. Pi Chapter in Cleveland, Ohio, spearheaded an investigation into the exclusion of black men from the training programs on predominantly white campuses. As a result of this advocacy, the state of Ohio issued an order that: “Colored men are to barrack, mess and drill together with the other men. No segregation at all.”12 During World War I, the U.S. military, however, issued a memorandum, circulated primarily among the French, Secret Information Concerning Black American Troops. It warned 10 H. Councill Trenholm, “Alpha Phi Alpha’s Program of Education and Civic Service: A Review and Interpretation,” Centennial Book of Essays and Letters, pp. 317–319. 11 Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, pp. 116–117. 12 Ibid, p. 124.
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against fraternizing with black soldiers and instructed the French on American views about African-American inferiority. It asked the French explicitly to prevent any intimacy between black troops and white women. Despite this propaganda, most black soldiers in Europe enjoyed an air of freedom unknown to them in the United States. Many of them returned home resolved to gain their share of freedom and democracy in their own country.13 Racial conflict erupted in major cities across the United States after World War I as competition increased over jobs, housing, and recreation. African Americans, in what is referred to as “The Great Migration,” moved from the rural South to the urban South and North to escape the economic deprivation of sharecropping and tenant farming and violence. During the summer of 1919, fewer than 6 months after the end of the war, race riots broke out in some 25 cities and towns. Because so much blood flowed in American cities, it was called “The Red Summer.” Segregation intensified after World War I.14 The U.S. Supreme Court in 1896 had ruled in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson that segregation did not violate the law of the land. Our Brother, Dr. Rayford W. Logan, called this period in African-American history, “The Nadir,” the lowest point in our experience.15 Colleges and universities set quotas on the number of African-American and Jewish students offered admission. African-American students could not live on campus and had to find accommodations in nearby black communities. Washington, D.C., at the beginning of the 20th century, had relatively few Jim Crow laws, but de facto segregation existed throughout the city. The public schools and recreation facilities were segregated but not the streetcars and public libraries. African Americans, therefore, reacted strongly to President Woodrow Wilson’s (1913–1921) institution of segregation in all of the federal government agencies. Despite rampant segregation during the 1920s, African-American arts and culture flourished during the period known as the Harlem Renaissance. Alpha men were prominent figures in defining what became known as the “new negro,” who shed the implied inferiority of the “plantation negro” and asserted pride in culture and 13 Jack D. Foner, Blacks and the Military in American History: A New Perspective. New York: Praeger, 1974, pp. 109–126. 14 Robert L. Harris, Jr., Teaching African American History. Washington, D.C.: The American Historical Association, 1992, p. 32. 15 Rayford W. Logan, Negro in American Life and Thought: The Nadir, 1877–1901. New York: Dial Press, 1954
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heritage. Bro. Countee Cullen, noted poet of the Harlem Renaissance, was married for a time to Bro. W.E.B. Du Bois’s daughter, Yolande. Bro. Cullen’s poem “Heritage” was one of the most widely quoted poems of the era.
What is Africa to me: Copper sun or scarlet sea, Jungle star or jungle track, Strong bronzed men, or regal black Women from whose loins I sprang When the birds of Eden sang? One three centuries removed From the scenes his fathers loved, Spicy grove, cinnamon tree, What is Africa to me?16 Brother Duke Ellington was a leading composer and bandleader of the era. In fact, during his career, he composed more than 1,000 musical compositions, including such famous pieces as “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got that Swing,” “Satin Doll” and “Sophisticated Lady.” Brother Nobel Sissle was also a leading bandleader and composer during the Harlem Renaissance. With Eubie Blake, he helped to open the musical foundations of the era with “Shuffle Along” in 1921. He wrote the famous song, “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” which President Harry S. Truman adopted as a campaign song in 1948. Bro. Paul Robeson was without peer as a singer and actor of stage and screen. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Rutgers University, where he was class valedictorian, he was also a star athlete in football, basketball, baseball, and track. He earned a law degree from Columbia University in 1922 while playing professional football in the National Football League. Together with Brothers W.E.B. Du Bois and Max Yergan, he formed the Council on African Affairs. At the 1946 General Convention, Bro. Robeson criticized U.S. financial and military support of imperialism in Africa, domestic policies that allowed for the continuation of lynching in the United States, the poll tax which limited the right of African Americans to vote, and failure to establish a national commission to fight unfair labor practices. He and Bro. Du Bois were later blacklisted by the U.S. government for alleged subversive activities, which primarily involved advocating for civil and human rights as well as African independence.17 During the Harlem Renaissance, Brothers Du Bois as editor of the NAACP’s Crisis Magazine and Charles S. Johnson as editor of the National Urban League’s 16 Countee Cullen, On These I Stand: An Anthology of the Best Poems of Countee Cullen. London: Harper, 1947. 17 Murali Balaji, The Professor and the Pupil: The Politics of W.E.B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson. New York: Nation Books, 2007
