that requires sacrifice, perseverance, and financial resources. He challenged them on the need for leaders who are “not in love with publicity but in love with humanity.” He concluded:
“God grant from this noble assembly, this noble assembly of fraternity men, some of the leaders of our nation will emerge. God has blessed you, he has blessed you with great intellectual resources.… God has blessed many of you with great wealth and never forget that you are where you are today because the masses have helped you get there.…They are waiting for somebody out in the midst of the wilderness of life to stand up and speak and take a stand for them.” Those were inspiring words to close the chapter on the first 50 years of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. They embodied the fraternity’s motto: “First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All” and provided an apt challenge for the future.35 As early as 1933, Alpha Phi Alpha had established a Committee on Public Policy to express its views on national issues of concern to African Americans. The Committee on Public Policy issued annual statements during the 1960s, which were particularly relevant to the Civil Rights Movement, that included Alpha men at the head of major organizations, such as Martin Luther King Jr. (The Southern Christian Leadership Conference), Whitney M. Young Jr. (The National Urban League), Marion Barry (The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), and Floyd McKissick (The Congress of Racial Equality). The Public Policy Statement in 1965 supported civil rights, labor organization, and the right to vote. It expressed concern about the declining enrollment of black students in graduate and professional schools.36 Alpha members Paul Robeson and Dick Gregory used their celebrity status to help communicate and publicize the harms of discrimination and racism. Civil Rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., received the Alpha Award of Honor, the fraternity’s highest honor, in 1956. As a member of Congress, Alpha Phi Alpha member Adam Clayton Powell Jr. pushed for and worked on legislation enhancing 35 Bro. Martin Luther King, Jr. “The Birth of a New Age.” Centennial Book of Essays and Letters, pp. 615–621. 36 The Sphinx Magazine, November, 1965, p. 12.
23 ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC.