Alpha Phi Alpha history is African American History.
Alpha Phi Alpha has been involved in most of the events that
have sculpted today's society. It is possible that you have
even read about an Alpha man without your knowledge. Alpha and
it's Brothers have a reputation for reaching goals that many
others only think and/or talk about.
Brother Martin Luther King, Jr.
One of the world's best known advocates of non-violent
social change strategies, and Brother from Sigma Chapter
Martin Luther King, Jr., drew his ideas from many different
cultural traditions. Every year Sigma chapter holds commemorative
events to honor Brother King.
Born in Atlanta on January 15, 1929, King's roots were
in the African-American Baptist church. On December 5,
1955, five days after Montgomery civil rights activist
Rosa Parks (Alpha Kappa Alpha) refused to obey the city's
rules mandating segregation on buses, black residents
launched a bus boycott and elected King as president of
the newly-formed Montgomery Improvement Association.
King gained national prominence as a result of his exceptional
oratorical skills and personal courage. King's renown
grew as he became Time magazine's Man of the Year and,
in December 1964, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
He was assassinated on April 4, 1968, while seeking to
assist a garbage workers' strike in Memphis. To date,
King is the only American (excluding U.S. Presidents)
to be honored with a Federal holiday.
Brother Paul Robeson
In the annals of Alpha's history, no one man has exemplified
the spirit of an Alphaman more than Brother Paul Robeson.
Born in 1898, he was a world famous scholar, athlete,
actor, singer and civil rights activist.
Entering Rutgers University on an academic scholarship,
Brother Robeson excelled in athletics and earned a
combined 12 letters in track, football, baseball and
basketball.
During his senior year, he earned All-American honors
in football and graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors
as well as the distinction of being named a Rhodes
Scholar. In 1923, he received his law degree from
Columbia University, where he was discovered acting in
a school play.
Brother Robeson went on to star in numerous productions
including Porgy and Bess and Othello, where his outstanding
voice was well received. Traveling the world, Robeson
spoke several languages including Chinese, Russian,
Gaelic and Spanish.
In 1945, he was awarded the NAACP's Spingarn Medal
for his outstanding achievements in the theater
and on the concert stage. Brother Paul Robeson,
arguably the most versatile black man of all-time, died
in Philadelphia on January 23, 1976.
Brother Thurgood Marshall
Brother Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993), was the first African-American
justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He
served as an associate justice from 1967 until his
retirement in 1991.
As a justice, Brother Marshall took liberal positions
on a wide variety of issues, including capital punishment,
free speech, school desegregation, and affirmative
action. From 1940 to 1961, he was director and chief counsel
for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Marshall is perhaps best known for arguing, before the
Supreme Court, Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark
case declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
Brother Jesse Owens
James Cleveland Owens was born in Danville, Alabama in
1913. After his family moved to Ohio, he became known
as "Jesse", derived from his initials "J.C.
Brother Owens competed as a runner while at Ohio State
University, setting two world records. At the 1936 Olympics
in Berlin, Adolf Hitler put on a massive propaganda
campaign claiming that Aryan supremacy would win the games
for the Nordic countries.
Brother Owens, a Black man, won gold medals in four events,
beating several world records and embarrassing the Nazis.
Brother Owens died in 1980.
Brother Duke Ellington
Born in 1899, Edward Kennedy Ellington created thousands
of musical works, led his famous orchestra for an unmatched
stretch of fifty years, and earned his nickname,Duke,
by setting the standard for sophistication and elegance.
Always a modernist, he made countless contributions to
the jazz art form, and his music continues to be rediscovered
and re-interpreted by every new generation of artists.
Today, more than 20 years after Brother Ellington's death
in 1974, musicians and scholars are still uncovering new
riches in the trove of materials that he left behind.
Brother Duke Ellington was, to use a phrase he coined,
BEYOND CATEGORY.
Brother Eddie Robinson
There is little doubt among the informed that, by definition,
Brother Eddie G. Robinson is a legend. His pursuit of
coaching excellence is intense, devoted, and resolute.
Brother Robinson's success in this lifelong endeavor is
recorded in his more than a half century of college coaching
(54 years at the college level) and his win record of
more than 400 games.
Affectionately known as "Coach Rob", he retired
from his position as Head Coach of Grambling University
in 1997, the winning-est coach in football history.
Brother David Dinkins
David Dinkins served as mayor of New York City from 1989
until 1993. He is currently Professor in the Practice
of Public Affairs at Columbia University's School of
International and Public Affairs, serves as Senior Fellow
at the Barnard-Columbia Center for Leadership in Urban
Public Policy, and hosts a public affairs radio program
on WLIB-AM.
He also is a member of the board or the advisory committee
of several non-profit groups, including the Association
to Benefit Children, the Association for a Better New
York, and the March of Dimes.