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Opportunity Magazine discovered and promoted the work of young AfricanAmerican artists, poets, and writers. Two major black newspapers were published by Alpha men: the Pittsburgh Courier (1910–1930) by Robert Vann and the Baltimore Afro-American (1922–1961) by Carl J. Murphy, who also served as editor of The Sphinx magazine.18 The Sphinx magazine promoted the study of African and African-American history with a regular column in the 1920s written by Bro. William Leo Hansberry, professor of history at Howard University. Bro. Hansberry introduced the first course on African history taught in the U.S. The General Convention meeting in Philadelphia in 1917 agreed that each chapter should pursue research on the early history of Africa. The Sphinx magazine would emphasize negro history with special attention to ancient Africa. Each chapter was asked to appoint a chapter historian to undertake such work.19 The Scottsboro Case in 1931 drew national, indeed, international attention. Nine young black men, ages 14–20 years old, were convicted for allegedly raping two white women on a freight train in northern Alabama. Eight of the Scottsboro boys, as they were called, were condemned to death, and one was given a life sentence. Indignation rallies were held around the globe over the injustice of the case, especially after one of the white women recanted her story. There were trials and retrials that lasted for 5 years, as well as appeals that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The state of Alabama agreed to drop the charges against the youngest defendants, while the others received sentences ranging from 20 years to life. At the 1933 Alpha General Convention, the fraternity contributed $300 to the Scottsboro Defense Fund. Alpha Zeta Lambda Chapter of Bluefield West Virginia voted to send that portion of its budget allotted for social activities to the Scottsboro Defense Fund and urged other chapters to do likewise.20 Bro. P. Bernard Young, editor and publisher of the Norfolk Journal and Guide newspaper in Norfolk, Virginia, was one of only two black reporters allowed to attend the Scottsboro trials. In 1976, Clarence Norris, the last surviving Scottsboro boy, received a pardon from the state of Alabama based on the research and recommendation of Bro. Milton C. Davis, future 29th general president, to Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley.21 18 The Sphinx Magazine, Summer, 2000, pp. 27–30. 19 The Sphinx Magazine, Feb., 1963, p. 3 20 The Sphinx Magazine, Dec. 1933, p. 29 21 Robert L. Harris, Jr. The History of Alpha Phi Alpha: A Tradition of Leadership and Service. Vol. II. Baltimore: The Foundation Publishers, 2014, p. 127.
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To provide a broader framework for advocacy, the 26th General Convention, meeting in St. Louis on December 28–31, 1933,
established the Council on Public Policy to address issues in American life that affected the African-American population.
It was to be the sentinel of Alpha Phi Alpha to sound the alarm when danger appeared and to analyze policies and practices that had implication for African Americans. The council would investigate and aid in the dissemination of information pertaining to national and international welfare of the negro. The council would keep a watch on proposed national legislation and at the appropriate time request that chapters bring pressure by letter or telegram on congressional representatives from their areas.22 African Americans in many respects were “the last hired and the first fired.” They were seriously affected by the Great Depression, which officially began with the Stock Market Crash in October 1929 and lasted until World War II. African Americans suffered the effects of the economic collapse first and were among the last to recover from it. Unemployment throughout the country increased from 4 percent to 25 percent. For African Americans, the unemployment rate grew to between 40 and 60 percent, or more than twice the general unemployment rate, a disproportionate ratio that remains to this day.23 Bro. Dr. Rayford W. Logan supervised an investigation of the various agencies established under the New Deal after the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. The Sphinx magazine devoted its May 1935 issue to a discussion of “The Negro and the New Deal.” Bro. Logan explained, “This is the first attempt made by any individual or organization to give a comprehensive picture of the Negro under the 22 Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, p. 222. 23 Harris, Teaching African American History, pp. 43–44.
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New Deal.” The report considered the benefits that African Americans were receiving and those denied to them under the government programs and what steps could be taken to maximize their benefits. Bro. Logan recommended that each chapter of the fraternity study the report and conduct an investigation of conditions in their areas. He suggested, “These local investigations would permit the fraternity to make a contribution to history, unparalleled in the annals of fraternities.”24 Although New Deal relief, housing, and employment programs assisted a higher proportion of African Americans than others (because a much higher proportion of African Americans experienced need), those programs had some long-term negative effects on black urban communities from which they are yet to recover. Housing projects built with government funds consolidated urban ghettos and intensified residential segregation. Local housing authorities segregated black and white residents, although the Public Works Administration officially opposed separate housing. Lack of enforcement of racial equality by the federal government through local administration, especially in the South, was one of the major weaknesses of New Deal programs for African Americans. In employment, the government’s emergency work programs actually depressed the job structure for black workers. On Works Progress Administration jobs, for example, African Americans held unskilled positions at a higher percentage than before the Depression, while white workers were being trained for skilled positions. Federal work programs did very little to upgrade the occupational status of African Americans. New Deal housing and employment programs in effect exacerbated existing problems. Brothers W.E.B. Du Bois and Kelly Miller (Howard University dean) advocated self-reliance as a means to survive the Great Depression and to strengthen black communities.25 At the Special Convention of 1934, the fraternity discussed the problems AfricanAmerican students faced in seeking admission on the same basis as white students to publicly supported colleges and universities. The convention was especially concerned about the exclusion of black students from the Universities of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia. There was also consideration given to the unfair distribution of appropriations for higher education between black and white students. In Maryland, for example, the state appropriated $2,083,000 annually for white schools engaged in higher education but only $24,000 a year for black schools. The convention resolved that Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity take the lead in this fight 24 The Sphinx Magazine, March, 1934, p. 4 25 The Sphinx Magazine, May, 1935, p. 2.
