Black Greek letter organizations on 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.
The Ten Illustrious Founders gave birth to a great concept,the idea that
if we are going to be brothers, let us be brothers on the best terms that we
know. If we are going to bind ourselves together, let it be around something
that is strong enough to hold us; if we are going to sing, let us sing about
something
that will have a lasting refrain; if we drink a toast, let it be of
something beyond the trivial and the vulgar; let us exalt the theme of
achievement. Reliance would be placed upon high Christian ideals and the purpose
of honorable achievement in every field of human endeavor. The Fraternity would
seek to raise the sights of young black youths and stimulate them to
accomplishments higher than might otherwise not be realized or even imagined.
With achievement as its purpose, Kappa Alpha Psi began uniting college men of
culture, patriotism and honor in a bond of fraternity. Subsequently, chapters
spread in succession to the University of Illinois, the University of Iowa, and
Wilberforce University campuses. By 1919, the Kappa Alpha Psi experience had
generated serious interest among black college degree holders to form Alumni
Chapters. Today, under the theme "Training for Leadership," Kappa Alpha Psi
promotes a style of intellectual and aesthetic evaluation for more than 100,000
members, both undergraduate and alumni, located throughout the United States,
United Kingdom, Korea, Japan, Germany, and the Bahamas.
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