By Matt Kyle | Staff Writer
In 1906, the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the first Greek-letter organization for African American men, was founded at Cornell University. Two years later, the first Greek-letter sorority for African American women, Alpha Kappa Alpha, was founded at Howard University.
Over 100 years later, these organizations are still thriving at colleges across the nation, providing a space to celebrate African American culture and serve communities.
Today, nine historically Black fraternities and sororities constitute the National Pan-Hellenic Council, known as the “Divine Nine.” The NPHC was founded in 1930 at Howard University at a time when Black students were not allowed to join Greek-letter organizations founded by white students and was founded in order to promote unanimity between fraternities and sororities.
There are seven active chapters of the Divine Nine at Baylor, with the first being chartered in 1979 — the Nu Iota chapter of Zeta Phi Beta. Fresno senior Forche Bridges, the chapter president, said the sorority was founded on helping its community thrive.
“Not only are we primarily focused on being aware of what’s going on in the community, but we’re very focused on putting action behind that,” Bridges said.
She said Zeta Phi Beta has been partnered with March of Dimes for over 50 years, where the sorority gives out information about underage pregnancies and resources those women have.
Bridges also said one of Zeta’s biggest events is StompFest, where multiple campus organizations compete in stepping routines to win prize money for their philanthropies. She said a portion of the proceeds from the show goes towards Z-HOPE, Zeta’s national service program.
Chartered at Baylor in 1993, the Tau Alpha chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha was the first Black fraternity established at Baylor. New Madrid, Mo., senior Mason Burrage-Burton, the chapter secretary, said the fraternity was established because the Alpha founders saw a need for a Black fraternity on Baylor’s campus.
Burrage-Burton said he was drawn to Alpha Phi Alpha because he wanted to be a part of a brotherhood.
“I wanted brothers who look like me and who are headed towards the same things as me: focusing on uplifting themselves and others,” he said. “I also joined because I wanted to first develop myself as a Black man, learn more about myself and be more involved in the Black community.”
Burrage-Burton said Alpha Phi Alpha does a lot of service programs, including “A Voteless People Is a Hopeless People,” based around registering people to vote, “Brother’s Keeper,” where actives assist senior citizen members of the fraternity and a program where actives go to the Boys and Girls Club of Waco to serve as role models for children in the community.
“We just play and spend time with little kids in the Waco community so they can see what it’s like to have role models,” Burrage-Burton said. “A lot of times it’s hard to see Black men doing big things like that. If you can’t see it, you can’t picture yourself doing it. Back at home, I didn’t have any Black male role models. So to be able to see people like me doing things that I aspire to do, that was very helpful.”
Oklahoma City senior Getori Martin, the president of the Pi Mu chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, said she had an internal battle when deciding to join AKA.
“I was always raised to attend to others, give to others what you don’t have. You always just provide what you can and help others in any way,” Martin said. “The service aspect really drew me towards it. And then the girls who were a part of it, they never really pressured me to join. I was able to actually find genuine relationships with them.”
Martin said her time in AKA has been a lot of work, but she is blessed to have the opportunity to represent her culture on campus.
“People see us wearing our colors or letters and strolling, but it’s a lot of work behind the scenes just putting on the events,” Martin said. “Being a part of the NPHC, we represent a lot on Baylor’s campus for African Americans. That is something that that has really been hard, being that representation. All eyes are on you.”
Many of the NPHC groups are much smaller than other fraternities and sororities at Baylor. AKA has 10 active members, Alpha Phi Alpha has eight, Phi Beta Sigma has seven and Bridges is the only active member of Zeta.
Burrage-Burton said the lower membership can be attributed to Baylor being a predominantly-white institution and because they do not actively recruit members for NPHC.
“We’re at a PWI, so there’s not a lot of African American people here. Even with all the ones that are here, not everyone is interested in Greek life. So it’s a matter of finding those who are interested and letting them know about us,” Burrage-Burton said. “If somebody wants to join or attend to join the organization, they would have to do their research beforehand and then come to get to know us as members and as people so they can learn what [the group] is about.”
Minneapolis junior John Deutsch, the treasurer for the Nu Zeta chapter of Phi Beta Sigma, said he loves being part of a smaller, tight-knit brotherhood.
“Being a part of an inclusive community of people of a different skin color is cool,” Deutsch said. “Something that I learned when I joined is that not every great man is a Sigma, but every Sigma is a great man.”
Although the organizations are historically black, Burrage-Burton said they are open to people of all races, and he said one of the charter members of the Tau Alpha chapter was white. Deutsch said some famous Sigmas include Bill Clinton, Jerry Rice and Terrance Howard.
“A common thought is that you have to be Black to join us, and you don’t. You can be anybody,” Deutsch said. “It’s a historically Black fraternity because back in 1914, a lot of Black people in college weren’t allowed to join fraternities and sororities that were already existing. So they made their own, and they’ve lasted the test of time.”
