The Cornell University sign at the West Campus entrance. Cornell was the site of the founding of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
The list of Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ) brothers (commonly referred to as Alphas)[1] includes initiated and honorary members. Alpha Phi Alpha is the first inter-collegiate Greek-letterorganization established for Black college students.[2] Convened in December 1905 as a literary society with the first presiding officer being CC Poindexter, it was established as a fraternity on December 4, 1906 at Ithaca, New York. Alpha Phi Alpha opened chapters at other colleges, universities, and cities, and named them with Greek letters. Members traditionally pledge into a chapter, although some members were granted honorary status prior to the fraternity's discontinuation of the practice of granting honorary membership. A chapter name ending in "Lambda" denotes an alumni chapter.[3] The only alumni chapter that does not end in "Lambda" is Rho Chapter, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
No chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha is designated Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet that traditionally signifies "the end". Deceased brothers are respectfully referred to as having their membership transferred to Omega Chapter, the fraternity's chapter of sweet rest.[4]Frederick Douglass is distinguished as the only member initiated posthumously when he became an exalted honorary member of Omega chapter in 1921.[5]
The fraternity through its college and alumni chapters serves the community through nearly a thousand chapters in the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.[6]
The fraternity has been led by 36 General Presidents. Its membership includes two premiers; three governors; a vice president, four senators; a Supreme Court justice; two presidential candidates; Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Lenin Peace Prize, Kluge Prize, Golden Globe, Academy Award, Grammy Award, and Emmy Award winners; French Légion d'honneur and Croix de guerre laureates; at least four Rhodes Scholars; eighteen diplomats; fourteen Presidential Medal of Freedom, seven Congressional Gold Medal, and seventeen Spingarn Medal recipients; and eighteen Olympians. Buildings, monuments, stadiums, arenas, courthouses, and schools have been named after Alpha men, such as the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the Whitney Young Memorial Bridge, the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, at Rutgers University, at Iowa State University, the John H. Johnson School of Communication at Howard University, the Oscar W. Ritchie Pan-African Cultural Arts Center at Kent State University, the General Classroom Building at the University of Missouri-Columbia, the , the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse, the John H. Stroger Cook County hospital, the John Hope Franklin Memorial Plaza in Tulsa Oklahoma, the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building, the Ralph H. Metcalfe Federal Building, the A. Maceo Smith Federal Building, the Robert F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University, and the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
The House of Alpha was first published in the December 1923 edition of The Sphinx Magazine. The poem would later be attributed to Bro. Sydney P. Brown and quickly became a staple within the fraternity. When speaking about the poem in 1981, Brown cited his experiences with Beta (Washington, D.C.), Theta (Chicago), Xi Lambda (Chicago Alumni) and Eta Lambda (Atlanta Alumni) as collective inspirations for the poem.[7] Loyalty to the Fraternity was repeatedly urged by brothers on the part of those who were among the initiated, and for every chapter with the vision of a fraternity house. The statement has become a manifesto for the national fraternity and chapters, as each may symbolically be referred to as a "House of Alpha".[8][9]
Eugene K. Jones, sometimes referred to as "The Visionary Jewel", once said:
Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest of Negro Fraternities, with all of its members presumably far above the average American and having a good and practical understanding of the salient factors involved in the Negro's problem...should be able to take into their hands the leadership in the Negro's struggle for status.[10]
Here follows a list of notable Alphas.
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by with reliable sources.
