100 YEARS
CENTENNIAL
first quarter century in our nation and around the world. In 1924, Joe Duplessis and Leon Wheel- er were prominent recreational directors for Detroit Parks and Recreation. They established and organized the Detroit Amateur Athletic Association, which numbered twelve clubs within the membership of the Negro recreation centers; they were basketball, baseball, tennis, boxing, swimming and track. In 1924 Fred Hart Williams became the first Negro candidate to run for a state- wide office in Michigan. He ran for the Michigan State Senate representing De- troit. Although he lost, the election was so close the newspaper initially declared him the winner. Detroit (MI) Alumni hosted the Seven- teenth Grand Chapter Meeting In 1927 and also hosted the first Northern Prov- ince Council in 1929. In attendance were Detroit (MI) Alumni Chapter, Alpha Beta, Wayne State University, Sigma Chapter, University of Michigan, and Phi Chapter, University of Buffalo.
of 1948 was the first international Con- clave hosted by the fraternity, having the Closed Banquet in Windsor, Canada. The first official observance of a Chapter’s Founders’ Day occurred February 1950 at the Detroit Kappa House. The Chairman of the event was Henry Tourner Asher, one of the Founders of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, and a Charter Member of De- troit (MI) Alumni Chapter. The Journal of Kappa Alpha Psi , published an article May 1952, entitled, “History was recently made in Detroit when for the first time since 1911, all of the living founders of Kappa Alpha Psi descended unannounced upon the city of Detroit, for the purpose of discussing plans for the rewriting of the history of the fraternity.” Those in atten- dance were: Dr. Guy Levis Grant, Ezra D. Alexander, Dr. Marcus Peter Blakemore, Edward Giles Irvin, John Milton Lee, Dr. Bryon Kenneth. Armstrong and Henry T. Asher. Detroit (MI) Alumni Chapter achieve- ments within the local community and the state of Michigan were monumental in the areas of civil rights, public educa- tion, religion, higher education, work-
Detroit (MI) Alumni. The great depres- sion impacted the income and financial positions of most of the membership. There were times the membership was so small every active brother held an of- fice. At the 1937, Twenty Seventh Grand Chapter Meeting, in Cleveland Ohio, Detroit (MI) Alumni member Joseph A. Craigen was elected Senior Grand Vice Polemarch. 1938 Detroit (MI) Alumni and Alpha Beta hosted the Twenty Eighth Grand Chapter Meeting and in 1945 with the assistance of the Grand Chapter Housing Commission, Detroit Alumni purchased a house at 269 Erskine, and paid cash in the amount of $7,500. The Historic Detroit Alumni Chapter House became the pride and anchor of the Northern Province. For 75 years the House served as the nerve center and face of the frater- nity in the Northern Province. Hosting fraternity meetings, Crossing Rituals, social and undergraduate events, Kappa League and Silhouettes activities. Detroit (MI) Alumni hosted the Grand Chapter Meetings of 1948, 1958, 1982 and 1997. The Grand Chapter Meeting
1932 -1937 were difficult years for
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Publishing achievement for more than 105 years
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