IDEALS OF THE FOUNDERS (Continued from page 13) Wendell Phillips speaks of the art of tempering the steel by the early African in his lecture on Lost Arts. Men knew how to shave their hair from their faces long before the Christian era. The early African knew how to extract the metals from the ores. The early Ethiopians invented the banjo, harp, violin, drum, horn, week, month and 365 days and the art of embalming. Accordingly, when the 1905 Xmas vacation came on, Geo. B. Kelley, a resident of Troy, New York, and a student in the College of Civil Engineering was instructed to make a visit to Albany, N. Y., and ascertain from the Secretary of State, the cost and other details necessary to granting us a charter, for a Negro fraternity. If there ever was a group of hungry and thirsty, and expectant colored boys to be found, anywhere at that time, that bunch, previously mentioned, Call is, Ogle, Tandy, Murray, Jones, Morton and Phillips, certainly typified it to the extreme for upon the anticipated answer which Brother Kelley might bring to us would be sounded the death knell or victory for our cherished ambition. When he told us that only six members were necessary to grant the Charter, and that $25.00 together with notarial fees and a few other incidentals was the only financial expense necessary, we wept for joy and began at once to raise the necessary funds to put the deal through. Each member contributed his per capita quota of the necessary expense, and then work began in earnest to find the historical facts upon which we could base our name and existence, and how well we succeeded is attested by this group of college men from all sections of the United States, and at the same time to be inspired by the reports which the various delegates bring to us. These are most encouraging, for they serve as a means of effectively stimulating and stirring up the dying fires of Alpha Phi Alpha, in those chapters whose delegates are apparently not aware of the wonderful work which the fraternity with which they are associated is doing today. I repeat the names and the initials of the founders of this great and glorious fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha: 14
Henry A. Callis, Chicago, 111.: Nathaniel A. Murray, Dunbar High School, Washington, D. C ; George B. Kelley, Troy, N. Y.; Robert H. Ogle, Washington, D. C ; Vertner Tandy, New York City, N. Y.; Gordon H. Jones, New York City, N. Y., and James Morton. In working on our ritual and preamble we spent many long hours in order to perfect a constitution and bylaws which would provide for, and insure a. smooth working basis for our future efforts. Ideas were borrowed from the white fraternities and modified to suit our own initiatory ceremonies, but the last great impression was original with your seven founders, and should not be abolished and not abused as some of us are wanting to do when we are called on to take part in the initiation ceremonies. Again at this time the name of C. C. Poindexter was suggested as on of those who name should have been added to the list of the founders since he had given birth to the idea which brought the boys and the girls together at his residence. But when the idea of organizing a colored fraternity was suggested, he immediately did all he could do to discourage the idea and the majority of the founders agreed that for the reason his name should never be linked with the early history of Alpha Phi Alpha. When asked for financial aid he turned a deaf ear to our pleas. In the early days when his advice and experience would have been a great help to us he was very antagonistic. Our first initiation wah held in a hall on State Street, Ithaca, N. Y. We used robes at that time borrowed from the people fro mwhom we rented the hall. Your humble servant N. A. Murray played the organ. We used as some of our initiation material tobasco sauce, also the culprit was bared to the back with arms behind, tied and his face was blindfolded. He was told to kneel and a red hot paper was passed over and in contact with a large piece of ice as a brand.aw Care was taken to see that no harm (physically) befell the candidate. Next two boards were used to hit him lightly on the head and at the same time a blank pistol was fired. Finally, the last great impression, also a number of other stunts were indulged in that I don't recall at this time. Brother R. G. Ogle was at that time our secretary and had heard that there existed at Ohio State University, a
Negro fraternity with the name of Pi Gamma Omicron. He was therefore instructed to write to the registrar of the above mentioned school and ascertain if the facts were true. He received a negative reply to his letter but that did not prevent the enthusiasm from making up our minds to still carry on. The committee that function at that time was Arthur Callis, Chairman, Kelly, Ogle and Murray. This committee was ordered to devise a proper premise as a base for our ritual work. The name Alpha Phi Alpha was devised by Henry Arthur Callis. George B. Kelley was Vice President, Robert H .Ogle was Secretary and N. A. Murray was Treasurer. The pin was designed by Vertner Tandy. The first permanent meeting place was at 411 East State Street, the home of Mrs. Archie Singleton, which we rented at a nominal figure. The ideals of your founders were for a fraternal organization built squarely upon the solid foundation of quality rather than quanity. This was attested at the time soon after our fraternity was charted and the news of its formation given out to the world at large. Men were not taken into our fraternity simply because they were colored students in the same university as we were. What we wanted and placed special emphasis upon, was men of character, good fellowship, good scholarship, unselfish devotion to our cause, and men who would work and cooperate in unity for the good of Alpha Phi Alpha. The seven men who finally bound themselves together and gave to the world the first organization of Negro college men were actuated by and represented these ideals. Other ideas bespeak our doctrine and creed are to be found written in the preamble of the ritual. Whether we liked certain brothers or not or whether we liked methods of procedure would not influence us one way or the other. Our only aim was to show to the world that we possessed the necessary essentials of good christian brotherhood, and an unselfish devotion to the cause and organization that we represented. No matter what may have been the previous sentiments when the time came for the meetings, they met at 8 o'clock at night and adjourned between two and three o'clock in the morning. After many heated discussion and stormy threats had manifested them(Continued on page IS) The Sphinx I May-June 1974