The historical context of this moment in Alpha History begins with the understanding of what emerged prior to our founding to the present day that has set Alpha Phi Alphaapart from the rest. In the post-Reconstruction United States, Black Americans struggled against increasing resistance on the part of Whites to accept them as equal citizens despite the fact that slavery had been abolished. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution passed in 1868 guaranteeing all born or naturalized residents of the U.S. equal protection under the law lived and experience fell far short of the letter of the law. In myriad of ways, discrimination against and oppression of Black people continued to worsen throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. Institutionalized by the so-called Jim Crow laws, Blacks in the U.S. struggled to actualize the rights granted to them under the Constitution.
There are two particular cases that come to mind. The Dred Scott decision or Dred Scott v. John F.A. Sandford, in which the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857 ruled (7–2) that a slave (Dred Scott), which he resided in a free state and territory (where slavery was prohibited) was not thereby entitled to his freedom; that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States; and that the Missouri Compromise (1820), which had declared free all territories west of Missouri and part north, was unconstitutional. The decision added fuel to obtaining equal rights and pushed the country closer to civil war. Another major court case, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) ruled against Plessy and upheld laws enforcing segregation in railway car accommodations on the condition that the facilities were of equal quality. This decision became known as the “separate but equal” principle—the cornerstone of Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws also blocked most blacks from voting in public elections, charging poll taxes, which most blacks could not afford, and required blacks to pass literacy tests not required of whites. Deprived of a formal education, most blacks could not read and write well and failed these tests.
According to a report published by the NAACP in 1919 titled: Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States: 1889–1918, over 2,522 Black Americans were lynched, burned alive, or hacked to death, and I quote referred to as “nigger, monkey, ape, or made reference that you don’t belong in this country”. Thus, lynching remains one of the most violent form of discrimination in the United States. As prejudice, discrimination, and violence against Blacks increased, two prominent Black leaders emerged and made the call to action for the Black community in the late 19th and 20th century. Brother Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, who cuttingly disagreed on strategies for Black social and economic progress of opposing philosophies, debatably discussed how to end class and racial injustice and the role of black leadership defined. However, in the year of 1905, Brother Dr. DuBois made a conscious effort and gathered other Black leaders to meet in Niagara Falls, Canada, to map out a strategy to fight prejudice in America. This became known as the Niagara Movement. Their focus was broad to include voting rights for Blacks, rights to a good education, better job opportunities, equal treatment as Whites before the law in courts, and an end to Jim Crow laws. The all-black “national strategy board” helped chart a new and more radical course toward social and racial justice.
The Niagara Movement’s manifesto is, in the words of Du Bois, “we want full manhood suffrage and we want it now…. We are men! We want to be treated as men. And we shall win”. Four decades later after slavery and sixteen years after the first African-American students graduated from Cornell University, during the 1905-1906 academic school year, the response came after the feeling of isolation and the real challenges of being Black students scattered broadly across the campus Cornell University, it was then that a few educated Black young students, decided to create a social study club. This club served the dual purpose of helping the men with scholastic studies as well as providing a structure to bond and fellowship. These young men envisioned a solid foundation of leadership, scholarship, and brotherhood to conceptualize a model for all other Black Greek-letter fraternities to follow, transforming the lives of its members and providing the country with some of its most distinguished leaders of the modern era. On Tuesday, December 4th 1906, during a period through the racial barriers of the time, seven young men founded and conceptualized Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans, in Ithaca, New York.
Now present day, as we begin to see a wave of new Brothers being made into Alphadom, as they will one day lead and represent the future of Alpha Phi Alpha, Fraternity Inc. However, there has been this malfeasance representation regarding who we are and what we are not becoming as Alpha Men. This strong misnomer that ONE symbol or image represents our magnificent legacy, stepped in culture, history, and things we hold sacred left to us by our Jewels is displayed in pictures, videos, step shows, or presentations of new Brothers is baffling. This recurring symbol or image has become the new norm or what is expected of us as Alpha Men. I ask, are we willing to debase our heritage and legacy that has been entrusted to the Brothers of this great fraternity to be misinterpreted? Here is a stark reminder to any Brother that reverts back to any stage of IMDP after becoming a Brother is a BACKWARD STEP. Alpha Men do not take BACKWARD STEPS. We should not lose the emphasis on protocol for the Brotherhood that is characterized in our appearance or display as Alpha Men. It is abundantly clear that the protection and perpetuation of Alpha Phi Alpha’s history and branding should be undertaken as a total and collective effort. Brothers, whatever we don’t correct, we accept.
This is your moment in Alpha History.
Brother Sean C. Hall
Historian