Founders[]
Name
Original chapter
Notability
References
Henry Arthur Callis
Alpha
Co-founder of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; 6th General President of Alpha Phi Alpha; physician
Co-founder of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; first Executive Director of the National Urban League; member of President Franklin D Roosevelt's Black Cabinet
Attorney who argued in the Supreme Court case styled Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education; third Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; President of North Carolina Central University
First Black President of Morehouse College; President of Atlanta University; co-founder of the Niagara Movement and NAACP; fourth President of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History; 1936 Spingarn Medal recipient
Third President of Tuskegee University; co-founder of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF); 1987 Presidential Medal of Freedom; 1988 Spingarn Medal recipient
President of Talladega College, Fisk University and Benedict College; 28th General President of Alpha Phi Alpha; vice chairman of the World Policy Council
President of Central State University; President of Wilberforce University; Executive Director and President of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASALH); 14th General President and Historian of Alpha Phi Alpha
Professor of Mathematics University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley); first Black person admitted to the National Academy of Sciences; first tenured black professor in UC Berkeley history; former Chair of the Department of Statistics
Professor of Journalism at Columbia University; former Professor of History and Director of the Institute for African American Studies at the University of Connecticut; author of " The Substance of Hope "; staff writer at the New Yorker magazine; contributor to MSNBC TV
Author of The Myth of Black Anti-Intellectualism; Former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Black Psychology; University of Texas at Austin educational psychology professor; First Black person admitted to the University of Texas System Academy of Distinguished Teachers; Association of Black Psychologists Distinguished Psychologist
American sociologist; author of The Negro Family, Black Bourgeoisie, and On Race Relations; Fisk University Professor; recipient of 1940 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for the most significant work in the field of race relations; Guggenheim Fellowship Award recipient
President of American Historical Association; 1995 Spingarn Medal, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and 2006 Kluge Prize recipient; author of From Slavery To Freedom; namesake of the John Hope Franklin Memorial Plaza at the site of the Tulsa, Oklahoma " Black Wall Street " massacre and race riot.
Research entomologist; developer of the "male annihilation" method of insect control adopted by over 20 countries; original Montford Point Marine and 2017 recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal
Member of the Wiley College Debate Team that in 1935 defeated the University of Southern California national champions; author of the second volume of The History of Sigma Pi Phi
Climate change scientist; 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for Science recipient; first African American President of the American Meteorological Society; awarded 2010 National Medal of Science by President Barack Obama; Presidential advisor to Presidents Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and both Bushes; Professor of climatology at the University of Oregon
Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History at Wichita State University; acclaimed for extensive and systematic research on African American consumerism; lecturer and author of books on the economic history of African Americans including Black Business in the Black Metropolis, Desegregating the Dollar, and Business in Black and White
The Rhodes Scholarship is the world's oldest and arguably most prestigious international fellowship. The scholarships have been awarded to applicants annually since 1902 by the Rhodes Trust in Oxford on the basis of academic qualities, as well as those of character.
Founder of Johnson Publishing Company, which publishes Ebony and Jet magazines; first Black person to appear on the Forbes 400 "Rich List"; namesake of Howard University's School of Communications; Presidential Medal of Freedom and 1966 Spingarn Medal recipient; a portion of Chicago's famed Michigan Avenue was renamed "John H. Johnson Avenue"
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; argued before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Martin Luther King Jr. and the New York Times in the important First Amendment case styled New York Times v. Sullivan; first African-American to serve on the Board of Directors of a Fortune 500 company
Songwriter, composer; former lead singer of The Impressions; 1991 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; 1993 NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame inductee
Composer, bandleader, actor; Grammy Award winner; 1959 Spingarn Medal and 1969 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; Pulitzer Prize in recognition of his musical genius
Songwriter and arranger for The Staple Singers, Jerry Butler, and Aretha Franklin; singer who recorded duets with Roberta Flack; recorded the theme song to the TV series Maude
Jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, and singer of the Harlem Renaissance; lyricist of Shuffle Along, which became the first hit musical on Broadway written by and about African-Americans
First Black person to sing with a major opera company; the original Porgy in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess; 1984 George Peabody Medal of Music recipient
First African American director to win an Oscar Academy Award for Best Picture (Moonlight) Director of Golden Globe Award winning movie " If Beale Street could talk " 2019
Model, actor, and president/founder of 360 Magazine; model for Joe Boxer, Gap, Fila, Target, Old Navy, Dasani, Skechers, and Ecko Unlimited; runway model for Tommy Hilfiger, Phat Farm, and Karl Kani
Note: individuals who belong in multiple sections appear in the first relevant section.
