Black Greek-letter Organizations in the Twenty-First Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun

6 The Pride of All Our Hearts

115 6 The Pride of all our hearts The Founders of kappa alpha Psi Fraternity Michael E. Jennings Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. was founded on the campus of Indiana University on January 5, 1911. In describing the early years of the fraternity, its official history book asserts, “The Story of Kappa Alpha Psi is to a large extent the story of black students everywhere, whether organized or not, who attended predominantly white colleges or universities in America prior to World War II.”1 With this in mind, the history of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. can best be understood if examined within the sociohistorical context of the time and place of the fraternity’s inception. african americans in Indiana: life in the heartland From its recognition as a state in the early nineteenth century through the early years of the twentieth century, the state of Indiana fostered an atmosphere of hostility and violence toward its African American citizenry.2 In his 1978 book about the history of Indiana, Howard H. Peckham (a noted historian of colonial andrevolutionaryAmerica)observesthat“Hoosierswerenotraciallytolerant:they didn’t like Indians and they didn’t like Negroes. They had largely ousted Indians fromthearea,andhad,bystipulationsinthenewconstitution,forbiddenNegroes to enter the state.”3 Journalist John Bartlow Martin wrote of the “old tradition of intolerance” that existed in Indiana prior to Word War I and how it was exemplified by roadside signs that read: “Nigger, Don’t Let the Sun Set on you Here.”4 Further evidence of the specific hostility directed against African Americans can be found in the disturbing history of lynching in Indiana. Statistics show that at least twenty African Americans were lynched in that state between 1865 and 1903.5 Even at a time when lynching was considered a southern phenomenon , Indiana stood out as a locale where violence against African Americans was pervasive.6 In fact, Indiana’s reputation for lynching was so well established 116 Michael E. Jennings during this time that the governor of Georgia used the record in Indiana to justify lynching in his own state.7 african american Students at Indiana university: The early years It is within this context of racial intolerance and discrimination that a handful of African American students matriculated at Indiana University early in the twentieth century. The discrimination, alienation, and frequent indignities faced by these students provided the impetus for the organization of an African American fraternity on campus. The first African American–sponsored Greek-letter organization at Indiana University was the Alpha Kappa Nu Greek society, created in 1903. Little is known about this organization, but it has been speculated that there were too few black students at Indiana University during this time to ensure the continuance of the organization. This speculation was fueled by the realization that the small number of African American students who attended Indiana University did so for only a short period before they withdrew to secure employment.8 In subsequent years, however, a critical mass of African American male students at Indiana University sought to come together under the banner of fraternalism. howard university and the Creation of kappa alpha nu Seven years after the creation and dissolution of Alpha Kappa Nu, forces were set in motion that would lead to the creation of another African American fraternity on the campus of Indiana University. During the 1909–1910 school year, a young African American student at Indiana University named Irven Armstrong was visited by his cousin Byron Kenneth Armstrong, a student at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Byron Armstrong was so impressed with the Indiana University campus that he decided to transfer there in the fall of 1910. Byron persuaded close friend and fellow Howard University student Elder Watson Diggs to join him at Indiana University that same semester.9 Diggs’sandArmstrong’sexperienceswithGreek-letterorganizationsatHoward University have been the subject of some dispute in discussions of the early history of those organizations.10 According to Crump, both Diggs and Armstrong “were approached by a fraternity, and both had declined pledgeship because they disapprovedtheattitudesandactionsofcertainmembers.”11 However,asomewhat The Pride of All Our Hearts 117 different version of this story is related in an earlier publication of the fraternity. The Hand Book of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity states, “Elder W. Diggs and Byron K. Armstrong,hadpreviouslyattendedHowardUniversity,andhadcomeintocontact withmenbelongingtotheonlynationalGreek-letterfraternityinexistenceamong Negroes.TheirexperiencesatHowardcausedthemtobethechiefmotivatingspirits inthesowingoftheseedforafraternityatIndianaUniversityandcrystallizingthe idea of establishing an independent Greek-letter organization.”12 This earlier writing lacks the specificity of Crump...