LOOK BACK KAPPA HISTORY
The War Department agreed to establish a separate Black training camp. The question was raised about where the camp would be located. Howard University requested to have the camp be placed on their grounds. The War Department feared that if the camp failed, the East Coast media would cover the story as an embarrass- ment to the military. It was decided to place the camp in an isolated location, out of sight of the press. A defunct cavalry post in Des Moines, Iowa, was selected as the site of the segregated officer camp. The 17th Provisional Army Negro Officer Training Camp became the first and only training camp for Black officers during WWI. The committee obtained 1,500 names in only ten days, justifying the appeal for an Officers’ Reserve Train- ing Camp for Colored Men.’ By the end of the war, roughly 2.3 million Black men registered for the draft. This out- pouring of interest by qualified Black men could not be ignored. The lower left corner of the regis- tration card featured the phrase, “If person is of African descent, cut off this corner.” This means of identifying Black men allowed them to be easily sorted into the segregated camp or distinguished them from White men for other discriminatory acts. The men selected to train at Fort Des Moines were the best students, graduates, and faculty from the finest colleges and universities. Of the 1,000 men who enlisted in the camp, 40% were college graduates. The remaining 250 were non-commis- sioned officers from the 9th & 10th Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers) and the
First Black men to enlist for the Officers Reserve Training Camp at the Colored YMCA
LETTER TO FRATERNITY MEMBERSHIP
Dear Brothers – ... Now that the war is upon us, it is manifestly our duty both as college men and as citizens to rush to the defense of our flag. The government has announced the establishment of a national training camp to be opened at Des Moines, Iowa, June 15th, for the purpose of training Negro college men as officers in the Negro regiments which will be organized to participate in the present war. Knowing you as I do, I have no hesitancy in believing that when the bugle announces the opening of the camp at Des Moines, Kappa Alpha Psi will present her full quota of capable Negro college men to defend the honor of the nation ... I have advised the president of the United States and will also advise the War Department that in their attempt to secure Negro officers to command Negro troops at the front they may count upon Kappa Alpha Psi to do its full duty. Believing that you will give this matter the attention which it deserves, I am Fraternally yours, E. W. Diggs
24th & 25th Infantry units. The War Department sought to create a reserve of manpower in case it was needed to augment the ROTC. The Student Army Training Corps (SATC) was formed, with over 500 college and university-trained officer candidates. By the Armistice, 158,000 college-en- rolled men (including men of Kappa Alpha Psi and other fraternities), who did not attend Fort Des Moines, were
enrolled in SATC programs. College fraternity houses across the nation were converted into SATC military barracks. KAΨ ’s Alpha Chap- ter house at 721 Hunter Ave. was not exempt. During the war, it was known as Barrack #8, where sixteen Black Indiana University students resided, thirteen of whom were Kappa members. On May 26, 1917, Grand Polemarch Diggs authored a letter (above) to the
74 THE JOURNAL ♦ SUMMER 2025
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