Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated®, a college fraternity, was born in an environment saturated with racism. Indiana became the 19th state of the Union in 1816 and founded Indiana University in Bloomington four years later. This city was largely populated by settlers from below the Mason-Dixon line, many of whom sympathized with the Southern cause. Consequently, the few Black residents in Bloomington during those early years were socially ostracized and encountered extreme acts of prejudice and discrimination. Indiana became a stronghold for the Ku Klux Klan, whose intolerance toward Blacks fueled the negative mindset of other White residents. Vigilante lynchings of Blacks were commonplace, making day-to-day life for Blacks an arduous task and successful academic achievement nearly impossible. Despite the growing hostility, some Black students sought a college education at Indiana University, as it was a tuition-free institution of the highest quality. However, few Blacks could remain longer than a year or so before having to withdraw in search of employment.

The campus of Indiana University at that time did not encourage the assimilation of Blacks. The administration maintained an attitude of indifference as Blacks slowly matriculated and were swiftly forgotten. The percentage of Black students on campus was less than 1%, and weeks could pass without them seeing one another. Blacks were not allowed to reside in on-campus dormitories, were not afforded off-campus accommodations, and were denied the use of all other university facilities. They were barred from participating in contact sports, with Track and Field being the only sport where Blacks could demonstrate their athleticism.

During the 1910-11 school year, a small group of Black students attended Indiana University, most of whom were working their way through school. The number of places where they could assemble was limited. Realizing that they had no part in the social life of the university and drawn together by common interests, they decided that a Greek-letter fraternity would help fill the void in their college experience.

Two of these men, Elder Watson Diggs and Byron Kenneth Armstrong, had previously attended Howard University and had come into contact with men belonging to the only national Black Greek-letter fraternity then in existence. Their experiences at Howard inspired the idea of establishing a fraternity at Indiana University and led to the formation of an independent Greek-letter organization.

Consequently, eight other men met with Diggs and Armstrong to organize such a fraternity. The charter members were Elder Watson Diggs, Byron K. Armstrong, John M. Lee, Henry T. Asher, Marcus P. Blakemore, Guy L. Grant, Paul W. Caine, George W. Edmonds, Ezra D. Alexander, and Edward G. Irvin. The Founders sought each other’s company between classes and visited one another’s lodgings to discuss the formation of the fledgling fraternity and to relieve the isolation they felt. Through these interactions, they discovered common interests and developed a close bond. The organization was initially given the temporary name of Alpha Omega while they further developed its structure. Diggs presided as president, while Irvin was assigned as temporary secretary of Alpha Omega. Alpha and Omega, the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, symbolized the Founders' connection to the church.

The Founders were God-fearing and serious-minded young men who possessed the imagination, ambition, courage, and determination to defy societal norms in pursuit of a college education and careers. The ideals of the church were foundational to the fraternity. One of the five objectives of the fraternity is: "To promote the spiritual, social, intellectual, and moral welfare of members." Many aspects of the fraternity’s rites are grounded in Christian ideals and contain excerpts from the Bible.

From the outset, it was clear that the new fraternity would not replicate the principles or practices of other organizations. Nor would it seek members in the manner of other Greek organizations—primarily from the sons of wealthy families or those with social prestige. The men of vision who founded Kappa Alpha Psi® decided that the fraternity would be more than a social organization; it would be built on high Christian ideals with the purpose of achievement.

The fraternity sought to raise the aspirations of Black youths and inspire them to achieve more than they might otherwise have imagined.

On January 5, 1911, the fraternity became known as Kappa Alpha Nu, possibly as a tribute to the Black students of 1903 (the Alpha Kappa Nu Greek Society) who preceded them at Indiana University. Kappa Alpha Nu began uniting college men of culture, patriotism, and honor in a bond of fraternity. Primarily through the leadership of the calm, methodical, and philosophical Elder W. Diggs and the critical, scholarly Byron K. Armstrong, the Kappa Alpha Nu Fraternity was founded. Through their combined efforts, the fraternity’s ritual, ceremonial forms, constitution, hymn, and motto were created, and its insignia and emblems were fashioned. To ensure the fraternity was rooted in authenticity, Founder Diggs took courses in Greek heraldry and mythology and applied his knowledge to the development of these symbols. The idealist, John Milton Lee, also contributed significantly to the fledgling organization. For their work in establishing the fraternity, Diggs was named permanent chairman, Lee was designated as secretary, and Armstrong was sergeant-at-arms. These three Founders are credited with guiding the infant fraternity through its most perilous years. Able assistance provided by the other Founders furnished necessary sustenance for the embryonic group. Kappa Alpha Nu became the first incorporated Black fraternity in the United States when it was granted a charter by the Indiana Secretary of State on May 15, 1911.

