About
Kappa Alpha Psi is a college Fraternity that was born in an environment saturated in racism. The state of Indiana became a stronghold for the Ku Klux Klan. Despite the growing hostility of Whites toward Blacks in Indiana, some Black students sought a college education at Indiana University, as it was a tuition-free university of the highest quality. However, few Blacks could remain longer than a year or so without having to withdraw in search of employment.
In the school years of 1910-11, a small group of Black students attended Indiana University.
Most of them were working their way through school. The number of places where they might assemble was limited. Realizing that they had no part in the social life of the university and drawn together by common interests, they decided that a Greek-letter fraternity would do much to fill the missing link in their college existence.
Two of these men, Elder Watson Diggs and Byron Kenneth Armstrong, had previously attended Howard University and had come into contact with men belonging to the only national Black Greek-Letter Fraternity currently in existence. Their experiences at Howard gave rise to the chief motivating spirits which sowed of the seed for a fraternity at Indiana University and crystallized the idea of establishing an independent Greek-letter organization.
Consequently, eight other men met with Diggs and Armstrong for the purpose of organizing such a fraternity. The charter members were Elder Watson Diggs, Byron K. Armstrong, John M. Lee, Henry T. Asher, Marcus P. Blakemore, Guy L. Grant, Paul W. Caine, George W. Edmonds, Ezra D. Alexander and Edward G. Irvin. The Founders sought one another’s company between classes and dropped by one another’s places of lodging to further discuss the means of formulating the fledgling fraternity in an effort to relieve the depressing isolation. They found that through these close interactions, they had common interests and a close bond began to emerge.
The Founders were God-fearing, and serious minded young men who possessed the imagination, ambition, courage and determination to defy custom in pursuit of a college education and careers. The ideals of the church were an important foundation of the Fraternity. One of the 5 Objectives of the Fraternity is: “To promote the spiritual, social, intellectual and moral welfare of members.” Many aspects of the Fraternity’s rites are engrained in Christianity ideals and contain excerpts from the Bible.
It was clear at the outset that the new fraternity would not warm over principles or practices of other organizations. Nor would the new Fraternity seek its members in the manner of other Greek organizations – from among the sons of wealthy families or families of social prestige. These men of vision decided the Fraternity would be more than another social organization. Reliance would be placed upon high Christian ideals and the purpose of ACHIEVEMENT.
On January 5th, 1911, the Fraternity then became known as Kappa Alpha Nu. These men of vision decided Kappa Alpha Nu would be more than another social organization. It would be the only Greek-letter organization founded with the concept of achievement. Kappa Alpha Nu began uniting college men of culture, patriotism and honor in a bond of fraternity. Kappa Alpha Nu became the first incorporated Black Fraternity in the United States once granted a charter by the Indiana Secretary of State on May 15, 1911.
The name of Fraternity and the image it portrayed was of paramount importance. The Founders changed the name of the Fraternity. The Greek Letter Ψ was chosen in place of N and the Fraternity acquired a distinctive Greek letter symbol and Kappa Alpha Psi thereby became an indistinguishable Greek-letter Fraternity. The name was officially changed to Kappa Alpha Psi on a resolution adopted at the Grand Chapter Meeting in December 1914. This change became effective April 15, 1915.
It is a fact of which Kappa Alpha Psi is proud that the Constitution has never contained any clause which either excluded or suggested the exclusion of a man from membership merely because of his color, creed, or national origin.
Kappa Alpha Psi is the 2nd oldest existing collegiate historically Black Greek Letter Fraternity and the 1st intercollegiate Fraternity incorporated as a national body. The Fraternity has over 125,000 members with 700 undergraduate and alumni chapters in nearly every state of the United States, and international chapters in Nigeria, South Africa, the West Indies, the United Kingdom, Germany, Korea and Japan.
Through its worldwide prominence, Kappa Alpha Psi has had a global impact on events which affect our local communities as well as places around the globe. Local chapters of Kappa Alpha Psi participate in community outreach activities to feed the homeless, provide scholarships to young people matriculating to college, serve as mentors to young men, participate in blood drives and serve as hosts of seminars for public health awareness to name a few. Nationally, Kappa Alpha Psi has provided summer enrichment camps and provided funds for St. Jude Medical Research Center to assist in the fight against childhood catastrophic diseases by raising more than $1 Million. Internationally, Kappa Alpha Psi members have answered the call to service by proudly serving our military in wars since WWI and raising funds to assist those in need following natural disasters around the world, including hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons and earthquakes.
Kappa Alpha Psi proudly boasts of members who epitomize the very essence of Achievement in Every Field of Human Endeavor. Some of these members include: Ralph Abernathy, Wilt Chamberlin, Montell Jordan, Benjamin Jealous, Oscar Robertson, Cedric the Entertainer, Arthur Ashe, Mike Tomlin, Gayle Sayers, Adrian Fenty, Robert S. Abbott, Bennie Thompson, Donald Byrd, Johnnie Cochran, Ed Gardner, Smokie Norful, John Singleton, Tom Bradley, Bob Johnson, John Conyers, Alcee Hastings, Lerone Bennett, Jr., Kwame Jackson, Bill Russell, Tavis Smiley, Marvin Sapp, and Colin Kaepernick to name a few.