Discover Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the first Greek-letter fraternity for African-Americans was founded in New York State at Cornell University in 1906 by seven African-American male students. Three of these students were from upstate New York, one from Binghamton, another from Cayuga County, and the third from Troy to be specific. Two of the four out-of-state students were from Washington, D.C., one from Lexington, Kentucky, and one from Lynchburg, Virginia. Alpha Phi Alpha was incorporated in New York in 1908. The Fraternity initially served as a study and support group for minority students who faced racial prejudice, both educationally and socially, at Cornell. The Jewel founders and early leaders of the Fraternity succeeded in laying a firm foundation for Alpha Phi Alpha's principles of scholarship, fellowship, good character, and the uplifting of humanity. The founders of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. were no ordinary achievers. Given racial attitudes in 1906, their accomplishments were monumental. As founder Henry Arthur Callis euphemistically stated—because the half-dozen African American students at Cornell University during the school year 1904-05 did not return to campus the following year, the incoming students in 1905-06, in founding Alpha Phi Alpha, were determined to bind themselves together to ensure that each would survive in the racially hostile environment. In coming together with this simple act, they preceded by decades the emergence of such on-campus programs as affirmative action, upward bound and remedial assistance. The students set outstanding examples of scholarship, leadership and success—preceding the efforts even of the NAACP and similar civil rights organizations. Eta Chi Lambda chapter and our nonprofit foundation, the Eta Chi Lambda Community Service Fund, Inc., are proud to continue the tradition of excellence along the trail blazed by our founders, the "Jewels". About Us Eta Chi Lambda Chapter, the Rockland County Alumni Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. was chartered here on October 17 of 1961. Eta Chi Lambda Chapter began immediately to implement programs in Rockland that were sponsored by the national fraternity, notably the “Go to High School, Go to College” program. In 1963 we initiated our education program to celebrate the anniversary of the May 5, 1954 United States Supreme Court ban on racial segregation in public schools. Every year since 1963, Eta Chi Lambda has awarded scholarships to students graduating from Rockland County high schools. At these annual programs we have featured prominent members of the fraternity as keynote speakers. Some of thee personalities presented were: George Fowler, New York State Commissioner of Human Rights; Malvin R. Goode, United Nations Correspondent of the American Broadcasting Company; Samuel R. Pierce, Judge of the Court of General Sessions; Aaron Brown, assistant to the president of Long Island University, and member of the Board of Education of the City of New York; Harold Wood, Judge of the County Court of Westchester; Julian Bartley, Consul General of the U.S. in Nairobi, Kenya; Howard Dodson, Chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Annually, Eta Chi Lambda Chapter conducts programs including a spring Scholarship Luncheon, the Leonard Harper - Christopher Scudder Oratorical Contest, and a Women's History Month Celebration - Spelman College Jazz Ensemble concert. The chapter conducts national Alpha Phi Alpha community service programs including Project Alpha - teen pregnancy education and youth mentorship, Go To High School - Go To College, the March of Dimes - Walk For Babies, and a Voteless People is a Hopeless People.