When thousands of black men wake up today, many will reflect on the year 1911, when ten young African-American men on the Indiana University campus formed an organization which would not only help them survive as students in a racist society, but in the decades following, would help other men fulfill their full potential through the ideal of brotherhood. The organization they formed one hundred years ago was Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and today, thousands of Kappa men are making an impact in every aspect of society.
“When our ten founders, led by Elder Watson Diggs, a student at Indiana University at Bloomington Indiana, sat down to reflect on the lack of opportunities they had at that Midwestern university, they [understood] firsthand what the vestiges of slavery and segregation had done to Africa-American students,” said Kappa Alpha Psi president Dwayne Murray. “Two of the founders had attended Howard University before going to Indiana University, and had witnessed the founding of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Armed with this experience, Elder Diggs introduced the idea of forming an organization similar to these.”
And thus Kappa Alpha Psi was formed, or more historically correct, Kappa Alpha Nu. Originally, the ten founders of Kappa had named their new fraternity, Kappa Alpha Nu, but racists on the Indiana campus soon derided the fraternity by calling it Kappa Alpha “N-Word”. So the founders then decided to change the fraternity name to Kappa Alpha Psi.
African-American fraternalism began to crystallize in the early 20th century with the founding of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity at Cornell University in 1906. In less than twenty years after the founding of Alpha, eight black fraternities and sororities would be founded (the ninth black fraternal organization would be founded in the early 1960s). These fraternal organizations were popular among black students because they not only provided essential support on their campuses, but the concept of brotherhood and sisterhood that meant the collective strength of a fraternal bond could be used to help create change the lives of individual members, and in society in general.
After its founding, Kappa Alpha Psi quickly spread from the Indiana University campus to over three hundred college campuses, along with hundreds of alumni chapters in cities and towns throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. This network has made Kappa Alpha Psi a potent force when it comes to working as a community service organization.
Read Full Article at theGrio
