Alpha Phi Alpha District Director Kenneth Harris Jr.
Service is what we do
Service is what we do
By Jonathan Gramling
At the turn of the 20th century, there was a great debate going on in the African
American community that was symbolized by the debate between W.E.B. DuBois and
Booker T. Washington over how liberal arts education versus industrial-agricultural
work training. DuBois and 28 others met on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls in 1905
and formed the Niagara Movement, which believed in higher education for African
Americans and demanded equality. Out of that movement arose the NAACP in 1909, but
another movement sprang from that movement as well, the African American fraternity
and sorority movement.
“Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. was founded at Cornell University on December
4, 1906,” said Kenneth Harris, the district director for Wisconsin of Alpha Phi Alpha
fraternity. “That’s in Ithaca, New York. We are the oldest African American fraternity.
That’s the type of leadership that was there in the Niagara Movement that sprouted up
and worked its way slowly across the country. But first it went south. So you have the
prominence of Howard University with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. The Deltas were
there. So was Phi Beta Sigma and Zeta Phi Beta. Kappa Alpha Psi was at Indiana
University. Omega Psi Phi was there. Sigma Gamma Rho, I believe, was at Bethel
University. So if you can see the movement across the country, most of the fraternities
and sororities when they started were east of the Mississippi because that was that
most historic place where this is about how far we can go. And if you see in the mid- ”
At the turn of the 20th century, there was a great debate going on in the African
American community that was symbolized by the debate between W.E.B. DuBois and
Booker T. Washington over how liberal arts education versus industrial-agricultural
work training. DuBois and 28 others met on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls in 1905
and formed the Niagara Movement, which believed in higher education for African
Americans and demanded equality. Out of that movement arose the NAACP in 1909, but
another movement sprang from that movement as well, the African American fraternity
and sorority movement.
“Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. was founded at Cornell University on December
4, 1906,” said Kenneth Harris, the district director for Wisconsin of Alpha Phi Alpha
fraternity. “That’s in Ithaca, New York. We are the oldest African American fraternity.
That’s the type of leadership that was there in the Niagara Movement that sprouted up
and worked its way slowly across the country. But first it went south. So you have the
prominence of Howard University with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. The Deltas were
there. So was Phi Beta Sigma and Zeta Phi Beta. Kappa Alpha Psi was at Indiana
University. Omega Psi Phi was there. Sigma Gamma Rho, I believe, was at Bethel
University. So if you can see the movement across the country, most of the fraternities
and sororities when they started were east of the Mississippi because that was that
most historic place where this is about how far we can go. And if you see in the mid- ”
1950s, as they make the migration from the south to the north, the fraternities and sororities just spread across the country and now, we are all
international.
Back in 1905, the first six African American students to attend Cornell University left after one year. The next seven students were bound
and determined not to follow a similar course and founded Alpha Phi Alpha. There are six Alpha chapters in Wisconsin that are still associated
with their higher education roots. And they are still associated with the sense of the need to give mutual support.
“When you go to a predominantly White institution or state school, some African American students tend to withdraw, anymore so that if
you had a Historically Black College or University and a White student went there, they might withdraw because there isn’t anything there that
they would resonate with,” Harris said. “Our organization allows African American students to see people who look like us, people who talk
like us. We don’t say ‘We’ve got your back’ as fraternity brothers and then you act a fool or do something stupid. If you do that, we’re going to
kick you. And if you do great, we’re going to praise you. But it is all done in love because it is about growth and it’s about process. The older
brothers can help the younger brothers get to where they are a lot easier.”
The Alphas are also bound to a historic sense of needing to provide leadership in uplifting the community and those coming behind them.
“If you are a member of any of the Historically Black fraternities or sororities, what matters is that we do the U thing,” Harris explained. “You
come in to the fraternity and then you go out and serve the world. And that is everyone. At that point, it doesn’t become a race thing. It becomes
a humanity thing. Everyone benefits. We only benefit when we can put as many people who have graduated from college in good-paying jobs
and paying taxes and building up and sustaining their community. Somebody has to be the leader. Someone has to be the mayor. Someone has
to be the governor. In order to sustain that, we need to bring up citizens who are able to have jobs and grow families and buy property and
start businesses.”
