Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.: First of All, Servants of All
On December 4, 1906, seven Black college students at Cornell University created something unprecedented. At an institution where Black students faced racial isolation and discrimination, these young men understood that survival required more than individual achievement. They needed brotherhood, scholarship, leadership, and organized service.
From that necessity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the first successful intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity for African American men, emerged. (apa1906.net)
The seven founders—reverently remembered as the Seven Jewels—were:
• Henry Arthur Callis
• Charles Henry Chapman
• Eugene Kinckle Jones
• George Biddle Kelley
• Nathaniel Allison Murray
• Robert Harold Ogle
• Vertner Woodson Tandy
They did not establish Alpha merely as a college social organization. They created a permanent institution to enable educated Black men to support one another while confronting the educational, political, and economic barriers facing African descendants in America. Its guiding principles became:
Manly Deeds, Scholarship and Love for All Mankind.
Its enduring motto declares:
“First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All.”
From Brotherhood to Black Advancement
Alpha Phi Alpha expanded from Cornell to other colleges and universities, including historically Black institutions. Its members became educators, attorneys, physicians, ministers, architects, elected officials, artists, and civil rights leaders. The fraternity transformed brotherhood into organized community action.
In 1922, Alpha established Go-to-High-School and Go-to-College, encouraging Black students to complete secondary school and pursue higher education. During the 1930s, it launched A Voteless People Is a Hopeless People, confronting poll taxes, intimidation, political misinformation, and the systematic exclusion of Black citizens from the ballot box. Education, mentoring, and voter participation remain central to Alpha’s national service. (Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.)
Men Who Helped Reshape America
Alpha’s distinguished membership has included:
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall
• W.E.B. Du Bois
• Paul Robeson
• Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
• Duke Ellington
• Senator Edward Brooke
• Ambassador Andrew Young
• Dr. Cornel West
These men did not all perform the same work or share identical philosophies. What connected them was a tradition of leadership directed toward something larger than personal success. Dr. King’s connection to Alpha became part of the fraternity’s national legacy. In 1996, Congress authorized Alpha Phi Alpha to lead the effort to establish the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. The completed memorial became the first on the National Mall primarily honoring an African American. (Martin Luther King, Jr. ...)
More Than Greek Letters
Alpha Phi Alpha was born when seven Black students refused to face exclusion alone. They built a brotherhood when America offered them isolation. They promoted scholarship when higher education remained largely closed to Black people. They encouraged voting when Black citizens faced poll taxes, threats, and violence. They produced leaders when the nation questioned whether Black men were capable of leading. That is the deeper significance of Alpha Phi Alpha. It represents more than fraternity colors, symbols, or traditions. It represents Black men's decision to organize their knowledge, discipline, and influence in service to their people. From Cornell University in 1906 to communities throughout the world, Alpha Phi Alpha continues to carry the light of scholarship, leadership, brotherhood, and public service.
First of All.
Servants of All.
We Shall Transcend All.
Descendants of the Taken Ones
Honoring the institutions our ancestors built when existing institutions refused to embrace them.