![]() ![]() Two of these men, Elder Watson Diggs and Byron Kenneth Armstrong, both from Indiana, previously attended Howard University.Įight other men met with Diggs and Armstrong to organize a fraternity. In the school years of 1910-11, a small group of Black students attended Indiana University. Copyright of photos are with respective owners, no copyright infringement intended. Photo of Fraternity House, Bloomington Indiana – From the Story of Kappa Alpha Psi. For Black students, assimilation into normal school life was impossible. Track and Field was the only sport which Blacks were able to demonstrate their athleticism. Blacks were not allowed to reside in on-campus dormitories, were not afforded off-campus accommodations, and they were denied the use of all other university facilities. Black students could go weeks without seeing one another on campus. The percentage of Blacks at the University was less than 1%. Despite this hostility of Whites toward Blacks in Indiana, some Black students sought a college education at Indiana University, as it was a high quality, tuition-free university. The state of Indiana became a stronghold for the Ku Klux Klan. There is no record of any similar organizations at Indiana University until the chartering of Kappa Alpha Nu in 1911, later to become Kappa Alpha Psi. In 1903, on the Indiana University campus, a club called Alpha Kappa Nu was formed to strengthen the black voice at the University and in the city of Bloomington Indiana. To understand their plight, is to understand the birth of college fraternities among blacks. Moreover, their determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable social and economic odds, is a source of inspiration. Their accomplishments were and are noteworthy. ![]() Two weeks later, John Brown Russwurm graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine. In 1826, Edward Jones graduated from Amherst College in Massachusetts. ![]() The first black student to graduate from an American college or university is said to have been Alexander Twilight, who received a Bachelors’ Degree from Middlebury College in 1823. Black students have attended institutions of higher learning (most of which are predominantly white) since early in the nineteenth century. The Story of Kappa Alpha Psi is to a large extent the story of Black students everywhere. ![]()
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