National History

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. Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans, was founded 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. The visionary founders, known as the "Jewels" of the Fraternity, are Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy.

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, Inc. has provided leadership, development and community service training to men for nearly a century. Thanks largely to its visionary founders and dedicated early leaders, the Fraternity has become the most prestigious organization of its kind in existence today.

The Fraternity initially served as a study and support group for minority students who faced racial prejudice, both educationally and socially at Cornell. The Jewel founders and early leaders of the Fraternity succeeded in laying a firm foundation for Alpha Phi Alpha's principles of scholarship, fellowship, good character, and the uplifting of humanity.

Alpha Phi Alpha chapters were developed at other colleges and universities, many of them historically black institutions, soon after the founding at Cornell. 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 (The organization has been interracial since 1945).

More than 175,000 men have joined the ranks of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc, since the organization’s founding in 1906. The Fraternity is international with local chapters located throughout the United States, District of Columbia, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and Africa.