Imperatives of Alpha men for the Brother WARREN PALMER is Professor of Education at the University of Michigan. This article was adapted from his speech at the chartering ceremony of Mu Gamma Chapter at Georgia College, Milledgeville, Georgia.
I am especially proud to be addressing members of my fraternity; your fraternity; a fraternity which has as its motto "First of All, Servants of All, We transcend all." There is no doubt in my mind that Alpha has lived up to its motto. Let's just for a brief moment review the record for the purpose of corroborating the fact that Alpha has in fact been first, servants, and transcending. We were indeed the first Black fraternity organized in these United States in the year 1906 at Cornell University. In this respect Alpha served as the vanguard for other Black fraternities and sororities which have later come into prominence. Yes, it was in 1906 that the first Black Greek letter fraternity evolved from what was called a social study and literary club. In that year a group of young Black students at Cornell University discussed and felt the need for an organization that would bring them closer together since there were so few of them enrolled at Cornell at the time. There are indeed analogous situations existing at colleges today which, I firmly believe, serve as the determining factors for organizing a chapter of APA fraternity. As you know, in the not too distant past, a number of external forces have interacted to bring pressure upon colleges, which once had their doors closed to Blacks, to open them up so that Black boys and girls may enjoy equal opportunity to an education. You know who and what these forces were. To name a few, they were the civil rights movement led by Brother Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., mandates from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; and the federal and state Courts of the United States. Although such colleges and universities have suddenly gotten enough religion to open their doors to Black boys and girls for the purpose of improving themselves in the cognitive domain, little or no provisions were made for them in the affective domain. That is, nothing is being mandated or done to give these Black boys and girls any kind of positive image about themselves or putting it another way, to make them feel as though they are an integral part of the college, university or community life. To me, a good self image of one's self is of paramount importance in the development of well-rounded individuals. That 18
is to say, one must possess emotional and social stability along with intellectual acumen. There must be a balance. As I said earlier, no provisions have been made for this kind of balance for Black youth. They attend colleges and universities and find themselves literally barred or ostracized from white sororities and fraternities, perhaps not legally, but barred in the sense that they find no commonality in these organizations. What then is the alternative? This was the same kind of situation in which Callis and others who were enrolled at Cornell in 1906 found themselves. What then did they do? They set out to organize their own fraternity. The same kind of thing is happening in our larger society today. It is happening in State legislatures, the U.S. Congress, in professional organizations on the national level. What is happening in these organizations and institutions? Blacks are still finding themselves outnumbered and isolated. Blacks within these groups are finding it necessary to unite themselves in what are known as Black caucuses for the express purpose of finding togetherness on issues that affect their lives and the lives of the people they represent. So as you can see, although the year was 1906 when Callis and others felt the need for an organization such as APA, in the year 1977, almost three quarters of a century later, the need still exists. Some of you brothers saw the need for APA on your campus, and proceeded to lay the groundwork for a chapter of this fraternity to be founded. Now it is not enough just to have a chapter of APA on a campus. That in itself will not improve the quality of life on the campus and in the community. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done. A good analogy is the planting of a seed which eventually becomes a plant. In order for it to grow, it must be nurtured and cared for. It must not be left alone to fend for itself. If this is done, the plant which emanated from the seed will be stifled and eventually die. My challenge to you is simply this. Do not permit any chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha to be stifled on a campus or in a community. Just because Alpha is "First of All," and perhaps the first Black Greek letter organization in a particular setting, you must not rest on your laurels. You must move forward to be "Servants of All." The Sphinx / December 1977