A Brief History of Kappa Alpha Psi

Kappa Alpha Psi, Incorporated, a college fraternity, 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 commonly by the late, Revered Founders Elder Watson Diggs, John Milton Lee, Byron Kenneth Armstrong, Guy Levis Grant, Ezra Dee Alexander, Henry Tourner Asher, Marcus Peter Blakemore, Paul Waymond Caine, Edward Giles Irvin and George Wesley Edmonds.

It was the vision of these astute men that enabled them in the school year 1910 – 11, more specifically the night of January 5, 1911 on the campus of Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana, to sow 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 fact of which Kappa Alpha Psi is justly proud that the Constitution has never contained any clause which either excluded or suggested the exclusion of a man from membership merely because of his color, creed, or national origin. The Constitution of Kappa Alpha Psi is predicated upon, and dedicated to, the principles of achievement through a truly democratic Fraternity.

Chartered and incorporated originally under the laws of the State of Indiana as Kappa Alpha Nu on May 15, 1911, the name was changed to Kappa Alpha Psi on a resolution offered and adopted at the Grand Chapter in December 1914. This change became effective April 15, 1915 on a proclamation by the then Grand Polemarch Elder Watson Diggs. Thus, the name acquired a distinctive Greek letter symbol and Kappa Alpha Psi thereby became a Greek letter Fraternity in every sense of the designation. The Kappa motto is “Achievement in Every Field of Human Endeavor.”