Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity develops leaders, promotes brotherhood and academic excellence, while providing service and advocacy for our communities.
Since its founding on December 4, 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated has supplied voice and vision to the struggle of African-Americans and people of color around the world. Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans, was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York by seven college men who recognized the need for a strong
bond of Brotherhood among African descendants in this country. The Fraternity initially served as a study and support group for minority students who faced racial prejudice, both educationally and socially, at Cornell. The visionary founders, known as the “Jewels” of the Fraternity and early leaders of the Fraternity succeeded in laying a firm foundation for Alpha Phi Alpha's principles of scholarship, fellowship, good character, and the uplifting of humanity. Alpha Phi Alpha chapters were established at other colleges and universities, soon after the founding at Cornell. On February 24, 1947, the vision of those seven Jewels manifested itself within the hearts of 32 noble men at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), one of the largest and most prominent universities in the world, as the Gamma Xi Chapter! Since its inception, men of the Gamma Xi Chapter have made tremendous strides in the progression of students' lives at UCLA, the surrounding Los Angeles community, and eventually throughout the world. In every aspect of life: academia, business, entertainment, sports, government and politics, military service, etc. Alpha Phi Alpha men have truly represented EXCELLENCE at his finest. While continuing to stress academic excellence among its members, Alpha also recognized the need to help correct the educational, economic, political, and social injustices faced by African-Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha has long stood at the forefront of the African-American community's fight for civil rights through leaders such as: W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, William Gray, Paul Robeson, and many others.
