Spring Break
Thinking for yourself: Fraternity style
Sam Sheffield
Issue date: 2/16/09 Section: News
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This was part of Dr. Lawrence Ross Jr.'s presentation on a diversity event put on last Tuesday in the Education Building.
Ross talked about his book, "The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities," and about how he got started with his fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha.
He was a freshman history major who worked for a newspaper and didn't really know anything about fraternities. But he pledged with Alpha Phi Alpha that year and became a full member after seven weeks and one day as a pledgeling. He rose higher in his fraternity as his college career continued.
"When I look at the achievements of another fraternity, I don't get angry," said Ross when talking about other black fraternities. "I feel proud because I'm part of the same fraternal movement."
John Michael Banks, also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha and a member of the audience which consisted of different Greek organizations from the UMKC campus, said, "I really enjoyed coming here, [Dr. Ross] is a really good speaker and had some good insights."
Ross said there are about 1.5 million members in black fraternities in the United States, which means that 5-10 percent of the total population of black people in the U.S. is in fraternities.
"We're worldwide," Ross said. "South Korea, Western Africa, England and so many others. When I visited Ghana, I was taken care of by members of different black fraternities."
Ross mentioned that a number of people join black fraternities or sororities but then they can't afford to stay in school or can't keep up.
"It's not like [white] schools learn Math at a rate faster than others, it's just that a lot of African American kids don't even think of college as an option," Ross said. "What [black] fraternities need to do is go do actual physical visits to high schools and do step shows to raise money for scholarship funds."
He then talked about different famous African Americans who have belonged to black fraternities like Martin Luther King, Jr., who was an Alpha Phi Alpha, and others like Booker T. Washington and W.B. Dubois who helped found the original black collegiate organization movement.
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