In order to effect their mission, the Alphas have a number of programs that help the youth of today see a tomorrow. “Project Alpha teaches
abstinence,” Harris said. “While we stress abstinence because we want to make sure that students graduate and go to college, we also give
them the information that they need as it relates to safe sex so that teen pregnancy doesn’t continue to rise. We offer it to any youth in any
school anywhere. In ‘Go to High School, Go to,’ we literally work with young men from their high school stage on, particularly in Milwaukee and
Madison. We have what’s called the ‘Beautillian.’ They are high school seniors. They come in and they have to go through a series of
workshops. They also have to go through ‘Rites of Passage.’ Most of our programs tend to battle those things in every community — Black,
White, Hispanic or Asian — that tend to slow it down and stop things like economic growth.”
The spirit of the seven founders of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity — and the Niagara Movement — lives on in the Alphas’ efforts to obtain
higher education and pull up others with them as they achieve new heights in life.
international.
Back in 1905, the first six African American students to attend Cornell University left after one year. The next seven students were bound
and determined not to follow a similar course and founded Alpha Phi Alpha. There are six Alpha chapters in Wisconsin that are still associated
with their higher education roots. And they are still associated with the sense of the need to give mutual support.
“When you go to a predominantly White institution or state school, some African American students tend to withdraw, anymore so that if
you had a Historically Black College or University and a White student went there, they might withdraw because there isn’t anything there that
they would resonate with,” Harris said. “Our organization allows African American students to see people who look like us, people who talk
like us. We don’t say ‘We’ve got your back’ as fraternity brothers and then you act a fool or do something stupid. If you do that, we’re going to
kick you. And if you do great, we’re going to praise you. But it is all done in love because it is about growth and it’s about process. The older
brothers can help the younger brothers get to where they are a lot easier.”
The Alphas are also bound to a historic sense of needing to provide leadership in uplifting the community and those coming behind them.
“If you are a member of any of the Historically Black fraternities or sororities, what matters is that we do the U thing,” Harris explained. “You
come in to the fraternity and then you go out and serve the world. And that is everyone. At that point, it doesn’t become a race thing. It becomes
a humanity thing. Everyone benefits. We only benefit when we can put as many people who have graduated from college in good-paying jobs
and paying taxes and building up and sustaining their community. Somebody has to be the leader. Someone has to be the mayor. Someone has
to be the governor. In order to sustain that, we need to bring up citizens who are able to have jobs and grow families and buy property and
start businesses.”
In order to effect their mission, the Alphas have a number of programs that help the youth of today see a tomorrow. “Project Alpha teaches
abstinence,” Harris said. “While we stress abstinence because we want to make sure that students graduate and go to college, we also give
them the information that they need as it relates to safe sex so that teen pregnancy doesn’t continue to rise. We offer it to any youth in any
school anywhere. In ‘Go to High School, Go to,’ we literally work with young men from their high school stage on, particularly in Milwaukee and
Madison. We have what’s called the ‘Beautillian.’ They are high school seniors. They come in and they have to go through a series of
workshops. They also have to go through ‘Rites of Passage.’ Most of our programs tend to battle those things in every community — Black,
White, Hispanic or Asian — that tend to slow it down and stop things like economic growth.”
The spirit of the seven founders of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity — and the Niagara Movement — lives on in the Alphas’ efforts to obtain
higher education and pull up others with them as they achieve new heights in life.
Alpha Phi Alpha District Director Kenneth Harris Jr. (l-r)
and State Farm’s Larry Sain at the Alpha Kappa Alpha
Sorority’s Walk It Out
and State Farm’s Larry Sain at the Alpha Kappa Alpha
Sorority’s Walk It Out
