Thus, the name acquired a distinctive Greek letter symbol and KAPPA ALPHA PSI thereby became a Greek letter Fraternity in every sense of the designation.įrom its inception, and for the next six years, Brother Diggs served as the Grand Polemarch of KAPPA ALPHA PSI Fraternity. This change became effective April 15, 1915, on a proclamation by the then Grand Polemarch, Elder Watson Diggs. The Constitution of KAPPA ALPHA PSI is predicated upon, and dedicated to, the principles of achievement through a truly democratic Fraternity.Ĭhartered and incorporated originally under the laws of the State of Indiana as Kappa Alpha Nu on May 15, 1911, the name was changed to KAPPA ALPHA PSI on a resolution offered and adopted at the Grand Chapter in December 1914. It is a fact of which KAPPA ALPHA PSI is justly 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. It was the vision of these astute men that enabled them in the school year 1910 - 11, more specifically the night of January 5, 1911, on the campus of Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana, 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 the beautiful realization of a vision shared commonly by the late Revered Founders Elder Watson Diggs John Milton Lee Byron Kenneth Armstrong Guy Levis Grant Ezra Dee Alexander Henry Tourner Asher Marcus Peter Blakemore Paul Waymond Caine Edward Giles Irvin and George Wesley Edmonds. Kappa Alpha Psi, a college Fraternity, now comprised of functioning Undergraduate and Alumni Chapters on major campuses and in cities throughout the country, is the crystallization of a dream. He served as Grand Polemarch for the first six years of the fraternity’s existence.HISTORY OF KAPPA ALPHA PSI FRATERNITY INC. Additionally, he established the Kappa Alpha Nu Journal, the first periodical of any national Black college fraternity. He was one of two Founders who pawned his watch to pay for the Fraternity’s incorporation fee.ĭiggs wrote the lyrics to the Kappa Hymn. Diggs assisted Byron & Irven Armstrong in designing the Coat of Arms, assumed responsibility for preparing the initiation ceremonial forms, completed the fraternity’s constitution and took a course in Greek heraldry and mythology to ensure the fraternity was rooted in authenticity. He subsequently earned his Master’s degree of Education from Howard University in 1944.īased on the hostile attitude and circumstances facing Blacks at Indiana University, Diggs decided to establish a fraternity on campus to give African-Americans support and sanctuary based on high Christian ideals and the purpose of achievement. degree from Indiana University’s School of Education in 1916. He was born in Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky, on December 23, 1883, and was the eldest son of three children.ĭiggs enrolled at Indiana University in the fall of 1910 and was the first African-American to graduate with an A.B. Founder Elder Watson Diggs, was quiet, polished, scholarly, a prolific writer and commonly referred to as ‘the Father of Kappa’.
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