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At
the beginning of the school
year, 1905-1906, at Cornell
University, Ithaca New York,
several Black students saw
the need to maintain more
intimate contacts with one
another than their classroom
study permitted. These men
often met during the Autumn
of 1905 to discuss the possibilities
of closer contacts with
themselves. As Black students
at a supremely white institution,
they found themselves cut
off from the many opportunities
for mutual helpfulness,
which come to groups of
students through personal
acquaintance and close association.
Confronted with the issues
of race and negative societal
factors, these young men
boldly endeavored to find
a way out of their difficulties.
Eight of these interested
male students were: Henry
Arthur Callis, Vertner W.
Tandy, George B. Kelley,
Charles Henry Chapman, Nathaniel
A. Murray, Robert H. Ogle,
Morgan T. Phillips, George
Tompkins, and C.C. Pointdexter.
Two similar yet different
motives competed in the
minds of these students:
to create a social and literary
society and to create a
fraternity.
With the desire to organize
a social and literary group
in mind, C.C. Pointdexter
took the lead in calling
a meeting at his lodging
place, the residence of
Edward Newton, 421 North
Albany St, Ithaca, New York.
In March of 1906, one of
these meetings was held
at the residence of Mr.
Archie Singleton, 411 East
State Street, Ithaca, New
York where Robert H. Ogle
and Morgan T. Phillips resided.
C.C. Pointdexter continued
to act as chairman. The
following school year it
was agreed to obtain Masonic
Hall (also known as Odd
Fellows Hall and Red Men's
Hall) for Tuesday, October
30, 1906 for the purpose
of initiation. Though not
a fraternity yet, this move
was very "fraternal"
in nature. On October 27,
a momentous event occurred
as George B. Kelley presented
a name, worked by Callis
and Jones, for the organization:
Alpha Phi Alpha. The first
initiation was held as planned
on October 30, 1906 and
was preceded by a banquet,
which was arranged by a
Mrs. Rose Cohen.
Within the social studies
club a division of ideologies
had begun to form. One ideology,
led by the older C.C. Pointdexter,
held that the organization's
best goals could be achieved
at the level of a social
studies club. Another ideology
led by such men as Kelley,
Murray and Chapman saw the
organization becoming a
fraternal order. On a meeting
held on Dec. 4, 1906 the
momentous occasion came.
Pointdexter, realizing the
direction the organization
would soon take, submitted
his letter of resignation.
With Pointdexter now absent,
Kelley presided in the chair
and Callis acted as Secretary.
It was Murray who made the
motion that the group expresses
its decision upon "whether
the organization continue
with the idea of becoming
a fraternity or continue
as an organization for mutual
benefit." The decision
was made by majority vote
that the organization should
become a fraternity. Hereafter,
the ideas and dreams of
several young men would
be born in the first Black
college letter organization
in the United States: Alpha
Phi Alpha Fraternity. |
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