"The opening of the school year, 1905-1906, found at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, a group of black students distributed in the various colleges of the University, who were desirous of maintaining more intimate contacts with one another than their classroom study permitted. They often met in groups during the Autumn of 1905 and talked of the possibilities of closer contacts among themselves. Different ones among them took the lead in calling these meeting, which were informal in every detail."

"As black students in a large American University, they were cut off from the many opportunities for mutual helpfulness which come to groups of students through personal acquaintance and close association. As individuals there were personal contacts of value with other members of the students body, but as a group they were proscribed in their associations. The cleavage, characteristic of this period, had laid the basis for the division even in college life. Many of these students were self-supporting and their resources were limited, and if membership in the university fraternal associations had been permissible, it is probable that advantage could not have been taken of the opportunity. Confronted by the social proscriptions of color common to American institution of this era, hampered by limited means with the attendant circumstances of the average "poor" student, these students faced the future and boldly endeavored to find a way our of their difficulties, scarcely realizing, however, the import of their action on subsequent generations of college students."
Charles H. Wesley

Princes inherit great power and privilege from the pharaohs that come before, but great strength and leadership is expected from them in return. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated has trained collegiate men with the privilege of higher education to uplift our community with a tradition now over 100 years old. Alpha Phi Alpha is the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans and many African-American luminaries have been influenced and shaped by our ideals and standards. Over time, the Fraternity has made important historic contributions to the African- American way of life. Alpha Phi Alpha was founded in 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, only four decades after the formal end of slavery and sixteen years after Cornell's first black graduates; a time when formal black organizations were not only rare, but also dangerous. Regardless, a small group of African American men recognized the need to counter the isolation of aspiring collegiate men of color, and sought to develop a meaningful brotherhood. Our visionary founders, known as the "Jewels" of the Fraternity, are Jewel Brother Henry Arthur Callis, Jewel Brother Charles Henry Chapman, Jewel Brother Eugene Kinckle Jones, Jewel Brother George Biddle Kelley, Jewel Brother Nathaniel Allison Murray, Jewel Brother Robert Harold Ogle, and Jewel Brother Vertner Woodson Tandy. Through our humble beginnings, our Fraternity has established a tradition to make strong individuals and leaders throughout the past, the present, and in the future for those that shall come.

Out of American Slavery, Jim Crow, and unequal segregation, the political economic and social power of the African-American community was systematically dismantled, the effects of which are still being grappled with today. In this light, the founders of Alpha Phi Alpha are more than simple pioneers; they are Black visionaries and early agents of change. The steps taken by our Jewels moved against the prevailing threats of the time to establish a study group, then fraternity, based on simultaneously uplifting its members and their community. These actions transcended the fears of their elders and preceded even the efforts of the NAACP. Alpha Phi Alpha was established as an institution created for leadership, service, open only to college-educated men, and laden with Afro-centric symbols of power from ancient Egypt, Ethiopia.

Shall we never forget December 4, 1906, the historic day Alpha Phi Alpha was officially established. Alpha Phi Alpha evolved from a small study and support group into the incorporated, international, fraternal brotherhood that we are today. The Jewels started out by creating a social study club for minority students who faced racial prejudice, both educationally and socially, at Cornell. From this point there was a desire to create a stronger bond by establishing a fraternity, an action that some members of the club were fearful of. Nonetheless, on December 4, 1906, the Alpha Phi Alpha Society voted into existence Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and our Organization was firmly established with great racial significance, just as the Jewels desired. Soon after our establishment at Cornell, chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity were founded at other colleges and universities, many of them historically Black institutions. With the establishment of multiple chapters along the east coast, the Fraternity soon sought incorporation. The certificate of incorporation for the organization was filed and recorded in the office of the Secretary of the State of New York on January 29th, 1908 as Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. The second incorporation of the Fraternity was granted on April 3, 1912, under the laws of the District of Columbia. The purpose and object of Alpha Phi Alpha was declared to be "educational and for the mutual uplift of its members." The idea of unification among African-American college males was as necessary in the early 1900's as it is today, and many groups of men realized this on campuses across the country. Alpha Phi Alpha chapters were established at a variety of universities, and to join them many aspirants would hasten.