Vice Presidents and Supreme Court[]
Name
Original chapter
Notability
References
Hubert Humphrey
Honorary
38th Vice President of the United States; 1968 Presidential candidate; Senator from Minnesota; Mayor of Minneapolis; 1979 Congressional Gold Medal and 1980 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
First African American Justice of US Supreme Court; attorney in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka; first Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; 1946 Spingarn Medal and 1993 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; authored the Constitution for the newly independent African nation of Kenya
Secretary of Transportation; first Black Supreme Court law clerk; co-author of the brief in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka; co-counsel on the landmark caseMcLaughlin v. Florida, which established the constitutionality of interracial marriages; editor of the Harvard Law Review; 1995 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
First Executive Director of the National Urban League; member of President Franklin D Roosevelt's Black Cabinet; second Executive Director of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH); 1980 Spingarn Medal recipient; 15th General President of Alpha Phi Alpha
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; argued before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Martin Luther King Jr. and the New York Times in the important First Amendment case styled New York Times v. Sullivan; first African-American to serve on the Board of Directors of a Fortune 500 company
Senator from Massachusetts; Attorney General of Massachusetts; Chairman Emeritus of World Policy Council; 1967 Spingarn Medal and 2004 Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient
Representative from Illinois; first African-American chairman of a regular House Committee (Committee on Expenditures in Executive Department); Dawson Technical Institute at Kennedy-King College (Chicago) is named in his honor
Representative from California; co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus; Mayor of Oakland; led the fight in the US against South African apartheid; namesake of the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland
Representative from Illinois; co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus; 1932 and 1936 Olympian; Ralph H. Metcalfe Federal Building (Chicago) is named in his honor
First Black Representative from New York (Harlem); Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee; first African American Chairman of a major committee in the U.S. House of Representatives; early civil rights and racial equality legislation advocate; long-time pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church
Representative from New York; co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus; first Black person to chair the Committee on Ways and Means; New York State Assembly Representative; Marine combat veteran awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals
Senator from Georgia, First African American Senator elected from the state of Georgia. Former Senior Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
|alist=
|name=
|chapter=Alpha Chi
|nota=[[U.S. Ambassador to Republic of Niger
|ref=[139]}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Orison Rudolph Aggrey
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Gamma Iota
| class="note" | Ambassador to Republic of The Gambia, Republic of Senegal, and Romania
| style="text-align:center;" | [78]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Archibald Carey, Jr.
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Theta
| class="note" | Diplomat; attorney; Circuit Court Judge; Pastor
| style="text-align:center;" | [140][141]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Walter Carrington
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Sigma
| class="note" | Ambassador to Republic of Senegal and Federal Republic of Nigeria
| style="text-align:center;" | [142][143]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Horace Dawson
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Nu
| class="note" | Ambassador to Republic of Botswana; Director of the Ralph Bunche International Affairs Center, Howard University; Chairman of the World Policy Council
| style="text-align:center;" | [15]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Frederick Douglass
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | (Honorary)
| class="note" | Minister to Republic of Haiti; anti-slavery activist
| style="text-align:center;" | [28][144]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Edward R. Dudley
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" |
| class="note" | United States Ambassador to Liberia; First African American to hold the rank ambassador; Justice of the New York Supreme Court
| style="text-align:center;" | [145]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Walter A. Gordon
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" |
| class="note" | U.S. Federal District Court Judge; Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands; First All American football player in University of California history and California state champion in wrestling and boxing; Chartering member of Alpha Epsilon chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
| style="text-align:center;" | [146]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Lionel Hampton
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Phi
