THE FOUNDING OF ALPHA PHI ALPHA
Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American Men, 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 seven 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.
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 established at other colleges and universities, many of them historically black institutions, soon after the founding at Cornell. The first alumni chapter was established in 1911. 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. Alpha Phi Alpha has long stood at the forefront of the African-American community’s fight for civil rights through leaders such as W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, William Gray, Paul Robeson, and many others. True to its form as the “first of firsts,” Alpha Phi Alpha has been interracial since 1945.
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.
_edited.jpg)
IOTA MU LAMBDA CHAPTER
The Iota Mu Lambda Chapter was chartered on April 5, 1969. The Charter members are Brothers Jesse L. Barron**, James R. Randall**, Joseph St. Amant**, Charles Lassiter, James Whitfield Reed**, Olyn Walker, and Willie C. Stewart. Brothers with ** by their names designates charter members who are now in our chapter of sweet rest, the Omega chapter.
Our chapter key is 512 and our seat is in Tacoma, WA. We are the third Alumni chapter of the Great Northwest District of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and we belong in the Great Northwest District of the Western Region of our Fraternity.
Chapter activities includes feeding Tacoma homeless citizens, participating in the March of Dimes and American Cancer Society, Voter Registration and Education programs, mentoring at the Boys & Girls Club, and raising scholarship funds for African American males who are seniors.