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The Seven Jewels of Alpha Phi Alpha

The Seven Jewels of Alpha

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. was organized at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York on December 4, 1906. The Seven Jewels of Alpha include those men who had remained steadfast to the ideal of a Greek letter fraternity. They did not waiver in their efforts to bring about the realization of their vision, and who dared to be pioneers in an untried field of student life. These seven men, the Jewels of the fraternity, are:

Brother George Biddle Kelley, who after leaving Cornell became a civil engineer and entered the service of the State of New York;

Brother Henry Arthur Callis, who after leaving Cornell entered the field of medicine and was stationed as a physician at the Government hospital, Tuskegee, Alabama;

Brother Charles Henry Chapman, who after leaving Cornell chose the field of education and was last engaged in teaching at the Florida A&M College, Tallahassee, Florida;

Brother Nathaniel Allison Murray, who did college and graduate work at Cornell and entered the field of education, and was a teacher at the Armstrong Technical High School, Washington, D.C.;

Brother Vertner Woodson Tandy, who after leaving Cornell became a registered architect with offices on Broadway, New York, and among other activities enjoys the distinction of being the first black man to pass the military examination and receive the commission of First Lieutenant in the Fifteenth Infantry, New York National Guard;

Brother Robert Harold Ogle, who after leaving Cornell entered the secretarial field and had the unique privilege of being attached to the office of Committee on Appropriations of the United States Senate;

Brother Eugene Kinckle Jones, who although not at Cornell in 1905-1906, was present on December 4, 1906 when the decision to form a fraternity was made. He was a member of the first committees on organization, constitution and pins, President of Alpha Chapter and maker of Beta, Gamma and Delta Chapters. He occupies a dual place in our history. He is the seventh Jewel and one of the first initiates. He served as the Executive Secretary of the National Urban League.

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