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with the following objectives: that black students be admitted to institutions of higher education on the same basis as other students, that larger appropriations be made for black colleges within the states, or that states pay the tuition for black students to attend schools outside the non-admitting states.26 The convention also called for the appointment of representatives from the fraternity, the Washington, D.C. branch of the NAACP, and the New Negro Alliance to cooperate in seeking admission of a black student to the University of Maryland. Bro. Belford V. Lawson was one of the founders in Washington, D.C. of the New Negro Alliance. It was started in 1933 to increase employment opportunities, primarily through picketing and economic boycotts. The New Negro Alliance launched the “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” campaigns that spread in major urban areas, especially in the North.27 Bro. Charles Hamilton Houston was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Amherst College who attended Harvard Law School, where he became the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review. In 1929, he became vice dean of the Howard University Law School, where he mentored Thurgood Marshall. Bro. Marshall graduated first in his class from Howard Law School in 1933. After consulting with Alpha men Charles H. Houston and Thurgood Marshall, the fraternity decided that the NAACP was better equipped to undertake the challenge of seeking admission of black students to graduate and professional schools. Alpha Phi Alpha still played a major role in a series of court cases that opened graduate and professional education to African Americans. Brothers Belford V. Lawson, Jr., T. M. Berry, Charles H. Houston, and Thurgood Marshall worked on the case to gain the admission of Donald G. Murray to the University of Maryland School of Law. He was initially denied admission and appealed to the University’s board of regents who upheld his rejection. The lawyers appealed to the City Court of Baltimore, which ordered that Murray could not be denied admission to the Law School of the basis of race or color. The case went up to the Maryland Court of Appeals, where it was argued by Brothers Houston and Marshall. The Maryland Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the lower court, and in 1935, Murray was admitted to the University of Maryland Law School. He did not, however, have the funds to pay his tuition or for his law books. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity paid for Murray’s tuition and books until he graduated.28
26 Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, pp. 234–235. 27 Gregory S. Parks, “Belford V. Lawson, Jr.: Life of a Civil Rights Litigator.” University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class. 12(2). 28 Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, pp. 235–236
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Lloyd L. Gaines, an Alpha member and graduate of Lincoln University in Missouri, in a case initiated by Alpha men Charles H. Houston and Sidney R. Redmond, sued the University of Missouri for admission to its law school. The United States Supreme Court in 1938 ruled in Gaines’s favor. In another important Supreme Court Case, Belford V. Lawson, Alpha general counsel and Jawn A. Sandifer, Alpha associate general counsel, successfully argued against railroad dining car discrimination in 1950. Alpha Phi Alpha helped to finance the case that was brought on behalf of Elmer V. Henderson, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. Fraternity member Herman M. Sweat sought admission to the University of Texas Law School in 1946. To avoid desegregation, the State of Texas set up a separate law school for Sweat in a basement. The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1950 that African Americans could not receive an equal legal education in hastily assembled separate facilities, which foreshadowed the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that separate was in and of itself inherently unequal. At the 39th General Convention meeting in Detroit, December 27–31, 1953, Bro. Charles H. Wesley stated,
“It was clearly observed at this convention that progress was not necessarily based on larger and increasing memberships with each passing convention. Progress was not a question of the fraternity becoming bigger and more wealthy with each passing year. Progress was to be determined more based upon the quality of its performance, its activities, and its direction of the trends in communities and localities where its chapters were in operation and its brothers in places of leadership.” The 40th General Convention meeting in Miami, December 27–30, 1954, held a workshop: “Social Action for Integration.” Bro. Wesley presented the 40-page report from the Committee on Human Relations that was endorsed by the workshop. The report listed 21 essential steps and was published in pamphlet form as “Suggested Next Steps in School Integration.” The report was addressed to local communities for measures that they could take in addition to “anticipated” decrees from the Supreme Court. Among other recommendations, the report affirmed that “no individual should state or permit others to state without challenge that Negroes ADVOCACY & ACTION 16
are not ready for integration.” Moreover, the struggle against segregation is but one battle in the long campaign for democracy as a way of life in the United States. The courses of study in the schools should emphasize the dignity of the individual and recognize the importance of different cultures and the interdependence of all people for the common welfare. Schools primarily for negroes should continue to exist if they make their programs good enough for service to all groups without regard to race, creed, color, or national origin. The report recommended finding facts about negro life and history in local communities to show that the reasons for their subordinate status were not due to color alone. Finally, the report asked that newspapers focus on positive aspects of black life and publish photographs of African Americans for those persons who have never seen or even heard of African Americans of achievement.29 Alpha members broke barriers in numerous areas as displayed by their performance at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Jesse Owens won four gold medals, while Ralph Metcalfe placed second to Owens in the 100-meter dash and won a silver medal; Cornelius Johnson won a gold medal in the high jump and Dave Albritton placed second, winning a silver medal in the high jump; Fritz Pollard Jr., son of the first black NFL coach, Bro. Fritz Pollard, won a bronze medal for the 110-meter hurdles. The fraternity expanded abroad in 1938 with the establishment of a chapter in London, England. The chapter consisted primarily of students from Africa and the Caribbean who were studying in London and at Oxford University. Alpha Phi Alpha subsequently expanded to Monrovia, Liberia; the Virgin Islands; Seoul, South Korea; South Vietnam; the Bahamas; Frankfort, Germany; Bermuda; and Kingston, Jamaica. While expanding abroad, the fraternity in 1940 also removed the clause defining membership as open to “any Negro male college student.”30 Many of the African-American men who became Tuskegee airmen came out of the Civilian Pilot Training Program. Congress, on June 27, 1939, passed the Civilian Pilot Training Act to prepare 10,000 civilian pilots each year until July 1, 1944. Six Historically Black Colleges (North Carolina A.&T., Delaware State, Hampton Institute, Howard University, Tuskegee Institute, and West Virginia State College) were initially approved to provide technical training for the program. Alpha men were in the forefront in anticipating the opportunities that were developing in the nascent field of aeronautics. Brother Lieutenant William Powell, a pioneer in aviation 29 Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, pp. 379–380. 30 Charles H. Wesley, “The Alpha Chronicle of 50 Years,” The Sphinx Magazine, Aug., 1956, pp. 4–7.