| class="note" | Goodwill Ambassador; jazz percussionist and bandleader; National Medal of Arts recipient
| style="text-align:center;" | [85][87]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | James A. Joseph
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Beta Sigma
| class="note" | Ambassador to South Africa; Under Secretary of Interior
| style="text-align:center;" | [20]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Kenton Keith
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Upsilon
| class="note" | Ambassador to State of Qatar
| style="text-align:center;" | [44]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Raphael Lanier
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Mu Lambda
| class="note" | Minister to Liberia; first President of Texas Southern University
| style="text-align:center;" | [15]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Delano Lewis
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Upsilon
| class="note" | Ambassador to South Africa; President and Chief Executive Officer of National Public Radio; President of The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company
| style="text-align:center;" | [20][147]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Donald McHenry
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Eta Tau
| class="note" | Ambassador to United Nations
| style="text-align:center;" | [78]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | John H. Morrow
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Delta Iota
| class="note" | First United States Ambassador to Guinea after its independence; first US Representative to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
| style="text-align:center;" | [148][149]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Gerald Eustis Thomas
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Sigma
| class="note" | Ambassador to Guyana and Kenya; Admiral, US Navy
| style="text-align:center;" | [22][150]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Terence Todman
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | unknown
| class="note" | Ambassador to Republic of Chad, Guinea, Costa Rica, Spain, Denmark, and Argentina
| style="text-align:center;" | [22][150]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Lester Walton
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Eta
| class="note" | Minister to Liberia
| style="text-align:center;" | [151][152]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Clifton Reginald Wharton, Sr.
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Sigma
| class="note" | Ambassador to Norway and Minister to Romania
| style="text-align:center;" | [74][153]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Franklin H. Williams
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Nu
| class="note" | Ambassador to Republic of Ghana and the United Nations; President of the Phelps-Stokes Fund
| style="text-align:center;" | [20]
|- style="vertical-align:top;" class="vcard"
| class="fn" | Andrew Young
| style="text-align:center;" class="org" | Beta
| class="note" | Ambassador to the United Nations; Representative from Georgia; two-term Mayor of Atlanta; 1990 Governor of Georgia candidate; 1978 Spingarn Medal, 1981 Presidential Medal of Freedom, and French Légion d'honneur recipient
| style="text-align:center;" | [28][36][154][155]
}}
Mayors[]
Name
Original chapter
Notability
References
Dennis Archer
Alpha Upsilon
Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court; Mayor of Detroit, Michigan; first Black President of the American Bar Association
Mayor of Detroit who resigned after pleading guilty to felony charges stemming from a text message scandal; convicted of federal charges including racketeering and extortion
Host of the syndicated show Judge Joe Brown; presided over James Earl Ray's last appeal for Ray's conviction for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Attorney in the Supreme Court case styled Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education; third Director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; President of North Carolina Central University
Assistant Attorney General of the state of Alabama who researched and wrote opinions which led GovernorGeorge Wallace to pardon Clarence Norris, the last known surviving defendant in the international cause célèbre case of the Scottsboro Boys; 29th General President of Alpha Phi Alpha
Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court; South Carolina House of Representatives; Interim President of South Carolina State University; attorney in the civil rights case styled The Friendship 9
Chief architect of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's strategy for racial equality in dismantling the Jim Crow laws; first Black editor of the Harvard Law Review; 1950 Spingarn Medal recipient
President of the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc., which oversees the fundraising, design, and construction of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial; 31st General President of Alpha Phi Alpha
Chief Justice of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan who famously ruled in United States v. Sinclair (upheld in United States v. US District Court) that PresidentNixon'sAttorney General John Mitchell had to disclose the transcripts of illegal wiretaps that Mitchell had authorized without first obtaining a search warrant; 1974 Spingarn Medal recipient
