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Kappa Alpha Psi,
Fraternity Inc.
The story of Kappa Alpha Psi
is to a large extent the story of black students
everywhere, whether organized or not, who attended
predominantly white colleges or universities in America
prior to World War II. The accomplishments of these first
Black students is all the more noteworthy because
typically they worked their way through college. Their
determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable
social and economic odds is the source of inspiration to
less than full privileged students at white institutions
of higher learning throughout America. To understand this
is to understand the birth of college fraternities among
Blacks.
Black-sponsored Greek letter
organizations on the Indiana University campus might well
have begun in 1903, but there were too few registrants to
assure continuing organization. In that year, a club was
formed called Alpha Kappa Nu with
the purpose of strengthening the Blacks' voice at the
University and in the city of Bloomington. There is no
record of any similar organization at Indiana until the
chartering of Kappa Alpha Nu, a forerunner of Kappa Alpha
Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, in 1911.
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