Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Kappa Alpha Psi®, a college Fraternity, was born in an environment saturated in racism. The state of Indiana became the 19th state of the Union in 1816 and it founded Indiana University in Bloomington four years later. This city was largely populated by settlers from below the Mason-Dixon line and therefore found many sympathizers of the Southern cause. Consequently, the few Blacks who took up residence in Bloomington in those early years were socially ostracized and encountered extreme acts of prejudice and discrimination. The state of Indiana became a stronghold for the Ku Klux Klan. Their intolerance toward Blacks fueled the negative mindset of other Whites residing there. Vigilante lynchings of Blacks were commonplace. This environment made day-to-day life for Blacks an arduous task and attempts to successfully achieve in school, nearly impossible. Despite the growing hostility of Whites toward Blacks in Indiana, some Black students sought a college education at Indiana University, as it was a tuition-free university of the highest quality. However, few Blacks could remain longer than a year or so without having to withdraw in search of employment.
​
The campus of Indiana University at that time did not encourage the assimilation of Blacks. The administration maintained an attitude of indifference, as Blacks slowly matriculated and were likewise swiftly forgotten. The percentage of Blacks on campus was less than 1%. Blacks could go weeks without seeing one another on campus. Blacks were not allowed to reside in on-campus dormitories, were not afforded off-campus accommodations, and they were also denied the use of all other university facilities, and were barred from participating in contact sports. Track and Field was the only sport which Blacks were able to demonstrate their athleticism.
​
In the school years of 1910-11, a small group of Black students attended Indiana University.
Most of them were working their way through school. The number of places where they might assemble was limited. Realizing that they had no part in the social life of the university and drawn together by common interests, they decided that a Greek-letter fraternity would do much to fill the missing link in their college existence.
​
Two of these men, Elder Watson Diggs and Byron Kenneth Armstrong, had previously attended Howard University and had come into contact with men belonging to the only national Black Greek-Letter Fraternity currently in existence. Their experiences at Howard gave rise to the chief motivating spirits which sowed of the seed for a fraternity at Indiana University and crystallized the idea of establishing an independent Greek-letter organization. Consequently, eight other men met with Diggs and Armstrong for the purpose of organizing such a fraternity. The Founders were God-fearing, and serious minded young men who possessed the imagination, ambition, courage and determination to defy custom in pursuit of a college education and careers. The ideals of the church were an important foundation of the Fraternity. One of the 5 Objectives of the Fraternity is: “To promote the spiritual, social, intellectual and moral welfare of members.” Many aspects of the Fraternity’s rites are engrained in Christianity ideals and contain excerpts from the Bible.The charter members were
Elder Watson Diggs
Byron K. Armstrong
John M. Lee
Henry T. Asher
Marcus P. Blakemore
Guy L. Grant
Paul W. Caine
George W. Edmonds
Ezra D. Alexander
Edward G. Irvin
​
Kappa Alpha Psi®, now comprised of functioning Undergraduate and Alumni Chapters on major campuses and in cities throughout the country, is the crystallization of a dream. Kappa Alpha Psi® is the 2nd oldest existing collegiate historically Black Greek Letter Fraternity and the 1st intercollegiate Fraternity incorporated as a national body.. The Fraternity has over 125,000 members with 700 undergraduate and alumni chapters in nearly every state of the United States, and international chapters in Nigeria, South Africa, the West Indies, the United Kingdom, Germany, Korea and Japan.
​
Through its worldwide prominence, Kappa Alpha Psi® has had a global impact on events which affect our local communities as well as places around the globe. Local chapters of Kappa Alpha Psi® participate in community outreach activities to feed the homeless, provide scholarships to young people matriculating to college, serve as mentors to young men, participate in blood drives and serve as hosts of seminars for public health awareness to name a few.
​
Kappa Alpha Psi® proudly boasts of members who epitomize the very essence of Achievement in Every Field of Human Endeavor. Some of these members include: Ralph Abernathy, Wilt Chamberlin, Montell Jordan, Benjamin Jealous, Oscar Robertson, Cedric the Entertainer, Arthur Ashe, Mike Tomlin, Gayle Sayers, Adrian Fenty, Robert S. Abbott, Bennie Thompson, Donald Byrd, Johnnie Cochran, Ed Gardner, Smokie Norful, John Singleton, Tom Bradley, Bob Johnson, John Conyers, Alcee Hastings, Lerone Bennett, Jr., Kwame Jackson, Bill Russell, Tavis Smiley, Marvin Sapp, and Colin Kaepernick to name a few.
​