Born out of the vestiges of racism, Kappa Alpha Nu underwent another metamorphosis, partially due to bigotry. One day, as fraternity member Frank Summers was running the hurdles, Founder Diggs overheard a White student remark, “He is a member of Kappa Alpha Nig.” There was also confusion regarding the acronym of the fraternity’s Greek letters, KAN, which some mistook as referring to the state of Kansas. The name of the fraternity and the image it projected were of paramount importance, so these incidents prompted the Founders to change the name of the fraternity. The Greek letter Ψ was chosen to replace N, and the fraternity became known as Kappa Alpha Psi®, thereby acquiring a distinctive Greek letter symbol. The name was officially changed to Kappa Alpha Psi on a resolution adopted at the Grand Chapter Meeting in December 1914, becoming effective on April 15, 1915.

Kappa Alpha Psi® was the first Black Greek-letter organization to issue a monthly publication. The inaugural edition of the Kappa Alpha Nu Journal debuted in April 1914 and has been printed continuously, except for 1918 and 1919 due to World War I.

From the beginning, every effort was directed toward establishing the fraternity on a strong foundation before embarking on expansion plans. Careful consideration was given to ensure that the organization was firmly established in its first year before attempts to expand were made. Five chapters were chartered from 1913-1915, centered in the Midwest, with the first chapter established in the East in 1915. Except for the years of World War I and II, when some Grand Chapter Meetings were suspended, Kappa Alpha Psi® has grown and thrived with unabating momentum.

Kappa Alpha Psi®, now comprised of functioning undergraduate and alumni chapters on major campuses and in cities throughout the country, is the crystallization of a dream. It is the beautiful realization of a vision shared by the late revered Founders, who sowed the seed of a fraternal tree whose fruit is available to, and now enjoyed by, college men everywhere, regardless of their color, religion, or national origin.

It is a point of pride for Kappa Alpha Psi® that its Constitution has never contained any clause excluding or suggesting the exclusion of a man from membership based on his color, creed, or national origin.

Kappa Alpha Psi® is the second oldest existing collegiate historically Black Greek-letter fraternity and the first intercollegiate fraternity incorporated as a national body. It remains the only Greek-letter organization with its Alpha Chapter on Indiana University’s campus. The fraternity has over 125,000 members, with 700 undergraduate and alumni chapters in nearly every state of the United States and international chapters in Nigeria, South Africa, the West Indies, the United Kingdom, Germany, Korea, and Japan.

Through its worldwide prominence, Kappa Alpha Psi® has had a global impact on events affecting local communities and places around the globe. Local chapters of Kappa Alpha Psi® participate in community outreach activities, such as feeding the homeless, providing scholarships to young people matriculating to college, mentoring young men, participating in blood drives, and hosting public health awareness seminars. Nationally, Kappa Alpha Psi® has provided summer enrichment camps and raised funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, contributing more than $1 million to assist in the fight against childhood catastrophic diseases. Internationally, Kappa Alpha Psi® members have answered the call to service by proudly serving in the military since World War I and raising funds to assist those in need following natural disasters around the world, including hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, and earthquakes.

Kappa Alpha Psi® proudly boasts members who epitomize the essence of "Achievement in Every Field of Human Endeavor." Some of these members of our Noble Klan include, but are not limited to: Hakeem Jeffries, Sanford D. Bishop Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Tom Bradley, Wilt Chamberlain, Montell Jordan, Benjamin Jealous, Oscar Robertson, Cedric the Entertainer, Arthur Ashe, Mike Tomlin, Gale Sayers, Adrian Fenty, Robert S. Abbott, Bennie Thompson, Donald Byrd, Johnnie Cochran, Donald Lee Hollowell, Ed Gardner, Smokie Norful, John Singleton, Bob Johnson, John Conyers, Alcee Hastings, Lerone Bennett, Jr., Kwame Jackson, and Bill Russell; to name a few.