Co-founder of New Negro Alliance; successfully argued in United States Supreme Court cases styled New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co. to safeguard the right to boycott, and Henderson v. United States which abolished segregation in railroad dining cars; 16th General President of Alpha Phi Alpha
Attorney in Lucy v. Adams, which prevented the University of Alabama from denying admission to applicants solely on account of race or color; civil rights activist; namesake of the Arthur Davis Shores Law Center and A. D. Shores Park in Birmingham, Alabama
First African-American to serve as Washington State Supreme Court Justice 1998-2002; first African-American to serve as King County Superior Court judge and Seattle Municipal Court judge; served as a special assistant to United States Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (1960-64) to investigate corruption related to Teamster Union pension funds; brought an indictment in Chicago against Teamster Union President James Hoffa; appointed by President Clinton in 1999 to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
North Carolina House of Representatives; Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives; 2002 Democratic candidate for the United States Senate
Chief auditor for the Republic of Liberia, European correspondent for the Associated Negro Press in Paris, government adviser on export-import banking issues for Liberia
Celebrity physician, radio talk show host, Chief Medical Editor for National Broadcasting Company for the Gulf Coast, first Black Chief Resident of Pediatrics at Tulane University, Chief executive officer of Community Health TV
Editor of the Sphinx; editor in chief of the Memphis World; co-founder and editor in chief of the Tri-State Defender; southern vice president of Alpha Phi Alpha during the Montgomery bus boycott
ABC Network News Senior Justice Correspondent; 2012 National Association of Black Journalists(NABJ) Journalist of the Year Award Winner; two-time Emmy Award winner (2001 and 2009); winner of the George Foster Peabody and Alfred I DuPont Awards
First Black Brigadier General in the USAF; clinical faculty member of the University of St. Louis School of Medicine; first African American president of the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society
Lieutenant Commander; first Black graduate from United States Naval Academy; the Wesley A. Brown Field House at the US Naval Academy is named in his honor
First African American Admiral, United States Navy; first African American to command a US fleet; the Arleigh Burke class warship USS Gravely (DDG 107) was named in his honor and commissioned on November, 20th 2010
Montford Point Marine; awarded Congressional Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama; former executive director and general secretary of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; Alpha Award of Merit recipient
Colonel, United States Air Force; original Tuskegee Airman and 30 year career officer in the USAF; holds an Air Force record 409 fighter combat missions flown in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam; awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Air Medal, and Army Commendation Medals; awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President George W. Bush in 2007; inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2011 Promoted to Brigadier General in 2019
Author of Black Theology & Black Power; considered the "father of Black Liberation Theology"; Distinguished Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary
First national director of the United Methodist Black Caucus; Professor of Theology at Howard University and Princeton University; editor of The African American Jubilee Bible
Co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); President of National Baptist Convention; organized the Baton Rouge Bus Boycott of 1953
1962 Nobel Peace Prize; civil rights activist; co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in his honor; 1957 Spingarn Medal, 1977 Presidential Medal of Freedom, and 2004 Congressional Gold Medal recipient; first African American with a memorial on the National Mall
Acclaimed African American Pastor, Theologian, author, lecturer, and Civil Rights Activist and aide to Martin Luther King jr.; Author of " Preach !: The Power and Purpose Behind our Praise "
Senior Pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church; one of nine people slain in the 2015 Charleston church shooting; his eulogy was delivered by President Barack Obama; South Carolina State Senator
Sixty percent of all Black male doctors and sixty-five percent of all Black male dentists are Alphas.[9]
Name
Original chapter
Notability
References
Leonidas H. Berry
Xi
Pioneer in the medical sciences of gastroscopy and endoscopy; inventor of the Berry endoscope; President of the National Medical Association 1965-1966; author of I wouldn't take Nothin' for my Journey: Two centuries of an Afro-American Minister's Family
Prominent child psychiatrist; founder of the Comer School Development Program at the Yale University Child Study Center; associate dean at the Yale University School of Medicine
Chemist who contributed to the science of food preservation; author of 59 United Statespatents; a number of his inventions were also patented in foreign countries
First African American to hold both an MD and a Phd; Groundbreaking research scientist exploring differences in disease expressions by race. Expert on blood typing and race based medical diagnosis and treatment.
