A Brief History of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans, was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York on December 4th, 1906 by seven college men who recognized the need for a strong bond of Brotherhood among African descendants in this country. The fraternity originally served as a study and support group for African-American students at Cornell, who faced racial prejudice, both educationally and socially. Today, Alpha Phi Alpha includes almost 800 college and alumni chapters located around the world. Service and advocacy have been central to the fraternity since its founding.
Since its founding on December 4th, 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., has supplied voice and vision to the struggle of African-Americans and people of color around the world. 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.
HENRY ARTHUR CALLIS
1887 – 1974
Jewel 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. “The chief significance of Alpha Phi Alpha lies in its purpose to stimulate, develop, and cement an intelligent, trained leadership in the unending fight for freedom, equality, and fraternity. Our task is endless.”
CHARLES HENRY CHAPMAN
1870 – 1934
Jewel 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,” Jewel Chapman was the 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. “We must never lose sight of the fact that we must take part in the development, not only in ourselves but all humanity… I want you to understand that there never was, has been, or will be, in the minds of the founders, including myself, the thought of any reward or any notice coming to us for this experiment in brotherly cooperation and comradeship, which we initiated and which has developed, not necessarily because of any effort of ours, into one of the best regarded organizations in the Negro collegiate world.”
EUGENE KINCKLE JONES
1885 – 1954
Jewel 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 University, 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. Jewel 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. ” Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest Negro Fraternities, with all of its members presumably far above the average American and having a good practical understanding of the factors involved in the Negro’s problem, and which a membership upwards of eight thousand men , should be able to take into their hands the leadership in the Negro’s struggles for status.”
GEORGE BIDDLE KELLEY
1884 – 1962
Jewel 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 the 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. ” Alpha needs Quality not Quantity.”
Nathaniel Allison Murray
1884 – 1959
Jewel 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 District of Columbia. He was a member of the Alpha Chapter’s first committee on organization of the new fraternal group, as well as the Committee on the Grip. While a charter member of Washington’s Mu Lambda Chapter, Jewel Murray was frequent attendee of general conventions. “To say that your Founders met with discouragement is only putting the matter lightly. I can recall staying up with others as late as three A.M., sometimes four thirty A.M. trying to make some antagonistic brother see a point in argument, only to fail, and tackle the same again the following night.”
Robert Harold Ogle
1886 – 1936
Jewel 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 color and was Alpha Chapter’s first secretary. Jewel Ogle joined Kelley in working out the first ritual and later became a charter member of Washington’s Mu Lambda Chapter. “Never before was it as incumbent upon every member to restate loyalty and exemplify fraternal obligation by consistent life and unimpeachable character. But these must be reinforced by a growing consciousness of the responsibilities that Alpha Phi Alpha faces in the world today, where, if ever the problems which beset us are to be solved and a way of deliverance discovered, it must be by the application of those principles upon which we are founded.”
Vertner Woodson Tandy
1885 – 1949
Jewel Tandy became the state of New York’s first registered black architect, with offices on Broadway in New York City. Jewel Tandy was the designer of the fraternity pin, and 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 Philips Episcopal Church in New York City. ” I went through hell founding this organization and I want something done about these problems. Think of it, we have over a hundred and twenty chapters and I ask what are we doing… We must fight till hell freezes over and then fight on the ice.”