To the struggle of African-Americans and people of color throughout the world, Alpha Phi Alpha's development has supplied a voice and vision. Often the first introduction of African-American solidarity to men coming of age, Alpha Phi Alpha has sought to instill excellence, leadership, scholarship, brotherhood, community awareness, and service amongst all our members. As manifested in our motto "First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All", Alpha Phi Alpha has developed community leaders serving at the forefront of almost every major African-American movement in this country; from the Harlem Renaissance, to the Civil Rights Movement, to influential leaders of the business world today. In 1917, at the outset of World War I, Alpha Phi Alpha men in the Washington D.C. area were pivotal in the movement to establish an Officers Training Camp for Black officers. The training camp at Fort Des Moines during World War II was the fruit of this labor with thirty-two of the commissioned officers being Alpha Phi Alpha men. At the national convention in 1923, support was given to Anti-Lynching efforts and ten delegates were appointed to attend the Negro Sanhedrin so that Alpha Phi Alpha could participate and be well represented. Later, in 1933, a prominent fraternity brother, Belford Lawson, Jr., founded the New Negro Alliance to combat white-run businesses located in predominantly black neighborhoods that wouldn't hire black employees. As the Civil Rights Movement progressed, so did Alpha Phi Alpha with its 50th anniversary being celebrated in 1956 during a fraternal "pilgrimage" to Cornell University. With keynote speaker and fraternity brother Martin Luther King, Jr.'s words, the Fraternity was inspired and charged with finding new initiatives and directives to push into the coming decades. These efforts culminated in new social drives in the 1970s and 1980s that focused on urban housing needs through the erection of three urban housing developments in St. Louis, Missouri and the establishment of the Million Dollar Fund in 1981 to contribute funds to the NAACP, National Urban League and the United Negro College Fund. These are only a few examples of the breadth of Alpha's reach and its integration with the struggle of the African-American in the United States and globally. The richness of Alpha Phi Alpha's history relies on the prominent constituency that it has been built upon. To recognize one of our most prominent members, Brother Martin Luther King Jr., Alpha Phi Alpha has led the charge in providing for the erection of the first memorial in the National Mall to honor an African-American. The Washington D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc. is en route to raising $100 million for construction of this monument to our fallen Brother. Other prominent and influential members of our Fraternity include Frederick Douglas, W.E.B. Dubois, Duke Ellington, Paul Robeson, Countee Cullen, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Jesse Owens, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young, Jackie Robinson, Sidney Poitier, Donny Hathaway, John Johnson, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Lionel Ritchie, Stuart Scott, Cornell West and many others whose legacies over time stretch.

Out of our century of existence, Alpha Phi Alpha has implemented a number of national programs that have benefited the African American community as well as society at large. Our Fraternity's national programs date back to 1919, when Alpha Phi Alpha introduced its "Go-to-High School, Go-to-College" campaign to increase the education level of the African American community. Alpha Phi Alpha later took the lead in the voting rights struggle for African-Americans and coined the internationally renowned phrase, "A Voteless People is a Hopeless People," as part of its effort to register Black voters. This slogan remains the battle cry today for Alpha voter registration efforts. In addition to these national programs, local and metropolitan chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha offer numerous and varied cultural programming and community service events. Unlike many fraternities on college campuses, historically Black Greek-letter organizations continue to pride themselves in selective, highly qualified, motivated, and culturally aware memberships. Our Brothers place community service initiatives first, and Brothers remain active in Fraternity functions long after college requirements have been completed and we have moved on from her.

Hands working diligently in all facets of society, Alpha Phi Alpha continues to be one of the most influential African-American organizations in the world. With over 250,000 members initiated since its inception, Alpha Phi Alpha is the first, largest, and most prestigious Black Greek lettered fraternity including Brothers in over 700 college and graduate chapters in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe. Although it remains a predominantly African-American organization, Alpha Phi Alpha has evolved to welcome all races, creeds, and ethnicities of men who seek to uplift themselves and their respective communities. Born out of a desire to promote close association and mutual support among the small population of African-American males who were college students at the turn of the century, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated continues to provide leadership, development and community service training to men of color as it has for over a century. Our Jewel founders and other early fraternity leaders succeeded in laying a firm foundation for the past century of unparalleled contributions, while also paving the way for another hundred years of transcendent service to all humanity and to God.