Inventor who originated a respiratory protective hood (similar to modern gas masks) and a hair-straightening preparation; patented a type of traffic light signal
Orthodontist; for many years, he was acknowledged as one of the best hands-on clinical orthodontics instructors in the world; a dental facility in Barbados is named after him
J. Marshall Shepherd
Iota Delta
Physicist; NASA meteorologist; professor at University of Georgia; expert on global climate change and environmental issues
Chief of cardiovascular surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital; performed the world's first human implantation of the automatic implantable defibrillator; first African-American medical student at Vanderbilt University
North Carolina NAACP State President, 2018 MacArthur Foundation Genius award recipient, architect of the Moral Mondays Movement, author of The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays
Attorney in the Supreme Court case styled Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education; third Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; President of North Carolina Central University
Co-founder of Niagara Movement and NAACP; founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Crisis; first African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University; 1920 Spingarn Medal recipient; author of The Souls of Black Folks
First Black President of Atlanta University; President of Atlanta University; co-founder of the Niagara Movement and NAACP; fourth President of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH); 1936 Spingarn Medal recipient
Co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; President of the National Baptist Convention; organized the Baton Rouge Bus Boycott of 1953
Co-founder of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; second Executive Director of the National Urban League; Member of President Franklin D Roosevelt's Black Cabinet
1962 Nobel Peace Prize; civil rights activist; co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in his honor; 1957 Spingarn Medal, 1977 Presidential Medal of Freedom, and 2004 Congressional Gold Medal recipient; first African American with a memorial on the National Mall
First Executive Director of the National Urban League; Member of President Franklin D Roosevelt's Black Cabinet; 2nd Executive Director of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH); 1980 Spingarn Medal recipient; 15th General President of Alpha Phi Alpha
Co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); delivered the benediction at the inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009; 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
Co-founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH); namesake of Howard University's Moorland-Spingarn Research Center
Co-founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; 2012 Congressional Gold Medal recipient; 26th General President of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity; Original Monford Point Marine
Plaintiff in the US Supreme Court case styled Sweatt v. Painter, which successfully challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine of racial segregation established by the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson
Gold medal winner at the IAAF World Cup, Summer Universiade, and Liberty Bell Classic; was not able to compete in the 1980 Olympics due to the US boycott on Russia, but held the world record that year in 100m
1936 Olympian in track and field; Associated Press Athlete of the Year, 1936; 1976 Presidential Medal of Freedom and 1990 Congressional Gold Medal recipient; namesake of the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at Ohio State University
1948 Olympian and first African American to play with the USA Olympic Basketball Team; first African American consensus All American college basketball player; NBA player; first African American to play in the NBA All-Star game; Basketball Hall of Fame
NBA player; Basketball Hall of Fame; two-time NBA Champion; seven-time NBA All-Star, 4x All NBA First Team; two-time All NBA Second Team; seven-time All Defensive First Team; NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team
NBA player and coach; second most wins all-time in NBA history; 1994 NBA Coach of the Year; 1996 Olympian; Basketball Coach; Basketball Hall of Fame; twice inducted into the Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach, the first and only African American so honored
NFL player; first African American to be drafted by the Cleveland Browns and a member of the 1950 NFL championship team; University of Toledo Hall of Fame
NFL player; first African American All-American football player at Michigan State University; first MSU player to have jersey retired; first African American to serve on the MSU coaching staff; member of College Football Hall of Fame
NFL player, Pro Football Hall of Fame; eight-time Pro Bowl selection; three-time First Team All Pro selection; two-time Second Team All Pro selection; four-time First Team All NFC; two-time Second Team All NFC; NFL 1990's All Decade Team