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instruction, started the Craftsmen of Black Wings in Los Angeles and New York for training in all branches of aeronautics from mechanics to design, to piloting. Alpha men advocated that African Americans be prepared for this growing industry. For every person in the air, there was a need for ten people on the ground in technical support.31 African-American men were barred from the U.S. Army and Navy Air Corps until 1941 when the military established the program to train black pilots at Tuskegee Institute (University) in June 1941. The president of Tuskegee at the time was Bro. Dr. Frederick Douglass Patterson, who received a degree in veterinary medicine from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in veterinary medicine from Cornell University. He later founded the United Negro College Fund. Many AfricanAmerican men who had completed the Civilian Pilot Training Program, many of them Alphas, joined the Tuskegee Airmen. Alpha men were prominent in preserving and promoting the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen. Bro. Morris Hatchett served as national historian of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., a national organization to perpetuate the memory of those African Americans who participated in the air crew, ground crew, and operations support in the Army Corps during World War II. Bro. James O. Bryson published a speech-givers’ guide to tell the Tuskegee Airmen’s story. Brother Major Elwood Driver also served as president of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. He earned both a Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal with clusters. President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the National Transportation Safety Board. In May 1979, Bro. Major Driver became the chief investigator after the deadliest airline accident in U.S. history. A DC-10 jumbo jet crashed after takeoff from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, killing all 258 passengers, 13 crewmembers, and 2 people on the ground. Bro. Major Driver investigated the cause of the crash and appeared on television networks and radio to explain that a 3-inch bolt snapped, leading to the accident. Bro. Hernando Palmer, an initiate of Phi Lambda Chapter in Raleigh, North Carolina, was one of 350 documented Tuskegee Airmen to receive the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007. The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award bestowed by the U.S. Congress. On June 27, 2012, 368 surviving members of the Montford Point Marines, the first African Americans to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps, received the Congressional Gold Medal. Among the recipients were former New York Mayor David Dinkins, 26th General President Ozell Sutton, and James E. Huger (General Secretary, 1952–58).32 During World War II, Bro. Rayford W. Logan, professor of history at Howard University, and the 15th general president of the 31 The Sphinx Magazine, May, 1940, p. 15. 32 The Sphinx Magazine, Winter, 1979, p. 15, and John Parkinson. Nightline News, June 27, 2012.
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fraternity from 1941–45, wrote an essay “Alpha Phi Alpha and the Post-War World,” published by the fraternity. He called attention to the fraternity’s leadership in the United States as a racial minority and identified the need for leadership in the international arena as part of the world’s majority of “colored people.”33The call for international engagement by Alpha Phi Alpha and African Americans in general became muted by the persecution of two prominent fraternity members, W.E.B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson. They were accused of being “un-American” for their promotion of world peace and friendship with the Soviet Union. Their passports were revoked during the 1950s. Several black fraternities and sororities joined together in 1948 to form the American Council on Human Rights (ACHR) to combine the efforts of almost 100,000 college students and graduates to secure the enjoyment of civil and human rights for all African Americans. From December 27–31, 1952, six of the eight major black fraternities and sororities in the United States held an unprecedented joint meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, with 4,000 delegates in attendance. Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority scheduled their national conventions to take place at the same time. The purpose of the joint meeting was to: 1) stimulate interest among their members for active support of the American Council on Human Rights programs, 2) demonstrate to the world the willingness and ability of the organizations to fight effectively for equality and justice for all, 3) further the principle of cooperation among the six organizations, and 4) provide the first opportunity in history on such a large scale for mutual acquaintance and socialization among the members of the organizations. Jewel Henry Arthur Callis addressed the combined meeting on the “Significance of Joint Action by Fraternities and Sororities.” He remarked that during the past 40 years, the most significant result of their mutual efforts was the U.S. Government’s agreement in 1917 to appoint and train black men as commissioned officers in the U.S. Army. At the time, many members of the black fraternities and sororities thought that the joint effort was the beginning of greater cooperation among the Greek-letter organizations. A generation passed, however, before establishment of the American Council on Human Rights. Callis reminded the group, “We are
33 Rayford W. Logan, “Alpha Phi Alpha and the Postwar World,” Centennial Book of Essays and Letters, pp. 161–163.
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representatives of a quarter million trained men and women who carry still the welfare of 15 million people on our shoulders, whether we like it or not.” He concluded that the organizations grew out of “faith in a people who had survived centuries of inhumanity,” that “they were conceived in the pain of the distressful plight of a people [who] were struggling for dignity, self-respect, and just rewards, both spiritual and material, for (their) labor and service.”34 The ACHR advocated legislation to ban employment discrimination, protect the right to vote, abolish the poll tax, ban racial segregation in interstate travel, and make lynching a federal crime. These goals were to be accomplished primarily through lobbying Congress and the federal government to enact legislation that protected and improved AfricanAmerican civil rights as well as fighting legislation that would harm its goals. Member activities included letter-writing campaigns and other forms of pressure on congressmen and senators, testimony before Congress, meeting with government officials, and lawsuits. The ACHR’s other principal means to effect civil-rights change was education. For example, the ACHR conducted a series of workshops that educated more than 500 college students on voting rights, discrimination in employment and housing, and desegregation issues within schools. In 1949 the ACHR, along with 20 other organizations, including Alpha Phi Alpha, met to form the Joint Committee on Civil Rights to create greater accord between the various legislative goals and lobbying efforts of the different organizations. Alpha’s advocacy work with other organizations, and financial support helped in the fight for improved civil rights and equality. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity experienced rapid growth after World War II as black veterans pursued college education, especially at the historically black colleges and universities. In 1956, the fraternity observed its Golden Anniversary with a gala convention in Buffalo, New York, and a pilgrimage to Ithaca, New York. Three of the living founders or “Jewels” (Henry A. Callis, George B. Kelley, and Nathaniel A. Murray) attended the meeting. Two of the fraternity’s most illustrious members, Duke Ellington and Martin Luther King Jr., participated in the celebration. Ellington and his orchestra performed a 50th anniversary concert, and King gave the Banquet Address.
