A Guide to Fraternity & Sorority Life - University of South Carolina ...

Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ)National Founding:Cornell University, 1906Chapter Founding:Upsilon Alpha, 2009Symbol(s):SphinxColors:Black & Old GoldNickname(s):Alpha, YAAffiliation:National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)Since its founding on December 4, 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.has supplied voice and vision to the struggle of African-Americans and peopleof color around the world. Alpha Phi Alpha was the first intercollegiate Greekletterfraternity established for African-Americans. The organization was foundedat Cornell University in Ithaca, New York by seven college men who recognizedthe need for a strong bond of Brotherhood among African descendants in thiscountry. The visionary founders, known as the “Jewels” of the Fraternity, areHenry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, GeorgeBiddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and VertnerWoodson Tandy.While continuing to stress academic excellence among its members, Alpha alsorecognized the need to help correct the educational, economic, political, andsocial injustices faced by African-Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha has long stoodat the forefront of the African-American community’s fight for civil rights throughleaders such as: W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke,Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, William Gray, PaulRobeson, and many others.The Fraternity’s National Programs and special projects are community outreachmentoring initiatives that have been adopted by the organization’s governingbody and mandated for implementation by all of its chapters. The organization’sNational Programs include:• Go-to-High School, Go-to-College• Project Alpha• A Voteless People Is a Hopeless People • Brother’s Keeper17Legacy 2013