Established at Cornell University in 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha was the first intercollegiate Black fraternity for men. It is one of the “Divine Nine” Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs). These four pieces (from the Gamma Iota Lambda chapter in Brooklyn, NY, chartered in 1945) chronicle some of the legacy of Alpha Phi Alpha and the fraternity’s impact on its members.

This page from The Sphinx, Alpha Phi Alpha’s magazine since 1914, details the early history of the Gamma Iota Lambda chapter. Eugene Kinckle Jones, the first executive secretary of the National Urban League and a member of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Black Cabinet, is recognized here among the founders of the fraternity, known among Alpha Phi Alpha brethren as the “seven jewels.” The handwritten inscription reads:

This priceless photo (August 1956 issue of The Sphinx) is per courtesy of Mrs. Mabel Franklin, loyal Alpha wife, widow of Charter Member Reverend Claude L. Franklin, mother of two Alpha sons. JPR [John P. Rice, Jr.] February 19, 1980.

This photograph was used for an article published in the [New York] Amsterdam News, January 28, 1978, entitled “Alpha Brothers Meet.” The typewritten caption accompanying photograph reads:

The mighty brothers of Gamma Iota Lambda. Under the inspired leadership of Dr. Hobart Jarrett, President of Gamma Iota Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the chapter continues to make a significant contribution to Black uplift through jobs and education. They are particularly proud of their Partners in Learning Project in career education. Alphas shown are: back row (l-r) William Stafford, Joseph Mahood, Edward Hightower, Jesse Ziegler, Jacob Tingman, Ashley Brinson, Homer Gillis, Leon DeKalb, Cecil Forster [sic., Gamma Iota Lambda Chapter website writes as Foster], Milton Flemings, Wesley Brown, Fred Richards, and Harry Boston. Second row: John Mumford Williams, Tolly Broady, Joseph Thomas, the late Herbert Miller (founder of the chapter), Albert Edwards, John Rice and Martin Arrington. Front row: Herman Washington and President Hobart Jarrett. Dr. Jarrett, a professor of English at Brooklyn University, has been honored for both his educational and social activities.

The handwritten inscription from John P. Rice, Jr. reads as follows:

11 March 1978

To Brother Bailgn [crossed out] Brochure Subcommite

I tried to call you Saturday Mar 11, 1978 but your wife indicated you were not available, so I am sending 2 photos. Please use one and return the other (postage enclosed) 

We would like to have our president’s photo in the brochure. If the above caption is too wordy please edit it as you see fit or sample  [illegible]: Greetings from the Brothers of Gamma Iota Lambda [crossed out: chapter] — the famous Brooklyn-Long Island Chapter - President Hobart Jarrett.

This edition of the Alpha Newsletter includes

• updates on the fraternity’s national and regional conventions
• a report on a speech from fraternity brother Louis E. Martin (at the time special assistant to President Jimmy Carter) at the Alpha Leadership Conference and Installation Ceremony
• an open letter to Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Joseph Califano on the importance of the polio, measles/mumps/rubella, and diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis immunizations
• the fraternity’s position on the potential merger of two schools in Georgia
• an update from General President James R. Williams on a fund drive for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, United Negro College Fund, and National Urban League
• Updates from the Metropolitan New York Chapters’ Founders Day celebration and the Pan-Hellenic Summit
• A questionnaire for members to complete and return to the fraternity’s national office

This photograph, taken at the Comus Club in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, includes Gamma Iota Lambda past presidents J. C. Tingman; William Rivers; Martin Arrington; Hobert Jarrett; Joseph Mahood; John P. Rice Jr.; and Albert A. Edwards.