Brothers, our chapter will be celebrating 84 years of service to the Durham/Chapel Hill communities. Since our founding on May 7th, 1938, Beta Theta Lambda has grown over the years from impacting our communities to strengthening the bond of Brotherhood that has been felt for 84 years. As we celebrate our Founders Day with our banquet on April 23rd, for the next few days, I will highlight “The Pioneers” who were credited for establishing the 152nd “House of Alpha”. Their desire was twofold: there were things that they should be doing in Durham, and they were desirous of paving the way for an undergraduate chapter at the time North Carolina College for Negroes now North Carolina Central University. So today we highlight our “Pioneer”:
Brother Dr. Alfonso “Toby” Elder, a civil rights advisor and the second President of North Carolina College. Brother Elder was a charter member of Eta Lambda in 1920. He received his A.B. degree from Atlanta University in 1921 and began teaching at Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C. During the academic year 1922–23, he taught mathematics at the Elizabeth City State Teachers’ College, in Elizabeth City. Noted as a “distinguished scholar and hearty companion”, he earned an M.A. in Mathematics and M.Ed. from the Teacher’s College, Columbia University in 1924 and was affiliated with the Eta Chapter on campus. He completed post-graduate work at the University of Chicago during the summers of 1930 and 1931 and at the University of Cambridge, England. In 1938, he received his Ed.D. degree from Columbia University.
Brother Elder returned to North Carolina to work for the NC State Board of Education. From 1924 to 1943, he served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the North Carolina College for Negroes, where he was appointed professor of education earlier in 1924. In 1943, he left the college to accept a temporary position as Chairman of the Graduate Department of Education at Atlanta University. During his tenure there, he later became the Dean of the Graduate School of Education. Brother Elder returned to North Carolina College to serve as head of the Graduate Department of Education. Upon the passing of Dr. Shepard and being that he was the only other executive North Carolina College had known, the board elected to have Brother Elder replace Dr. Shepard. He was inaugurated as the second President of the North Carolina College in June 1948. There he championed faculty governance and records indicated he lived by the motto “Excellence without excuse: a shared responsibility.” He also led efforts for the establishment of the Student Government Association, women and men assemblies, Student Welfare Committee, expanded academic programs, and other student organizations on campus.
During his presidency, sit-ins were rampant in 1957 and 1960. Although he did not physically participate in the movements, during some of his speeches, he offered suggestions to the Black students could use to leverage change asking “how does the possession of tremendous power and its accompanying responsibilities affect the Negro? The answer is obvious. The Negro is a human being and whatever affects other human beings affect him.”
He also stated in 1962 in an address to the faculty and staff that “to the amazement of many persons, we have seen our students achieve through social action what was thought to be impossible. It is, therefore, past the time in which they must achieve what some may now think is impossible in the area of intellectual achievement.”
During a speech on February 25, 1962, at Duke University titled “The Responsibility of the University to Society,” he discussed the responsibility of the college when it came to student protests of segregation. He stated that “persons do not always distinguish in their thinking between what the school actually is and what they think that the school ought to be. The assumption is conflicts and confusion arise regarding the responsibility of the university or college to individuals and individuals to the school from a misunderstanding or disagreement regarding the purposes of the institution, that is, what the school is designed to do.”
He also added that he would not “dictate how students apply what they have learned. When social action is taken the school can only hope that a good job of teaching has been done. If the action taken reflects the use of high level of intelligence and the use of a value system which has been refined through reflection and study of man’s noblest aspirations, then the school can take a measure of pride in action.”
In the final years of his presidency, Brother Elder delivered a speech in March 1962 titled “Quality Education” at North Carolina College, he spoke on racial bias and socioeconomic issues of the impact on N.C.C. students’ academic success. He stated “there are many causes for the relatively poor showing; some of these causes go back to the poor elementary and high school training; some are attributable to the cultural poverty of many of the homes from which students come from; some are attributable simply to relatively low level of aspirations on the part of some of the students…The rapid expansion of knowledge, the increase in technical competence required for high-level jobs, and the struggle to avert national annihilation calls for a tremendous surge forward in both the quality and quantity of education provided.” Before his retirement in 1963 as President Emeritus, he oversaw the integration of North Carolina College during the Civil Rights Era.
He was an intricate part in establishing Beta Theta Lambda and was one of the leading proponents in helping establish the Gamma Beta Chapter seated at North Carolina Central University. Active in numerous professional and civic organizations, he was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the first Mayor’s Committee on Human Relations in Durham. In addition, he was treasurer of the North Carolina Teachers Association; a member of the board of directors of the Durham County Tuberculosis and Health Association, the Mutual Building and Loan Association, the Lincoln Hospital, the Resource Education Commission, and Family Services, Inc.; a member of the board of trustees of Hammock’s Beach Corporation for Teachers; and chairman of the Committee of the National Clinic on Teacher Education.
Brother Dr. Alfonso “Toby” Elder entered Omega Chapter on August 7, 1974, and was interred at Beechwood Cemetery, Durham. The student union is named in his honor.
This is your moment in Alpha history.
Brother Sean C. Hall, Historian