Our story
Kappa Alpha Psi®, a college fraternity, was born in an environment saturated with racism. The state of Indiana became the 19th state of the Union in 1816, and it founded Indiana University in Bloomington four years later. This city was largely populated by settlers from below the Mason-Dixon line and, therefore, found many sympathizers of the Southern cause. Consequently, the few Blacks who took up residence in Bloomington in those early years were socially ostracized and encountered extreme acts of prejudice and discrimination. The state of Indiana became a stronghold for the Ku Klux Klan. Their intolerance toward Blacks fueled the negative mindset of other Whites residing there. Vigilante lynchings of Blacks were commonplace. This environment made day-to-day life for Blacks an arduous task and attempts to achieve in school nearly impossible. Despite the growing hostility of Whites toward Blacks in Indiana, some Black students sought a college education at Indiana University, as it was a tuition-free university of the highest quality. However, few Blacks could remain longer than a year or so without having to withdraw in search of employment.
The campus of Indiana University at that time did not encourage the assimilation of Blacks. The administration maintained an attitude of indifference as Blacks slowly matriculated and were likewise swiftly forgotten. The percentage of Blacks on campus was less than 1%. Blacks could go weeks without seeing one another on campus. Blacks were not allowed to reside in on-campus dormitories, were not afforded off-campus accommodations, were denied the use of all other university facilities, and were barred from participating in contact sports. Track and Field was the only sport in which Black students could demonstrate their athleticism.
In the school years of 1910-11, a small group of Black students attended Indiana University. Most of them were working their way through school. The number of places where they might assemble was limited. Realizing that they had no part in the university’s social life and were drawn together by common interests, they decided that a Greek letter fraternity would do much to fill the missing link in their college existence.
Kappa Alpha Psi®, now comprised of functioning Undergraduate and Alumni Chapters on major campuses and in cities throughout the country, is the crystallization of a dream. It is the beautiful realization of a vision shared commonly by the late Revered Founders that enabled them to sow the seed of a fraternal tree whose fruit is available to, and now enjoyed by college men everywhere, regardless of their color, religion, or national origin.
It is a fact that Kappa Alpha Psi® is proud that its Constitution has never contained any clause that either excluded or suggested the exclusion of a man from membership merely because of his color, creed, or national origin.
Kappa Alpha Psi® is the 2nd oldest existing collegiate historically Black Greek letter fraternity and the 1st intercollegiate fraternity incorporated as a national body. It is the first Greek letter organization to establish its Alpha Chapter on Indiana University’s campus. The fraternity has over 250,000 members with 700 undergraduate and alumni chapters in nearly every state of the United States, and thirteen international chapters in Nigeria, South Africa, Bermuda, Bahamas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Panama, United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Dominican Republic, Abu Dhabi, Canada, and Japan.
Through its worldwide prominence, Kappa Alpha Psi® has had a global impact on events that affect our local communities and places around the globe. Local chapters of Kappa Alpha Psi® participate in community outreach activities to feed the homeless, provide scholarships to young people matriculating to college, serve as mentors to young men, participate in blood drives, and serve as hosts of seminars for public health awareness, to name a few. Nationally, Kappa Alpha Psi® has provided summer enrichment camps and funds for St. Jude Medical Research Center to assist in the fight against childhood catastrophic diseases by raising more than $1 Million. Internationally, Kappa Alpha Psi® members have answered the call to service by proudly serving our military in wars since WWI and raising funds to assist those in need following natural disasters worldwide, including hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, and earthquakes.