34 Robert L. Harris, Jr. “Lobbying Congress for Civil Rights: The American Council on Human Rights, 1948–1963,” in Tamara L. Brown, Gregory S. Parks, & Clarenda M. Phillips, eds. African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2005, p. 211.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marching
Dr. King began his speech “The Birth of a New Age” by thanking the members of Alpha Phi Alpha for their moral and financial support of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He remarked,
“I can remember those days, very dark days, when many of us confronted a trial in court and I could look out in the courtroom and see our very eminent general president (Frank L. Stanley Sr., publisher of the Louisville Defender).
That made me feel very good as an Alpha man and I want to thank you for all that you have done.” Dr. King addressed the passing of the old order of colonialism and imperialism internationally and segregation and discrimination nationally. He sketched a new order of freedom and justice. And he informed his audience: “As we think of this coming new world, we must think of the challenges that confront us and the new responsibilities that stand before us.” He urged his fraternity brothers to be prepared for new opportunities, excel in their chosen careers, and not be bitter about the past. He reminded them that freedom is never free, that it comes at a cost ADVOCACY & ACTION 22
that requires sacrifice, perseverance, and financial resources. He challenged them on the need for leaders who are “not in love with publicity but in love with humanity.” He concluded:
“God grant from this noble assembly, this noble assembly of fraternity men, some of the leaders of our nation will emerge. God has blessed you, he has blessed you with great intellectual resources.… God has blessed many of you with great wealth and never forget that you are where you are today because the masses have helped you get there.…They are waiting for somebody out in the midst of the wilderness of life to stand up and speak and take a stand for them.” Those were inspiring words to close the chapter on the first 50 years of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. They embodied the fraternity’s motto: “First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All” and provided an apt challenge for the future.35 As early as 1933, Alpha Phi Alpha had established a Committee on Public Policy to express its views on national issues of concern to African Americans. The Committee on Public Policy issued annual statements during the 1960s, which were particularly relevant to the Civil Rights Movement, that included Alpha men at the head of major organizations, such as Martin Luther King Jr. (The Southern Christian Leadership Conference), Whitney M. Young Jr. (The National Urban League), Marion Barry (The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), and Floyd McKissick (The Congress of Racial Equality). The Public Policy Statement in 1965 supported civil rights, labor organization, and the right to vote. It expressed concern about the declining enrollment of black students in graduate and professional schools.36 Alpha members Paul Robeson and Dick Gregory used their celebrity status to help communicate and publicize the harms of discrimination and racism. Civil Rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., received the Alpha Award of Honor, the fraternity’s highest honor, in 1956. As a member of Congress, Alpha Phi Alpha member Adam Clayton Powell Jr. pushed for and worked on legislation enhancing 35 Bro. Martin Luther King, Jr. “The Birth of a New Age.” Centennial Book of Essays and Letters, pp. 615–621. 36 The Sphinx Magazine, November, 1965, p. 12.
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and protecting African-American rights. Awarded the Alpha Award of Honor in 1960, Powell was appointed chair of the House Education and Labor Committee in 1961. As chairman, Powell could produce and influence legislative reform and public policies for social equality. Alpha member Whitney M. Young, the executive director of the National Urban League, worked to improve employment opportunities and create jobs for African Americans. He received the Alpha Award of Honor in 1962. These individual members fought Jim Crow laws and inequality to improve AfricanAmerican civil rights.37 During the 1970s and 1980s, Alpha Phi Alpha sought to develop more decent and affordable housing for African Americans. Ernest N. Morial, the 23rd general president (1969–72) and later the first black mayor of New Orleans, called for the fraternity to take measures toward “elimination of the Ghetto.” Alpha chapters sponsored housing developments in Akron, Ohio; Chicago; and St. Louis.38 The fraternity also focused attention on black business development with a Commission on Business Encouragement co-chaired by its members: John H. Johnson, president of Johnson Publishing Co., and LeRoy Jeffries, president of Jeffries and Associates. In 1976, the fraternity became the first Black Greek-Letter Organization (BGLO) to hold its annual meeting on the African continent. The 70th anniversary General Convention began in New York City and concluded in Monrovia, Liberia. Some 300 Alpha men and their families traveled to Liberia, one of the largest contingents of African Americans to journey to Africa except during wartime. A large party of Alpha men traveled to Accra, Ghana, after the convention to visit the gravesite of Bro. Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois.39 By the time of its 75th anniversary in 1981, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity had grown to include chapters on four continents and in practically every state in the Union. It had also expanded the scope of its concerns with formation of the World Policy Council under the leadership of Alpha man Edward W. Brooke, the first African American elected to the United States Senate in the 20th century. In its first annual report in 1997, the World Policy Council discussed human rights in Nigeria, civil war in Liberia, Bosnia, the African-American family, African Americans and the environment, and affordable housing. It combined issues identified by the Committee on Public Policy with matters of international import.40
37 Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, p. 477. 38 The Sphinx Magazine, Oct., 1970, p. 4. 39 Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, p. 541. 40 Harris, The History of Alpha Phi Alpha. Vol. II, p. 155.
