Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the first black intercollegiate Greek letter fraternity established for men of African decent, was founded December 4, 1906, on the campus of Cornell University, in Ithaca, NY. Seven aspiring black men desired to organize themselves into a brotherhood and challenge the social issues of the world around them. These men became known as the seven Jewels: Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelly, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy created a fraternity to serve as a social, and literary organization to advocate for the black community.

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Building upon that, the literary organization developed into a fraternity. Whereas other fraternities resemble their symbols and ideology from the ancient golden age of Greece,  Alpha Phi Alpha gains its heritage from Africa. Alpha uses images and songs depicting the Great Sphinx of Giza, Pharaohs, and other Egyptian symbols to depict the organization.

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