King, the Alpha

[Senusret I]

Brothers including 18th General President Frank Stanley (shaking his hands) and General Secretary James Huger join Brother King on the steps of the Montgomery Courthouse during the Bus Boycott Trail. (Right) Distinguished Alabama attorney and Alpha brother Arthur Shores.


In the Spring of 1957, Andrew Young had been invited to speak by the brothers of Alpha Beta Chapter at Talledega College in Alabama. The President of the chapter was Arthur Gray, who was also a Congregationalist minister like Brother Young. Brother Gray had also invited Brother Martin Luther King, Jr. to speak which afforded Brother Young his first opportunity to meet King. Brother King was the morning chapel speaker and that afternoon they participated in a panel discussion. According to Brother Young, after the event, he was invited to visit him in Montgomery before he returned to Thomasville. Young said “he accepted the invitation with pleasure…I was eager to have a chance to talk with him about how he applied his academic training to the practical situation in the South. “ This was the beginning of long friendship and relationship in the struggle. Brother Young would be by his side throughout the movement and with him on the evening of his assassination in 1968.
(photo courtesy of Brother Dr. Richard Griffin)
Right photo- In 1959, Brother King hired Brother Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker to serve as his Chief of Staff. Brother Walker had been initiated at Gamma Chapter in 1946.

Brother King attended the Citizenship Rally on the campus of Alabama State College. The event was sponsored by the Alpha Upsilon Lambda(King's Chapter above) Chapter and the Beta Upsilon Chapter Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha. Brother Archibald J. Carey, Jr. was the keynote speaker and Brother King gives the benediction. In October, Brother King speaks at the Fort Valley State College for Religious Emphasis Week. Brothers of the Gamma Zeta Chapter at Ft. Valley are in attendance. On January 30, 1960, Brother King attended a farewell party in his honor at the home of Brother J. Garrick Hardy. In March of that year, Brother King spoke at a rally at Tuskegee and was greeted by members of the Gamma Phi Chapter at Tuskegee.