National History

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for men of African descent was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, December 4th 1906 by seven college men who recognized the need for a strong bond of Brotherhood between African-Americans. The seven founders known as the “Jewels” of the Fraternity are, Brother Henry Arthur Callis, Brother Charles Henry Chapman, Brother Eugene Kinkle Jones, Brother George Biddle Kelley, Brother Nathaniel Allison Murray, Brother Robert Harold Ogle and Brother Vertner Woodson Tandy. The fraternity has grown steadily in its influence throughout the years with a membership over 150,000 since it’s founding on December 4, 1906. There are now over 700 college chapters, and alumni chapters in local communities. These chapters are located in 44 states, the District of Columbia, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the West Indies.Though both the individual and collective effort of Alphamen worldwide, we have contributed to the financial and organizational successes of such organizations as the NAACP, the Urban League, the United Negro College Fund, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and many other well rooted causes.The founders of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. were no ordinary achievers. Given racial attitudes in 1906, their accomplishments were monumental. As founder Henry Arthur Callis euphemistically stated—because the half-dozen African American students at Cornell University during the school year 1904-05 did not return to campus the following year, the incoming students in 1905-06, in founding Alpha Phi Alpha, were determined to bind themselves together to ensure that each would survive in the racially hostile environment. In coming together with this simple act, they preceded by decades the emergence of such on-campus programs as affirmative action, upward bound and remedial assistance. The students set outstanding examples of scholarship, leadership and success—preceding the efforts even of the NAACP and similar civil rights organizations.