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Brothers gather in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial after leaving the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington
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Alpha men have also fought for equality and social justice in the political arena, especially as mayors of major cities and members of Congress. Brother Edward W. Brooke, who served as eastern region vice president, became the first African American popularly elected to the U.S. Senate in the 20th century. Past General President Ernest Morial was the first African American elected mayor of New Orleans, and Brothers David Dinkins (New York City), Maynard Jackson (Atlanta), Richard Arrington (Birmingham), Harvey Johnson (Jackson, Ms.), and Byron Brown (Buffalo, N.Y.) were the first African Americans elected mayors of their cities. During Alpha’s centennial in 2006, eight Alpha men served in the U.S. House of Representatives: Emanuel Cleaver (Mo.), Danny Davis (Il.), Chaka Fattah (Pa.), Al Green (Tx.), Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), Charles Rangel (N.Y.), Bobby Scott (Va.), and David Scott (Ga.). They jointly sponsored House Resolution 384, which recognized the signature programs of Alpha Phi Alpha in “Go to High School, Go to College” and “A Voteless People is a Hopeless People,” and the remarkable role of Alpha Phi Alpha in building the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity continues it advocacy and action through its national programs and special projects. Go to High School, Go to College; A Voteless People is a Hopeless People, and Project Alpha constitute its national programs. In the 1970s, the fraternity sought to stem the tide of teenage pregnancies that plagued black communities. A formal agreement in 1982 with the March of Dimes led to Project Alpha, a program to educate young males about sexuality, responsible relationships, sexually transmitted diseases, and fatherhood. Some of the special projects involve collaborations with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and Boy Scouts of America. The Alpha Headstart program seeks to increase the participation of fathers in their children’s lives. The fraternity sponsors Leadership Development Institutes throughout the country to equip high school students with leadership skills on public speaking, parliamentary procedure, conflict resolution, academic achievement, and community and civic engagement. Each of the national programs and special projects address academic, personal, social, and leadership development. With congressional authorization and presidential approval in 1996 to build a memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Alpha Phi Alpha undertook one of its most ambitious projects to date.
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The 1963 march in Washington, led by Martin Luther King Jr, consisted of over 250,000 citizens to protest the job market and liberty of Black America.
The fraternity lobbied Congress and petitioned the various planning and arts commissions for permission to construct a national memorial to the Man, the Movement, and the Message. At the Congressional Black Caucus Phoenix Awards Dinner, September 19, 2015, 34th General President Mark S. Tillman accepted the Phoenix Award for “diligence in cementing Dr. Martin Luther Jr.’s legacy with a memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.” Alpha Phi Alpha, of which Dr. King was a member, is also being recognized for its national programs to mentor black children and mobilize minority voters.”41 Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which he headed, launched its first major campaign, Crusade for Citizenship in 1957. SCLC assumed that the ballot was crucial to school desegregation, employment opportunity, decent housing, and equal access to public accommodations and transportation. While the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction was before Congress, SCLC organized a “Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom” in Washington, D.C. On May 17, 1957, some 27,000 Civil Rights advocates gathered before the Lincoln Memorial at which Bro. King reached oratorical ecstasy with the refrain: “Give us the ballot. Give us the ballot and we will no longer have to worry the Federal Government about our basic rights. Give us the ballot.” 41 Tri-State Defender, Sept. 2, 2015.
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Despite a southern filibuster in the Senate, the legislation became law. It empowered the federal government through the Justice Department to bring lawsuits against denial of voting rights. It established a Commission on Civil Rights to monitor voting violations and to propose remedies. It would take more years of struggle, several additional civil rights bills, the 24th amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1964, and a massive March from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 to achieve the right to vote for most African Americans, especially in the South.42 Today, the African-American right to vote is still contested and many states have sought to constrict it. Our Alpha brother, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II in North Carolina has spearheaded Moral Mondays, the result of 140 organizations that have worked together for more than 7 years as a grassroots coalition, an example of fusion politics across racial and religious lines. Moral Mondays protested government restrictions on access to the ballot and spread to states as diverse as Florida, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Ohio, and New York. The demonstrations became the largest state governmentfocused civil disobedience campaign in United States history. Bro. Rev. Dr. Barber has identified the current freedom struggle as the Third Reconstruction. The First Reconstruction came after the Civil War as the newly freed slaves sought to assert their rights to education, land, and political representation. The Second Reconstruction emerged almost 100 years later in the form of the Civil Rights Movement, which ended Jim Crow segregation but which did not end structural inequality. For Bro. Rev. Dr. Barber, a Third Reconstruction is necessary to achieve a better future for all American citizens, to close the gaps in education, wealth, justice, and health. Bro. Rev. Dr. Barber emerged as a moral and protest leader out of a tradition of advocacy for his family and for his fraternity. He has written that, “Defeat does not cause us to doubt our purpose or question the ends toward which we strive. We do not belong to those who shrink back, for we know the tragic truth of history. When oppressed people shrink back, they will always be forgotten and destroyed. Faith-rooted moral dissent requires that we always look forward toward the vision of what we know we were made to be.�43
42 Robert L. Harris, Jr. and Rosalyn Terborg-Penn. The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939. New York: Columbia U. Press, 2006, p. 36. 43 William J. Barber II. The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement. Boston: Beacon Press, 2016, p. 24.
