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Premiering in February 2006
Maryland Public Television is proud to present Alpha Phi Alpha Men: A Century of Leadership, a historical documentary on Alpha Phi Alpha, America's largest and oldest black fraternity. W.E.B. Dubois, Jesse Owens, Duke Ellington, Edward Brooke, Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are among the countless Alpha men who have dedicated their lives to "scholarship, manly deeds, and love for all mankind." The history of these men is the history of America, and their place in the vanguard of the Civil Rights struggle is unparalleled. This is the story of Alpha Phi Alpha's century of leadership and service.
Alpha Legacy: A Brief HistorySince its founding on December 4, 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has supplied voice and vision to the struggle of African-Americans and people of color around the world. Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans, was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York by seven college men who recognized the need for a strong bond of Brotherhood among African descendants in this country. The visionary founders, known as the "Jewels" of the Fraternity, are Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy. The Fraternity initially served as a study and support group for minority students who faced racial prejudice, both educationally and socially, at Cornell. The Jewel founders and early leaders of the Fraternity succeeded in laying a firm foundation for Alpha Phi Alpha's principles of scholarship, fellowship, good character, and the uplifting of humanity. Alpha Phi Alpha chapters were developed at other colleges and universities, many of them historically black institutions, soon after the founding at Cornell. While continuing to stress academic excellence among its members, Alpha also recognized the need to help correct the educational, economic, political, and social injustices faced by African-Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha has long stood at the forefront of the African-American community's fight for civil rights through leaders such as: W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, William Gray, Paul Robeson, and many others. Video NoticeUpdated as of August 16, 2006: Related LinksProductionUnderwriter: Alamerica BankProgram Producer: Rubicon
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