A Look Back: Kappa History Personal Historical Reflection
by Second Grand Polemarch Irven Armstrong on Kappa Alpha Psi ® and WWI Experiences (Part 1 of 2)
By Kevin Scott, Grand Historian
I n 1986, at the age of 94, Second Grand Polemarch Irven Armstrong provided a handwritten account of his recollections to Kappa Alpha Psi ® Journal Editor Jonathan Hicks. The following is a transcription of Armstrong’s memories throughout the early years of Kappa Alpha Psi ® and his military service in WWI. He entitled these reminiscences of his experiences as “Some Facts in the Life of Irven Armstrong at the Age of 94”. My father, Edward J. Armstrong was born a slave in the state of Missouri. At the age of 18, he and his older brother borrowed two of the master’s horses and rode away to join the Union Army. After the Civil War was over, my father joined his father in Westfield, Indiana; there I was born March 7, 1892, the second of five sons. Westfield was a Quaker town just 20 miles north of Indianapolis, with a population of 500. It was founded 150 years ago. I attended the Westfield Public School along with my four brothers. We be- came the only Negro students to gradu- ate there in the town’s 150-year history. I finished high school in 1910 with a record of 12 years on the honor roll. In June 1910, I entered Indiana University at the age of 18 where I completed a 12-week course in Education with an A & B average. In September 1910, I taught school in the only colored school in Hamilton County, a six-month term; eighteen pupils in eight different
classes.
In May 1911, I was invited to attend the first House Party held by Kappa, where I was pledged to Kappa. In the Fall of 1911 when I came back to school, I was invited to live in the Kappa house. I moved in and was told that since I had credits already made in 1910, I need not be initiated. Elder W. Diggs, the first Alpha Polemarch had to leave school on account of the death of his wife. In January 1912, I was elected the Second Polemarch of Alpha. Since Kappa had not been recognized as a fraternity of the University, I began the job of getting that recognition by paying the Dean of Boys a visit. I gave him the names of all of the members and was to call at this office whenever grades came out so he could keep me informed how our members were doing. This I did for three con- secutive years at which time I dropped out of school and took a job of teaching in Indianapolis in September 1914. I completed my senior year in the sum- mer of 1915 and received my AB degree, October 1915. I had completed four years of college and taught two years of school in five years. In February 1913, when Beta Chapter was taken in at Illinois, I joined Elder W. Diggs, B.K. Armstrong and four other
Irven Armstrong, Second Grand Polemarch of Kappa Alpha Psi ® in an undated photo.
88 | WINTER ISSUE THE JOURNAL
Publishing achievement for more than 100 years
Publishing achievement for more than 100 years
THE JOURNAL WINTER ISSUE | 89
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