Fraternity

Founding

Alpha Phi Alpha™, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American men, was founded on December 4, 1906™ at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, by seven college men who recognized the need for a strong bond of brotherhood among African descendants in this country.

Alpha Phi Alpha chapters were established at other colleges and universities, many of them historically black institutions, soon after the founding at Cornell. The first alumni chapter was established in 1911. While continuing to stress academic excellence among its members, Alpha also recognized the need to help correct the educational, economic, political, and social injustices faced by African Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha has long stood at the forefront of the African-American community’s fight for civil rights through leaders such as W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, William Gray, Paul Robeson, and many others. True to its form as the “first of firsts,” Alpha Phi Alpha has been interracial since 1945.

Since its founding on December 4, 1906™, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has supplied voice and vision to the struggle of African Americans and people of color around the world.

Membership

Alpha Phi Alpha’s membership is predominantly African-American in composition with brothers in over 750 college and graduate chapters in the United States, the District of Columbia, the Caribbean, Bermuda, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Since its founding in 1906, more than 290,000 men have joined the membership of Alpha Phi Alpha and a large percentage of leadership within the African-American community in the 20th century originated from the ranks of the fraternity.

The chief significance of Alpha Phi Alpha lies in its purpose to stimulate,develop, and cement an intelligent, trained leadership in the unending fight for freedom, equality, and fraternity. Our task is endless.

Jewel Bro. Dr. Henry A. Callis
6th General President

General Presidents

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated: A Century of Leadership