Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American Men, 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 visionary founders, known as the “Jewels” of the fraternity, are Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy.

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Since its founding on December 4, 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has supplied voice and vision to the struggle of African Americans and people of color around the world.

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Notable Alphas include: Martin Luther King, Jr.,W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke, Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, William Gray, Paul Robeson, Cornel West, John H. Johnson, Jessie Owens, Duke Ellington, Donny Hathaway, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Omari Hardwick, Roland Martin, Stuart Scott, Dick Gregory, Hill Harper, and many others.