THE FOUNDING OF ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC.™

Alpha Phi Alpha™, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American Men, was founded on December 4, 1906™ 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 United States, during the early 1900s, fostered a very unsavory racial climate, one that highly unfavorable towards the Black community. Society offered African-Americans narrowly circumscribed opportunities and no security. On the campus of an ivy-league institution like Cornell, this existing discrimination was thoroughly enhanced. 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. The most remarkable leadership in the African American community in the 20th century has without question come from the ranks of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Our organization 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, Julius Chambers, Maynard Jackson, and many, many others. True to its form as the “first of firsts,” Alpha Phi Alpha has been interracial since 1945.

The Fraternity's leadership development and community service training for young men has made Alpha Phi Alpha the most prestigious organization of its kind today. Today, Alpha Phi Alpha continues its commitment to the African American community through the Fraternity's Education and Building foundations, which provide scholarships to outstanding students and shelter to underprivileged families. The Fraternity also has dedicated itself to training a new generation of leaders with national mentoring programs and partnerships designed to ensure the success of our children and youth. 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.