1879-1950

African American Greek -letter Organizations

Photo Courtesy of The University of Iowa Archives. Hawkeye 1921.

African American Greek-letter organizations have a long history. The first fraternity college students, Alpha Phi Alpha, was founded in 1906 at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. At the University of Iowa, the first of the national African American organizations was Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. - established locally in 1914. Kappa Alpha Psi remained the only African American fraternal organization until 1919. In that year, eight women formed a local chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Only two more black fraternity and sorority chapters were formed at the University of Iowa before 1950 - Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity (1922) and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. These organizations provided a forum in which African American students engaged in the current discourse and built leadership skills that would serve them well upon graduation.

In the early years, both Kappa Alpha Psi and Alpha Phi Alpha operated houses. In 1933, 10 students lived in the Kappa House and fifteen lived in the Alpha House. Members of Delta Sigma Theta resided in the Federation Home at 942 Iowa Avenue.

The other organizations currently on campus were founded as follows: Omega Psi Phi Fraternity (1975); Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity (1979), Zeta Phi Beta (197), and Sigma Gamma Rho (1983) Sororities.

This photograph, taken from the 1921 Hawkeye, is of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Gamma chapter. It is one of the only pictures of an African American fraternity or sorority at the University in its early years.