NFL player; two-time Pro Bowler; singer; actor; best known for The Thing with Two Heads; helped apprehend Sirhan Sirhan in the immediate aftermath of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination
NFL player; 2015 Pro Football Hall of Fame; 5-time Super Bowl Champion (San Francisco 49ers 1988 & 1989; Dallas Cowboys 1992, 1993, & 1995); five-time Pro Bowl player
NFL player; two-time college football All-American; College Football Hall of Fame; actor and singer; social activist; 1945 Spingarn Medal recipient; Stalin Peace Prize laureate
Head of the Grambling State University football program for 56 years; the winningest coach in college football history; first coach to record 400 wins; 408 total career wins
NFL player; one of the first two African-Americans to play in the NFL's modern (post-World War II) era; actor; nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor
NFL and AFL player; 1987 Pro Football Hall of Fame; President of National Football League Players Association (NFLPA); NFLPA Headquarters building in Washington, D.C. named in his honor
NFL player; 2007 College Football Hall of Fame Inductee; 1986 NFL Man of the Year; 1987 Sports Illustrated Co-Sportsman of the Year; former Cincinnati City Councilman
University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Fame; second African American to letter in varsity football at Michigan; three-time track and field All-American and eight-time Big Ten champion; famous for being excluded from the 1934 Michigan vs. Georgia Tech football game due to being African American
2017 Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor recipient. Special Agent of the United States Capitol Police who heroically prevented a massacre of members of the United States Congress during an attack in Alexandria, Virginia. The day after the attack, Bailey threw the first pitch at the Congressional Baseball Game.
Structural engineer and bridge builder; designed the Canadian approach to the Ambassador Bridge linking the U.S. and Canada; designed and built the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, the first vehicular subway tunnel (under the Detroit River) between two nations
First African-American male student admitted to the University of Georgia; first African-American student to attend the Emory University School of Medicine
First African American to hold an executive position at the White House as Administrative Officer for Special Projects under President Dwight Eisenhower; NAACP field secretary; CBS TV writer; author of Black Man in the White House, Way Down South Up North, Forty Years a Guinea Pig, and A Black Man's View From the Top
Architect; designed buildings for Howard University, Hampton University and Langston Terrace Dwellings in Washington, D.C.; architect of Tuskegee, Alabama Army Airfield; first and only African American to design a US airbase
^Smoot, Charles (2018). "The Story of House of Alpha". The Jewel of the Midwest: A History of Alpha Phi Alpha in Illinois. Mount Pleasant, SC: Artisian House. ISBN978-0-9755660-6-0.
^Mason, Herman (1999). "The Visionary Jewel—Eugene Kinckle Jones". The Talented Tenth: The Founders and Presidents of Alpha. Winter Park, FL: Four-G. ISBN1-885066-63-5.
^ Jump up to: abc"Civil rights veterans join Martin Luther King Jr.'s fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha" (Press release). Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. December 2010. Most of you have been walking in the light of Alpha all these years, and now you have finally have made it official.
^"Ebony Magazine's "Power 150"" (Press release). May 2008. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008. Retrieved June 7, 2009. Alpha continues to stand as the organization that represents the totality of the Black male...
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^"Former senator awarded Congressional Gold Medal". CNN. TBS. 28 October 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2010. He ran for office, as he put it, to bring people together who had never been together before, and that he did.
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^ Jump up to: ab"U.S. Senate approves resolution" (Press release). Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. 2006-11-06. Retrieved 2008-12-31. Alpha Phi Alpha is an exceptional organization that deserves to be recognized and honored for all of its many great achievements. The fraternity has helped shape more than 175,000 young men into extraordinary leaders who contribute positively to their communities and the world.[dead link]
^Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity (2005). Alpha Phi Alpha Men: A Century of Leadership (Video). Rubicon Productions.
^"Walter C. Carrington". Council of American Ambassadors. americanambassadors.org. Archived from the original on January 5, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
^Howell, Ron (November 1997). "Al Vann and the Revolution unplugged". City Limits. City Futures. Retrieved 28 February 2012. Coming out of my role in the sixties, it was understood that the role of the politician was to help build institutions.
^Prince, Richard (2004-07-20). "Tony Brown Named Hampton J-School Dean". Richard Prince's Journal-isms. Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-07-29.