Quote:
Originally posted by oneninetwotwo
I guess I just want to know where and when did they start that?
|
I don't really know much about KKPsi, so I will use my first fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, as an example. I sponsored a Petitioning Group of APO at an HBCU, and before we even had an information session, we spent hours in the library looking through old yearbooks and many more hours talking to alumni who were around in the 1950s and 1960s.
At Howard University in the late forties, there was much interest in Alpha Phi Omega, because at the time, it was a Scouting fraternity, and lots of college men of the era had been Boy Scouts. But this was to be an organization that was new to Howard. How should men in this "new" fraternity behave?
Luckily, Alpha Phi Omega had been around for over twenty years nationally and was rapidly expanding, so there were already a lot of traditions that were handed to the chapter, such as songs and chants. And yes, these songs and chants came from white chapters -- Howard is only the second black APO chapter.
But no one outside of your campus can tell you how your own fraternity should "behave" on your campus in terms of traditions. Alpha Phi Omega has always encouraged the individuality of chapters -- it does not hurt our organization if the FAMU chapter steps and the FSU chapter does not.
So these men at Howard operated Alpha Phi Omega in the same way that any Fraternity was run on Howard's campus: professionally and seriously and gaining the respect of the campus for doing so.
APO at many schools predates what we know as "modern" stepping. Take a glimpse at a Howard yearbook and you will see an APO sweetheart court, pictures of them singing at their plot, and many community based activities. They weren't "copying" these traditions -- they were expectations of any org with Greek letters at Howard. Alpha Phi Omega was right there when NPHC traditions came to fruition. Not only were they there, they participated in the building of those traditions.
Because APO's prominence at HBCU's decreased at a critical time in the development of NPHC organizationsm namely the 70's and early 80's, many members of that era cannot remember a time when APO was active on their yard, doing the same activities as NPHC organizations. But those from the previous era, the 50's and 60's will recall those similarities.
What is happening now is that APO, GSS, KKPsi, TBS, and several other non-traditional organizations chartered on HBCUs are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. As they recharter, they are reclaiming the traditions that rightfully belong to them, as their predecessors participated in their development just as much as their NPHC counterparts.
Because there is that gap in these org's prominence, the NPHC collective memory doesn't quite know what to do with non-NPHC organizations using similar traditions.
It isn't a simple issue, and it takes a lot of research that most people don't have time to do. So in lieu of visiting the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, I suggest taking an afternoon to go to an HBCU library and go through the yearbooks. Also, Black Greek 101 by Dr. Walter Kimbrough offers a glimpse into these similarities.