Fraternities
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans, was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York by seven college men who recognized the need for a strong bond of Brotherhood among African descendants in this country. The visionary founders, known as the “Jewels” of the Fraternity, are Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy. 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.
Zeta Epsilon Lambda Chapter was chartered in the spring of 1955 in Red Bank, New Jersey by 21 Brothers residing in Asbury Park, Long Branch, and Red Bank, New Jersey. The Chapter is located on the Jersey Shore in Central New Jersey with the charter area of Monmouth and Ocean County. Brother James W. Parker, Jr., Red Bank, was the chapter’s first president and was one of four Brothers in the Chapter with fifty or more years in the fraternity.
