does take inspiration out of its significant and evolving past which gives challenges to the present and the future.”10 With outbreak of war in Europe in 1914, Alpha leaders in Washington, D.C. anticipated that the United States would soon enter the battle to “make the world safe for democracy.” Thirteen percent of the active duty military was African American but fewer than 1 percent were officers. The Marine Corps refused black enlistees while the Navy used them only as mess men and servants. College and alumni brothers met at Beta House in Washington, D.C. to begin a campaign for the establishment of an officers’ training camp for African-American soldiers. A training camp was opened at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, with 58 Alpha men in the program, a larger number than any other black fraternity. On October 15, 1917, 32 brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. received commissions, with four as captains and 90 percent of the rest as lieutenants. Some 600 black men received commissions as a result of the advocacy of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Eighth General President William A. Pollard stated,
“If for another ten years, we should do no more than continue as before to furnish to the various communities strong, influential men, we may yet consider that we have accomplished this year a feat sufficient to justify the existence and claims of the fraternity. In this one accomplishment, we have rendered to our race a service that shall mark an epoch in its history.”11 Alpha men also fought segregation in the Army Training Corps on college campuses in Ohio. Pi Chapter in Cleveland, Ohio, spearheaded an investigation into the exclusion of black men from the training programs on predominantly white campuses. As a result of this advocacy, the state of Ohio issued an order that: “Colored men are to barrack, mess and drill together with the other men. No segregation at all.”12 During World War I, the U.S. military, however, issued a memorandum, circulated primarily among the French, Secret Information Concerning Black American Troops. It warned 10 H. Councill Trenholm, “Alpha Phi Alpha’s Program of Education and Civic Service: A Review and Interpretation,” Centennial Book of Essays and Letters, pp. 317–319. 11 Wesley, History of Alpha Phi Alpha, pp. 116–117. 12 Ibid, p. 124.
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