Why do Alphas claim to be the 1st Black Greeks?
 

I read that Sigma Pi Phi was the 1st Black Greek Frat. I read that they were founded in 1904 and were responsible for the founding of the first 8 greek fraternities. If this is true, why do you all claim to be 1st?

Here is some of what I read:

The Boule' is a black GREEK secret society based on another secret society founded at Yale University called Skull & Bones. The Boule's founder was Dr. Henry Minton, of Philadelphia, Pa, in 1904. The founding member of the New York chapter, WEB DuBois, said the Boule' was created to "keep the black professional away from the ranks of Marcus Garvey." ( One thing that needs to be pointed out is the time period. At the founding of the Boule', it was also a time Marcus Garvey's "Back to Afrika" movement was reaching a million plus people without tv or radio.) DuBois emphasized, as Cokely stated, "the importance to steal the black professional away from Garvey because an Afrocentric organization that articulated and capture the black professional would give YT no safe haven in the black community, so the Boule' -- the remaking of the house negro was necessary to build a group of negroes who had an investment in protecting the white system as produced by YT having stolen this land from a population still in existence in the late 1800s and early 1900s; and a dawning population breaking the shackles of overt slavery, had to be railroaded in a way. This is post reconstruction. Taking away the articulate negro, now desiring to replace them with organized institutions to keep them away from self-improvement. So we find in the same period, as the founding of the Boule', the founding of the 4 black male (Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, and Phi Beta Sigma) and 4 black female (Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, and Sigma Gamma Rho) college-based fraternities and sororities...We also find the founding of the NAACP and Urban League." Looking at the logo, you will notice under the sphinx between the greek letters, there are 2 sets of 3x3 squares. Brutha Steve Cokely pointed out, after attending a Boule' national conference a couple years ago, that each square represented each of the 4 black frats and 4 black sororities. The final square belongs to the one the started it all, the Boule'!

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. IS the first Black Greek Lettered organization founded by college men for college men. Sigma Pi Phi is a Society founded for like-minded professional Black men for the express purpose of uniting professional black men to fellowship together after they have made a certain level of sucess in the professional/career world . Lawrence Graham in Our Kind of People talks more about this. I have read more articles from the source of your quote and I can say that his arguements are baseless and illogical. He talks about Bro. WEB DuBois desiring not to have a back to Afrika movement, he died in Ghana in exile because of his radical views! The Boule' is mentioned nowhere in The History of Alpha Phi Alpha : A Development in College Life as having anything to do with the founding of the fraternity and in Graham's book, nothing is mentioned about a connection between the two, other than many men of Alpha are also in the Boule'. The source of this article is basically a conspiracy theorist who makes systematic appeals to oppression almost comical with the unfounded claims he makes. I do not deny for a second that there are systematic intricacies that characterize the oppression of all black people, but there are logical, factual things that can be shown to prove this (inadequte education, lack of healthcare, disproportionate incarceration, etc.), rather than wild, unsubstantiated claims that trivialize the oppression of our people. So to sum up, CHECK YOUR SOURCES before you accept the claims. Bro. Herman "Skip" Mason has a great article on his website talking about this http://skipmason.com/hm/hm19.htm
Blackwatch!!!!!

EXCELLENT My Brother!!!!!

I ENJOYED reading that! Welcome, welcome, welcome to GC!

I have never heard that particular myth put so firmly in it's place!