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On the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, NAACP president, Bro. Cornell William Brooks led “America’s Journey for Justice,” an 860-mile journey from Selma to Washington, D.C. “to show the entire nation our lives, our votes, our jobs, and our schools matter.” A central issue in the protest was voting rights, as well as gaps in education, employment, and rates of incarceration.44 Alpha Phi Alpha contributed $90,000 to the NAACP, the Leadership Council for Civil Rights, and the Dream Defenders. The Dream Defenders were organized by young brothers at Florida A & M and Florida State Universities to protect the right to vote and to end police brutality, among other objectives.45 Beginning in 2012, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, a would-be neighborhood watchman, for the murder of unarmed 17-year old Trayvon Martin, there were a string of police murders of unarmed black men and women caught on video. Three African-American women, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza, founded the Black Lives Matter Movement that sparked demonstrations and conversations, especially on social media, around the country. #BlackLivesMatter, the social media hashtag that started the movement, sought to move beyond what it described as “narrow nationalism” among African Americans to embrace
“…Black queer and trans folk, disabled folks, black undocumented folks, folks with records, women and all Black lives along the gender spectrum. It centers on those that have been marginalized within Black liberation movements. It is a tactic to (re)build
the Black liberation movement.” #BlackLivesMatter affirmed the worth and dignity of African Americans and their resilience in the face of historical efforts to dehumanize them. Alpha men throughout the country, but especially in Chicago and Baltimore, conducted large demonstrations to support the concept of Black Lives Matter and to hold the police accountable.46 Given the tensions brewing across the country with the murders of unarmed black men and women at the hands of the police, Brothers General President Mark S. 44 Candace King, “NAACP to Embark on 860 Mile Journey for Justice March,” NBCBLK, July 31, 2015. 45 http://www.DreamDefenders.org 46 http://blacklivesmatter.com
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An Alpha Brother and Baltimore native paired with his two daughers protests war and racism against Black America.
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Thousands of participants in the ‘Baltimore Awakening’ carry picket signs for Freddie Gray and promote the revolution of a racist free environment within the police force.
Tillman and General Counsel Wayne Harvey held a town hall meeting by telephone for the brotherhood. More than 200 brothers joined the call in which Bro. Tillman asked brothers to keep cool in the midst of growing tensions. The murder of Michael Brown led to demonstrations that grew violent, confrontations with the police, and a state-imposed curfew. Bro. Tillman encouraged local chapters to host forums to discuss the issues. He informed the brotherhood that Alpha was participating in the Divine Nine Task Force on Police Brutality. Moreover, Alpha had contributed $25,000 for the funeral expenses of Michael Brown, the 18-yearold black man killed by the police in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014. A major epidemic, the Ebola virus, spread across West Africa in 2014. The Ebola virus took deadly effect, especially in Liberia and Sierra Leone. By 2014, there were some 8,000 cases in Liberia and 3,500 deaths. The Ebola virus, first discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976, and probably spread by bats, was transmitted in humans through bodily fluids. The brothers of Eta Epsilon Lambda Chapter in Liberia together with the sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, of which the Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is a member, solicited personal protective equipment (such as isolation gowns, goggles, latex gloves, bleach, cleaning trays, and non-contact thermometers) from chapters in the United States. Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Kappa Alpha members developed a community awareness program and were responsible for training almost 2,000 volunteers for similar outreach and training. The fraternity and sorority turned over a 96-bed Ebola Treatment Unit to the Liberian Government in September 2014.47 47 Liberian Observer, 23 October 2014.
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To affirm the invaluable role that African Americans played in the development of the United States, black veterans of the Civil War in 1915 proposed a museum in Washington, D.C., dedicated to African-American history and culture. Their idea put forth more than 100 years ago came to fruition on September 24, 2016, with the dedication of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C., by the first African-American president of the United States, Barack Obama. Alpha men played leading roles in the development and financing of the museum and are represented throughout it. Bro. Dr. John Hope Franklin served as founding chairman of the Scholarly Advisory Committee. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. became an early founding donor of the museum, which required a gift of $1 million or more. Brother Robert Frederick Smith is one of three top donors at the Pinnacle level of $20 million and above. Bro. Earl W. Stafford is a Keystone donor at $2 million and above. Brothers William F. Pickard, Craig Welburn, and Robert L. Wright are Milestone donors as is Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. at $1 million and above. The NMAAHC vividly tells the story of African Americans in the United States and their centrality to the American story.48It was our Alpha brother, Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, who observed in his nowclassic work, The Souls of Black Folk,
“Your country? How came it yours? Before the Pilgrims landed we were here.… Actively we have woven ourselves with the very warp and woof of this nation...we fought their battles, shared their sorrow, mingled our blood with theirs, and generation after generation have pleaded with a headstrong, careless people to despise not Justice, Mercy, and Truth…Our song, our toil, our cheer, and warning have been given to this nation in blood-brotherhood. Are not these gifts worth the giving? Is not this work and striving?
Would America have been America without her Negro people?”49 48 https://nmaahc.si.edu/aboutfounding-donors 49 W.E.B. Du Bois. The Souls of Black Folk. Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1903, pp. 262–263.
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r e f e r e nc e s
advocacy
&action 1.
The Niagara Movement Declaration of Principles. 1905 Page 4
2.
Charles H. Wesley, Henry Arthur Callis: Life and Legacy. Baltimore: The Foundation Publishers, 1977; p. 279. Page 5
3.
