INDIANA UNIVERISTY
FRATERNITY HISTORY
TO UNITE COLLEGE MEN OF CULTURE, PATRIOTISM, AND HONOR IN A BOND OF FRATERNITY
THE FOUNDING OF KAPPA ALPHA PSI
Kappa Alpha Psi ®, a college Fraternity, was born in an environment saturated in racism. The state of Indiana became the 19th state of the Union in 1816 and it founded Indiana University in Bloomington four years later. This city was largely populated by settlers from below the Mason-Dixon line and therefore found many sympathizers of the Southern cause. Consequently, the few Blacks who took up residence in Bloomington in those early years were socially ostracized and encountered extreme acts of prejudice and discrimination. The state of Indiana became a stronghold for the Ku Klux Klan. Their intolerance toward Blacks fueled the negative mindset of other Whites residing there. Vigilante lynchings of Blacks were commonplace. This environment made day-to-day life for Blacks an arduous task and attempts to successfully achieve in school, nearly impossible. Despite the growing hostility of Whites toward Blacks in Indiana, some Black students sought a college education at Indiana University, as it was a tuition-free university of the highest quality. However, few Blacks could remain longer than a year or so without having to withdraw in search of employment.
On January 5, 1911, the Fraternity then became known as Kappa Alpha Nu, possibly as a tribute to the Black students of 1903 (the Alpha Kappa Nu Greek Society) who preceded them at Indiana University. These men of vision decided Kappa Alpha Nu would be more than another social organization. It would be the only Greek-letter organization founded with the concept of achievement. Kappa Alpha Nu began uniting college men of culture, patriotism, and honor in a Bond of fraternity. Kappa Alpha Nu became the first incorporated Black Fraternity in the United States once granted a charter by the Indiana Secretary of State on May 15, 1911.
Born out of the vestiges of racism, Kappa Alpha Nu encountered another metamorphosis, partially related to the action of bigotry. One day as one of the Fraternity members, Frank Summers, was running the hurdles, Founder Diggs overheard a White student state, “He is a member of Kappa Alpha Nig”. There was an additional misunderstanding being attributed to the acronym of the Fraternity’s Greek letters, KAN. Some confused the abbreviation of the letters to refer to the state of Kansas. The name of the Fraternity and the image it portrayed were of paramount importance. These incidents caused the Founders to change the name of the Fraternity. The Greek Letter Ψ was chosen in place of N and the Fraternity acquired a distinctive Greek letter symbol and Kappa Alpha Psi ®thereby became an indistinguishable Greek-letter Fraternity. The name was officially changed to Kappa Alpha Psi on a resolution adopted at the Grand Chapter Meeting in December 1914. This change became effective on April 15, 1915.
Kappa Alpha Psi ®, now comprised of functioning Undergraduate and Alumni Chapters on major campuses and in cities throughout the country, is the crystallization of a dream. It is the beautiful realization of a vision shared commonly by the late Revered Founders that enabled them to sow the seed of a fraternal tree whose fruit is available to, and now enjoyed by college men everywhere, regardless of their color, religion or national origin. It is a fact of which Kappa Alpha Psi ® is proud that the Constitution has never contained any clause which either excluded or suggested the exclusion of a man from membership merely because of his color, creed, or national origin.
KAPPA ALPHA PSI GLOBAL
Kappa Alpha Psi ® is the 2nd oldest existing collegiate historically Black Greek Letter Fraternity and the 1st intercollegiate Fraternity incorporated as a national body. It remains the only Greek letter organization with its Alpha Chapter on Indiana University’s campus. The Fraternity has over 125,000 members with 700 undergraduate and alumni chapters in nearly every state of the United States, and international chapters in Nigeria, South Africa, the West Indies, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Korea, and Japan.
NORTH CENTRAL PROVINCE HISTORY
The North Central Province, as a defined region of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., traces its origin to 1920. It was originally known as the Central Province and included much of the same geography as today. Today, the North Central Province is comprised of the following states: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Since 1920, the Province has been led by the following members:
*Harrison R. Duke – 1920 - 1923
*Thomas Mayo – 1923 - 1924
*Joseph Snowden – 1924 - 1925
*C. Udell Turpin – 1925 - 1926
*William Harrison – 1926 - 1927
*Clarence Leon Wilson – 1927 – 1929
*Robert L. Bailey – 1930 – 1931
*Julius L. Morgan – 1931 – 1946
*Carl D. Hughes – 1946 – 1948
*Theodore Coggs – 1948 – 1949
*Julius L. Morgan – 1949 – 1953
*George C. Lewis – 1953 - 1954
*Theodore Coggs – 1954 – 1955
*Henry Bennett, Sr. – 1955 – 1963
Arthur L. Grist – 1963 – 1965
*Floyd V. Campbell – 1966 – 1967
*Eldridge T. Freeman – 1968 – 1970
*John E. Sullivan III – 1971 – 1972
*Floyd V. Campbell – 1973 – 1976
*Wesley s. Chapman – 1976 – 1979
*William H. Roach – 1979 – 1985
*Daniel Dixon III – 1985 – 1990
Myron L. Hardiman – 1990 – 1994
Larry McKenzie – 1995 – 1996
Michael C. Hughes – 1997 – 2000
Stevenson Nicholson – 2001 – 2007
Michael J. Owens – 2007 – 2011
Korlon L. Kilpatrick II – 2011-2017
Byron C. Thornton -- 2017 - 2023
Darren R. Adams- Current