LOOK BACK KAPPA HISTORY
Reflections of Early Conclaves
“In the year that I served as Grand Strategus, I was particularly surprised by the number of undergraduate brothers who attended the Conclave in Washington, D.C., in 1936. That, of course, [was] in the midst of the depression and people simply didn’t have much money. It was the hardest time for brothers who were going to school. They waited tables at the White fraternity houses in order to go to school and struggled just to get tuition money, let alone for travel. Yet, they were able to save and come to Washington for what was a very fine Conclave.”
ALBERT C. SPURLOCK (Beta 1933), past Grand Strategus and longtime member of Indianapolis (IN) Alumni
“There weren’t a lot of people who would come to the meetings in those days. I’d say maybe 100 at the most. It was kind of expensive to travel in those days and very few Negroes had that kind of money. The meetings always had a warm feeling and the fellows would really have a chance to talk and get to know each other. Of course, it was very exciting in those days to go from one city to another and enjoy the hospitality of the brothers. Things were very different at that time in that Negroes couldn’t stay in the big White hotels like they do now. There was always a big local committee, I believe it was called the housing committee, and their job was to find the families in the city where brothers could stay during the Conclave. You’d get your room, but you’d have to eat where you could, except for the [Closed] Banquet. You would just ask your host family, ‘Where in town can a colored man get a meal?’ Sometimes the family would feed you.”
“... The [Grand Chapter] meetings were very exciting and quite a bit of fun. And I was extremely impressed with the caliber of Kappa men of the day. There was J. Ernest Wilkins, Sr. and J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr. They were some of the most impressive, bright, and achievement-oriented people I ever met. Then there was Stud Greene, who carried an imposing, strong presence. Then there was the Founders. Many of them were highly involved in the activities of the Fraternity at that time. I particularly remember Byron Armstrong and Guy Grant, who always a visible role in the Grand Chapter Meetings. Those were great meetings.”
LOUIS STOKES (Alpha Omega 1948), former U.S. Congressman and 51st Laurel Wreath Laureate
“To me, the biggest difference between Grand Chapters then and now [1985] is that in those days there were no central place where you could have a meeting, sleep, and have meals in one place. We stayed in people’s homes in the city where the Grand Chapter was being held and the meetings were all held in municipal auditoriums or municipal halls. That’s where the dances were held, too.”
X.L. NEAL (Pi 1928), elected Grand Strategus at the 20th Grand Chapter Meeting in 1930
ERNEST H. DAVENPORT (Beta Delta 1937), 19th Grand Polemarch
SUMMER 2024 ♦ THE JOURNAL 41
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