Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
On December 4, 1906, on Cornell University's campus, seven black men founded one of the greatest and most enduring organizations in American history. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. has brought together and shaped such esteemed men as Martin Luther King Jr., Cornel West, Thurgood Marshall, Wes Moore, W. E. B. DuBois, Roland Martin, and Paul Robeson. "Born in the shadow of slavery and on the lap of disenfranchisement," Alpha Phi Alpha -- like other black Greek-letter organizations -- was founded to instill a spirit of high academic achievement and intellectualism, foster meaningful and lifelong ties, and racially uplift those brothers who would be initiated into its ranks.
In Alpha Phi Alpha, Gregory S. Parks, Stefan M. Bradley, and other contributing authors analyze the fraternity and its members' fidelity to the founding precepts set forth in 1906. They discuss the identity established by the fraternity at its inception, the challenges of protecting the image and brand, and how the organization can identify and train future Alpha men to uphold the standards of an outstanding African American fraternity. Drawing on organizational identity theory and a diverse array of methodologies, the authors raise and answer questions that are relevant not only to Alpha Phi Alpha but to all black Greek-letter organizations.
Synopsis
Established on the campus of Cornell University in the fall of 1905, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity began as an organization to meet the needs of a handful of male African American college students. Founded with ideals of civic action and community uplift, Alpha Phi Alpha was established almost 40 years after the end of the Civil War and just a few years after the end of The Nadir-the period when institutional racism was worse than at any other post-bellum period. Exemplified by its founders, known as The Jewels, the first black intercollegiate fraternity represented virtues such as brotherhood, scholarship, and social progress. Important leaders such as Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, Hubert Humphrey, Paul Robeson, Cornel West, W. E. B. Dubois, Martin Luther King Jr., Edward Brook, and Duke Ellington constitute just a small number of those who have been initiated into the ranks of Alpha. Despite the fraternity's historical prominence, a question lingers: have the organization and its members remained faithful to the precepts articulated by the founding members? In Alpha Phi Alpha: A Case Study Within Black Greekdom, Gregory S. Parks aims to answer this question through a collection of original essays, written by members of the fraternity and scholars in African American studies, education, political science, and history. Alpha Phi Alpha examines the very essence of the organization, the meaning and identity of the fraternity, and also ascertains whether and to what degree the organization has drifted from its early ideals. Drawing from Alpha's history, national magazines, and archives, as well as relying on interviews with national officers and lay members, Parks and his contributors will grapple with the growing body of empirical, critical, and historical scholarship on Black Greek-letter Organizations (BGLOs). Gregory S. Parks is coeditor of African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision (UPK). He has edited two additional books on Black Greek-letter organizations, as well as a book on diversity within college fraternities and sororities. A life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., he received his PhD in psychology from the University of Kentucky and his JD at Cornell Law School.