History of BGLOs

Black Greek Letter Organizations were not the first "Greeks" in the world. In fact, the first Greek letter organization was Phi Beta Kappa Society founded on December 5, 1776 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. This white Greek organization set the standard, structure, and tone for the creation of other fraternal organizations such as BGLOs (Chambers, 2017, 630). Other organizations such as the Prince Hall Masons, which were predominately black, the Grand United Order of Good Samaritans and Daughters of Samaria, and the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows proceeded soon after. In 1904, Sigma Pi Phi was established as the first African-American Greek letter organization. This organization was comprised of black male elites who had the greatest accomplishments and influence during such time.

Two years later, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. came to be on the campus of Cornell University, the first black intercollegiate Greek letter organization. Not long after, other organizations followed, as depicted by the timeline above. In 1906, there was extremely high racial tensions. Discrimination and segregation was very much common, and because white greek letter organizations were not welcome of African Americans in their fraternities, the Divine Nine came to be. Not only did they provide African Americans with an opportunity to be apart of the Greek experience, but meanwhile, they opposed white supremacy and practiced racial uplift (Chambers, 2017, 629). This sparked the adoption of the "uplift" and Niagara movements in Alpha Phi Alpha, and similar movements in the organizations that would proceed.