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67 4 Progenitors of Progress A Brief History of the Jewels of Alpha Phi Alpha Stefan M. Bradley Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., ranks among the most enduring and influential black organizations in the nation and perhaps the world. What started as a study group transformed into an entity that has provided leadership on issues of education, politics, and the well-being of African Americans. The vision for such an entity began with the founders of the fraternity. The Jewels (a title that members bestowed on the founders) of Alpha were ambitious college men who not only excelled in their professional lives but also became servants of larger black America.1 To fully understand the importance of Alpha Phi Alpha, one must survey the lives of the fraternity’s progenitors. In doing so, one finds that the organization grew out of the attitudes of uplift and service the founders fostered during the early twentieth century. By following the lives of the Jewels, one can see the ideals of Alpha manifested. Although their lives display much of what was good in black America, these men also faced the harsh realities of poor race relations, a fluctuating economy, and tragic family lives. This chapter attempts to humanize Alpha’s Jewels in an effort to illustrate the importance of their efforts to succeed and their legacies of success to modern black America and to the nation in general. Black in America By the turn of the twentieth century, few black students attended universities. In the wake of the Civil War, black people, often with the assistance of the federal government, were able to establish institutions of learning. Famed scholar and activist W. E. B. Du Bois (later a member of Alpha) observed that the best part of reconstructing the nation was the educational opportunity new black citizens gained. Under the auspices of the Freedmen’s Bureau, schools sprang up throughout the South to educate black learners. Former slaves and the chil- 68 Stefan M. Bradley dren of slaves arrived at institutions such as Howard, Fisk, Lincoln, Hampton, and Tuskegee, among many others. Congress passed the Morrill Land Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890 that made it possible for even more black institutions to exist.2 These institutions provided a first step for a budding black middle class. Although most black people stayed in the South to work the agricultural sector (sometimes the same fields they had cultivated as slaves), many decided to leave the Deep South to find freedom in different regions. Some passed through Kansas and likened themselves to the biblical Hebrews fleeing their Egyptian enslavers. They called themselves Exodusters.3 Others made their way farther north and landed in the nation’s capital. Many moved to northern states and resided in large cities such as New York, Boston and Philadelphia.4 Some black citizens even made their homes in smaller northern towns such as Troy, Syracuse, and Ithaca, New York. Unlike in New York City, there was no major industry in Ithaca, so white cultural institutions furnished many of the jobs for black residents. Cornell University provided employment opportunities for some of the black townspeople. Families such as the Nelsons, Cannons, Newtons, and Singletons worked service jobs while supplementing their income in others ways. Edward Newton and William Cannon worked in fraternity houses on Cornell’s campus. Archie Singleton and his wife owned a business, but Archie also worked as a butler for a prominent white businessman.5 The Nelsons, Newtons, and Singletons opened their homes to boarders. Other black residents owned barbershops and social establishments. It is fortuitous for the 175,000 current members of Alpha Phi Alpha that these families at the turn of the century provided for black men in need of shelter and encouragement; the foundations of the fraternity are rooted in these households. The majority of black students in the nation attended agricultural and industrial training institutions in the South. Jewel Henry Arthur Callis noted correctly that, at the time, “the conflict raged between industrial and ‘higher’ education.” Although learning institutions were available to African American students, the quality of those black institutions sometimes did not rank with that of white institutions. As such, Callis continued, “in 1906, for a colored student to be enrolled in an accredited high school was a mark of distinction. For such a student to enter a reputable university set him apart as ‘unusual.’”6 To achieve in the professions, some black learners attended universities in the North. State universities, such...

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