The First African American Fraternities

Alpha Phi Alpha
Image source: Alpha Phi Alpha members

Social fraternities first appeared at East Carolina in the 1950s following sustained and ultimately successful efforts by a group of male students to secure permission from the Board of Trustees for such social groups on campus. Shortly after the board approved Greek social organizations, fraternities and sororities soon multiplied, quickly becoming attractive centers of social life for many undergraduates.

A major development in Greek life occurred in the early 1970s, less than a decade after East Carolina desegregated, as Greek organizations for African American men and women appeared in rapid succession. These African American fraternities and sororities provided the small but growing African American student body with social organizations helping them navigate the challenges facing a minority group. African American students numbered approximately 200 in 1970, at an overwhelmingly white campus of some 10,000 students.

The resulting transformation of Greek life at ECU was well documented in the Ebony Herald, a student newspaper founded in the mid-1970s for African American students, as well as in the Buccaneer, the student yearbook. However, the Fountainhead, devoted little coverage to these developments. Only after publication of Ebony Herald ceased in the mid-1980s did the student newspaper devote substantial coverage to African American Greek life.

Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest African American fraternity in the U.S., led the way at ECU when it established a chapter, Eta Nu, April 3, 1971, thus becoming the school’s first African American fraternity. According to the Fountainhead,  ECU was a leader on this count, being one of only two predominantly white campuses south of the Mason-Dixon Line to have an African American fraternity. The other campus was the University of Miami. Upon its entry into the Interfraternity Council in 1971, Alpha Phi Alpha included 10 members. Its officers were John Clark, president, Jimmy Lewis, vice president, and Ken Hammond, treasurer. According to the brothers, the Alpha fraternity ethic was “the unity of all,” and its purpose, “to promote brotherhood, understanding, and a cohesive unity.”

Early on the Alpha fraternity sponsored tutoring programs for high school students, a Thanksgiving food drive, and visits to nursing homes and rest homes in the Greenville area. The brothers also entertained the campus with “step shows” in front of the Wright Building Soda Shop, at the Mendenhall Student Union, and at basketball games. The Alpha brothers also organized various functions at the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center.

Alpha Phi Alpha also worked to address racial discrimination off-campus. In 1983 Alpha Phi Alpha brought attention to a national campaign for a boycott of the beer maker Anheuser-Busch for discrimination in their hiring practices and sale of distributorships against African Americans. The Alpha’s set up a table at the Student Supply Store and asked students to sign the petition supporting the boycott.

As a national organization, Alpha Phi Alpha traces its history back to Cornell University when a group of seven men, the “Jewel founders,” realizing that social life for African American students was “almost nonexistent,” formed a study and support group for minority students facing racial prejudice, educationally and socially, at Cornell. On October 23, 1906, the group became a social fellowship, with the Greek name, Alpha Phi Alpha. Famous Alphas include W. E. B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Dick Gregory, Edward Brooke, Dr. Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, Julian Bond, and Paul Robeson.

The second African American fraternity on campus, Omega Psi Phi, established its Upsilon Zeta chapter on May 15, 1973. At the national level, the fraternity was founded at Howard University in 1911. Its members, known as “Ques,” uphold “the principles of manhood, scholarship, perseverance and uplift.” Also emphasized is service to the community and campus. Prominent Omegas include Jackie Robinson, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Vernon Jordan.

Kappa Alpha Psi – the third African American fraternity – established the Eta Psi Chapter on February 23, 1975. On campus, the fraternity traces its origins, however, to a group known as “Men Interested in Kappa” (MIK) founded in 1973. The next year, a pledge period began, with the initiation of its founding members in 1974. By 1978, it was the largest African American fraternity on campus. At the national level, Kappa Alpha Psi was founded in 1911 at Indiana University. Prominent Kappas include Dr. Ralph Abernathy, Wilt Chamberlain, Billy Taylor, Arthur Ashe, Mayor Thomas Bradley, Johnnie Cochran, and Colin Kaepernick.

In addition to promoting “finer manhood and brotherhood,” Kappa Alpha Psi promotes “the spiritual, social, moral, and intellectual welfare of the greater society of man.” Among its service projects early on were a fund-raising drive for Sickle Cell Anemia patients, a fund-raiser for the Free Joanne Little Campaign, and political work for the campaign of Howard Lee for lieutenant governor. The fraternity also sponsored community projects such as the Big Brother Program and a Christmas program for Greenville children. In addition to their Sweet Heart Ball, the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity sponsored, for homecoming events, a Miss Kappa Alpha Psi.

By the late 1970s, successive African American Greek organizations highlighted the diversifying of campus life.   While challenges remained for many faculty, staff, and students, African American fraternities and sororities assisted in the transition away from the racial segregation and discrimination that just a generation before had constituted the status quo at ECU. All three fraternities are still active at ECU.

Sources

Additional Related Material

Fountainhead Vol. 2, No. 40
Fountainhead Vol. 2, No. 40
Buccaneer 1972
Buccaneer 1972

Citation InformationTitle: The First African American Fraternities

Author: John A. Tucker, PhD

Date of Publication: 6/25/2019

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