DALLAS ALUMNI CHAPTER

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. Within the first decade after the turn of the 20th century, two young Hoosiers – Elder Watson Diggs and Byron K. Armstrong - who were students of Howard University in Washington DC declined membership in an existing Greek letter organization and returned to their native Indiana to give group interpretation to achievement.

 

Located in the small Southern Indiana town of Bloomington, Indiana University reflected both the times and the area. Sentiments that gave rise to the Civil War only a half century before were unmistakably present. With little incentive for training even at the grade school level, there were few men like Diggs and Armstrong on the campus of Indiana University. During this time, African-American students were actively dissuaded from attending college. Formidable obstacles were erected to prevent the few who were enrolled from assimilating into co-curricular campus life. With little opportunity for gainful employment, they were also without adequate funds. No social life as afforded them. They were treated as if they did not belong. 

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Their responsibility was clear. They had to bridge the social distance in order to accomplish their career objectives. They had to pursue purposeful courses as a choice over disparagement. They had to encourage personal and civic pride, and a feeling of individual and group confidence. 

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Their problem was universal. How could they meet it? Diggs and Armstrong sought a universal approach…a national fraternity of college men with the purpose of ACHIEVEMENT. This was an ambitious undertaking with little precedent upon which to rely, and a small field within which to work. It was not their plan to restrict membership by means of artificial barriers, but this resulted naturally, for a time, from the existing climate of social distance. 

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An alert young Diggs worked on campus and was able to gain knowledge of otherwise guarded fraternity secrets. As he learned the fundamentals of fraternity organization, he pursued a course in the science of armorial bearings. 

During this period the subsequent months were attended with frustration and the ever-present threat of defeat of the dream. However, the perseverance and planning paid off, because on January 5, 1911, Elder Watson Diggs, Byron K. Armstrong along with eight other interested young men, were recorded as the Founders of this noble clan of ours. 

More than 100 years have passed since that memorable event. Spurred by the mandate of ACHIEVEMENT, Kappa Alpha Psi continues to excel and expand. Membership is counted in the thousands with over 700 chapters located at leading colleges and universities as well as cities throughout the United States and abroad.