Callis, p. 280. Page 5
4.
Callis, p. 282 Page 5
5.
Charles H. Wesley, The History of Alpha Phi Alpha: A Development in College Life. Baltimore: The Foundation Publishers, p. 75. Page 6
6.
Thomas D. Pawley III, “The Go-to-High School, Go-to-College Movement: Our First Educational Mission,” Centennial Book of Essays and Letters: Excerpts from the Brotherhood of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., 2015, p. 109. Page 6
7.
Ibid. Page 7
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8.
Claudia Goldin, “How America Graduated from High School, 1910–1960.” Working Paper No. 4762. National Bureau of Economic Research. June, 1994, p. 26. Page 7
9.
Pawley, p. 111. Page 7
10.
H. Councill Trenholm, “Alpha Phi Alpha’s Program of Education and Civic Service: A Review and Interpretation,” Centennial Book of Essays and Letters, pp. 317–319. Page 8
11.
Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, pp. 116–117. Page 8
12.
Ibid, p. 124. Page 8
13.
Jack D. Foner, Blacks and the Military in American History: A New Perspective. New York: Praeger, 1974, pp. 109–126. Page 9
14.
Robert L. Harris, Jr., Teaching African American History. Washington, D.C.: The American Historical Association, 1992, p. 32. Page 9
15.
Rayford W. Logan, Negro in American Life and Thought: The Nadir, 1877–1901. New York: Dial Press, 1954. Page 9
16.
Countee Cullen, On These I Stand: An Anthology of the Best Poems of Countee Cullen. London: Harper, 1947. Page 10
17.
Murali Balaji, The Professor and the Pupil: The Politics of W.E.B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson. New York: Nation Books, 2007. Page 10 ADVOCACY & ACTION 34
18.
The Sphinx, Summer, 2000, pp. 27–30. Page 11
19.
The Sphinx, Feb., 1963, p. 3. Page 11
20.
Sphinx Magazine, Dec. 1933, p. 29.n Page 11
21.
Robert L. Harris, Jr. The History of Alpha Phi Alpha: A Tradition of Leadership and Service. Vol. II. Baltimore: The Foundation Publishers, 2014, p. 127. Page 11
22.
Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, p. 222. Page 12
23.
Harris, Teaching African American History, pp. 43–44. Page 12
24.
The Sphinx, March, 1934, p. 4. Page 14
25.
The Sphinx, May, 1935, p. 2. Page 14
26.
Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, pp. 234–235. Page 15
27.
Gregory S. Parks, “Belford V. Lawson, Jr.: Life of a Civil Rights Litigator.”University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class. V.12, n. 2. Page 15
28.
Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, pp. 235–236. Page 15
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29.
Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, pp. 379–380. Page 18
30.
Charles H. Wesley, “The Alpha Chronicle of 50 Years,” The Sphinx, Aug., 1956, pp. 4–7. Page 18
31.
The Sphinx, May, 1940, p. 15. Page 19
32.
The Sphinx, Winter, 1979, p. 15, and John Parkinson. Nightline News, June 27, 2012. Page 19
33.
Rayford W. Logan, “Alpha Phi Alpha and the Postwar World,” Centennial Book of Essays and Letters, pp. 161–163. Page 20
34.
Robert L. Harris, Jr. “Lobbying Congress for Civil Rights: The American Council on Human Rights, 1948–1963,” in Tamara L. Brown, Gregory S. Parks, & Clarenda M. Phillips, eds. African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2005, p. 211. Page 21
35.
Bro. Martin Luther King, Jr. “The Birth of a New Age.” Centennial Book of Essays and Letters, pp. 615–621. Page 23
36.
The Sphinx, November, 1965, p. 12. Page 23
37.
Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, p. 477. Page 24
38.
The Sphinx, Oct., 1970, p. 4. Page 24
ADVOCACY & ACTION 36
39.
Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, p. 541. Page 24
40.
Harris, The History of Alpha Phi Alpha. Vol. II, p. 155. Page 24
41.
Tri-State Defender, Sept. 2, 2015. Page 27
42.
Robert L. Harris, Jr. and Rosalyn Terborg-Penn. The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939. New York: Columbia U. Press, 2006, p. 36. Page 28
43.
William J. Barber II. The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement. Boston: Beacon Press, 2016, p. 24. Page 28
44.
Candace King, “NAACP to Embark on 860 Mile Journey for Justice March,” NBCBLK, July 31, 2015. Page 29
45.
http://www.DreamDefenders.org Page 29
46.
http://blacklivesmatter.com Page 29
47.
Liberian Observer, 23 October 2014. Page 31
48.
https://nmaahc.si.edu/aboutfounding-donors Page 32
49.
W.E.B. Du Bois. The Souls of Black Folk. Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1903, pp. 262–263. Page 32
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The objectives of this Fraternity shall be: to stimulate the ambition of its members; to prepare them for the greatest usefulness in the causes of humanity, freedom and dignity of the individual; to encourage the highest and noblest form of manhood; and to aid down-trodden humanity in its efforts to achieve higher social, economic and intellectual status.
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Since its founding on December 4, 1906,
alpha phi alpha fraternity 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 established at other colleges and universities, many of them historically black institutions, soon after the founding at Cornell. The first alumni chapter was established in 1911. 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. True to its form as the “first of firsts,” Alpha Phi Alpha has been interracial since 1945.
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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. 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. 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. He died in 1954. GEORGE BIDDLE KELLEY became the first AfricanAmerican 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.
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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. 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. VERTNER WOODSON TANDY became the state of New York’s first registered black 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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45 ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC.