Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. was founded on Tuesday, December 4, 1906 on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Seven men (known as "The Jewels") sought to create an organization similar to the majority White fraternal organizations that already existed, but for the betterment of African-American collegiate men, then all men.
Jewels Dr. Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy strove forward and worked diligently to become the first African-American Greek Letter Organization for collegiate men. These Jewels also present a legacy that was and remains to be profound, uplifting, and enterprising.
"Our purpose is to raise the intellectual and cultural level, yes - and the moral level also; to aid in the development of special skills: to build men of vision, courage, self sacrifice, who are willing to develop a wise, consistent leadership toward the integration of truly democratic society. Such men in Alpha are legion. Their loyalties have required no houses."
-Jewel Henry Arthur Callis
