Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek-letter organization established for Black college students, was organized at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, in 1906. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity was born out of the desire for maintaining close association and unified support for members of this small minority group, in as much as they were denied, for the most part, the mutual helpfulness which the majority of the students attending their university regulary enjoyed. The seven visionary founders at Cornell, Henry A. Callis, Charles H. Chapman, Eugene K. Jones, George B. Kelly, Nathaniel A. Murray, Robert H. Ogle, and Vertner W. Tandy, labored in the years of severe economic struggle and racial conflict in the United States. Despite their difficulties of life, the early pioneers succeeded in laying a firm foundation and remained steadfast in their goals pointing towards the development of the Fraternity's membership - which are the espousing of the principles of good charater,sound scholarship, fellowship, and the uplifting of humanity, especially the struggling Black population around the world.
Because of the needs of the national black community and the organization's commitment to positive social change, Alpha Phi Alpha began to involve deeply into social reform and education. The "Go to High School - Go to College" campaign of the 1920's and 1930's established Alpha Phi Alpha as a scholarship organization. The struggle for equality and for raising the level of consciousness and mobility were heightened by the involvement of such brothers as; W.E.B. Dubois, Paul Robeson, Dr. Martin Luther King jr., Jesse Owens, David Dinkins, Dick Gregory, Hope Franklin, to name a few.
The Fraternity has grown steadily in influence throughout the years. It integrated its racial membership in 1945 and it has expanded to the extent that there are now over 150,000 Alpha Men 800 chapters located throughout the U.S., Caribbean Islands, Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Some Prominent Members Include
Activists:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: Civil Rights Activist
Julius L. Chambers: NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Lester Granger: National Urban League
Frederick Douglass: Anti-Slavery Activist
W.E.B. Dubois: Writer, Historian, Civil Rights Activist
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.: Civil Rights Activist
Thurgood Marshall: Civil Rights Activist, Supreme Court Justice
Paul Robeson: Activist, Scholar, Singer, Football Player
Dick Gregory: Activist
Education/Scholarship:
James Check: Howard University
Thomas W. Cole, Jr.: President, Clark-Atlanta University
William B. DeLauder: President, Delaware St. University
Dennis Kimbro: Author
Frederick Patterson: Founder, UNCF
Dr. Ronald J. Temple: Chancellor, City Colleges of Chicago
Cornell West: Author
Andrew Zawacki: Rhodes Scholar, Author
Norm Francis: President, Xavier University
Science/Medicine:
Dr. Lessall D. Leffall: President, American College of Surgeons
James Comer: Psychologist
Garrett Morgan: Inventor, Traffic Signal
Louis Sullivan: Secretary of Health and Education
Government/Politics:
Dennis Archer: Mayor of Detroit
Richard Arrington: Mayor of Birmingham
Willie Brown: Mayor of San Francisco
David Dinkins: Former Mayor of New York
Rev. Emmanuel Cleaver: Mayor of Kansas City
Chaka Fattah: Congressman, Pennsylvania
Ernest Finney: South Carolina Supreme Court Justice
Earl Hilliard: Congressman, Alabama (7th District)
Maynard Jackson: Former Mayor of Atlanta
Thurgood Marshall: Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Earnest "Dutch" Morial: 1st Black Mayor of New Orleans
Marc Morial: Mayor of New Orleans
Charles Rangel: Congressman, New York (15th District)
Robert C. Scott: Congressman, Virginia (3rd District)
Andrew Young: Former Mayor of Atlanta
Entertainment:
Tony Brown: Journalist/Producer
Countee Cullen: Poet
Duke Ellington: Jazz Musician
Donny Hathaway: Musician
Eugene Jackson: National Black Network
Stuart Scott: ESPN Anchorman
Keenan Ivory Wayans: Comedian, Producer
Sidney Poitier: Academy Award Winning Actor
Sports:
Quinn Buckner: Former NBA Player and Coach
Wes Chandler: Former NFL Player
Todd Day: NBA Player
Rosie Greer: Former NFL Player
Charles Haley: NFL Player
Michael Jackson: NFL Player
Carnell Lake: NFL Player
Jesse Owens: Olympic Gold Medalist
Fritz Pollard: 1st Black Head Coach in the NFL
Mike Powell: Track Star
Eddie Robinson: Winningest Football Coach in NCAA History
Jackie Robinson: First Black Man in Major League Baseball
Art Shell: Former NFL Player and Coach
Wes Unseld: Former NBA Player and Coach
Gene Upshaw: President of the NFL Players Association
Lenny Wilkens: Winningest Coach in NBA History
John "Hot Rod" Williams: Former NBA Player
Reggie Williams: Cincinnati Bengals