The Founding Seven Jewels
The founders of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. were no ordinary achievers.
Given racial attitudes in 1906, their accomplishments were monumental.
As founder Henry Arthur Callis euphemistically stated—because the
half-dozen African American students at Cornell University during the
school year 1904-05 did not return to campus the following year, the
incoming students in 1905-06, in founding Alpha Phi Alpha, were determined
to bind themselves together to ensure that each would survive in the
racially hostile environment. In coming together with this simple act,
they preceded by decades the emergence of such on-campus programs as
affirmative action, upward bound and remedial assistance. The students
set outstanding examples of scholarship, leadership and success—preceding
the efforts even of the NAACP and similar civil rights organizations.
Henry
Arthur Callis became a practicing physician, Howard University
Professor of Medicine and prolific contributor to medical journals.
Often regarded as the “philosopher of the founders,” and
a moving force in the Fraternity’s development, he was the only
one of the “Cornell Seven” to become General President.
Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., he was a medical consultant to
the Veterans Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama. Upon his death in 1974,
at age 87, the Fraternity entered a time without any living Jewels.
His papers were donated to Howard’s Moorland-Spingarn Research
Center.
Charles
Henry Chapman entered higher education and eventually became Professor
of Agriculture at what is now Florida A&M University. A university
funeral was held with considerable Fraternity participation when he
became the first Jewel to enter Omega Chapter in 1934. Described as “a
Brother beloved in the bonds,” Chapman was a founder of FAMU’s
Beta Nu Chapter. During the organization stages of Alpha Chapter, he
was the first chairman of the Committees on Initiation and Organization.
Eugene
Kinckle Jones became the first Executive Secretary of the National
Urban League. His 20-year tenure with the Urban League thus far has
exceeded those of all his successors in office. A versatile leader,
he organized the first three Fraternity chapters that branched out
from Cornell—Beta at Howard, Gamma at Virginia Union and the
original Delta at the University of Toronto in Canada. In addition
to becoming Alpha Chapter’s second President and joining with
Callis in creating the Fraternity name, Jones was a member of the first
Committees on Constitution and Organization and helped write the Fraternity
ritual. Jones also has the distinction of being one of the first initiates
as well as an original founder. His status as a founder was not finally
established until 1952. He died in 1954.
George
Biddle Kelley became the first African American engineer registered
in the state of New York. Not only was he the strongest proponent of
the Fraternity idea among the organization’s founders, the civil
engineering student also became Alpha Chapter’s first President.
In addition, he served on committees that worked out the handshake
and ritual. Kelley was popular with the Brotherhood. He resided in
Troy, New York and was active with Beta Pi Lambda Chapter in Albany.
He died in 1963.
Nathaniel
Allison Murray pursued graduate work after completing his undergraduate
studies at Howard. He later returned home to Washington, D.C., where
he taught in public schools. Much of his career was spent at Armstrong
Vocational High School in the District of Columbia. He was a member
of Alpha Chapter’s first committee on organization of the new
fraternal group, as well as the Committee on the Grip. The charter
member of Washington’s Mu Lambda Chapter was a frequent attendee
of General Conventions. He died in 1959.
Robert
Harold Ogle entered the career secretarial field and had the unique
privilege of serving as a professional staff member to the United States
Senate Committee on Appropriations. He was an African American pioneer
in his Capitol Hill position. He proposed the Fraternity’s colors
and was Alpha Chapter’s first secretary. Ogle joined Kelley in
working out the first ritual and later became a charter member of Washington’s
Mu Lambda Chapter. He died in 1936.
Vertner
Woodson Tandy became the state of New York’s first registered
architect, with offices on Broadway in New York City. The designer
of the Fraternity pin holds the distinction of being the first African
American to pass the military commissioning examination and was commissioned
First Lieutenant in the 15th Infantry of the New York State National
Guard. He was Alpha Chapter’s first treasurer and took the initiative
to incorporate the Fraternity. Among the buildings designed by the
highly talented architect is Saint Phillips Episcopal Church in New
York City. He died in 1949, at age 64.
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