Content uploaded by Cameron Beatty
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Cameron Beatty on Nov 18, 2019
Content may be subject to copyright.
1This chapter briey explores the history of race and racism in
fraternity/sorority (F&S) life through the themes of exclusion,
racial uplift, and cultural relevance.
Race and Racism in Fraternity and Sorority
Life: A Historical Overview
Kathleen E. Gillon, Cameron C. Beatty, Cristobal Salinas Jr.
In order to understand the complexities of race, ethnicity, and culture in
present-day collegiate fraternity and sorority (F&S) life, it is imperative to
engage with the histories of this social establishment. In this chapter, rather
than provide a strict chronological overview of the history of F&S in the
United States, we provide an analysis of three themes that are integral to
understanding the creation and continuance of collegiate F&S life in re-
lation to race and racism. Those themes include: access/exclusion within
broader higher education, racial uplift, and cultural relevance/validation.
Access to and Exclusion Within Higher Education
The formation of Greek-letter organizations in the United States is most of-
ten traced back to the creation of Phi Beta Kappa in 1776 at the College
of William and Mary (Hughey, 2009). While this organization was liter-
ary in nature, it had many of the characteristics we see in present-day so-
cial F&S—for example, the use of Greek letters, motto, rituals, and ofcers
(Hughey, 2009). During the nineteenth century, Greek-letter social organi-
zations, which were organized and separated by normative notions of the
gender binary, began to emerge and expand on college campuses. Member-
ship in these organizations reected the broader collegiate student popu-
lation of the time. Regulated by both formal and informal racist practices
and policies that allowed for broader access to higher education for White
students (Hughey, 2009), these college-going practices resulted in the cre-
ation and expansion of organizations referred to in this chapter as histori-
cally White fraternities and sororities (HWFS). It is important to note that
White students during this time period were dened not only as racially
White but also as Anglo-Saxon in ethnicity, and protestant in religion.
While HWFS were growing and expanding, the participation of Stu-
dents of Color in higher education continued to be regulated by racist laws
NEW DIRECTIONS FOR STUDENT SERVICES, no. 165, Spring 2019 ©2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) •DOI: 10.1002/ss.20289 9
10 CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF RACE,ETHNICITY,AND CULTURE
that excluded them from attending college or segregated them into spe-
cic colleges and universities. Some Black students had found educational
homes at private historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and
the more recently created public HBCUs, often referred to as the 1890s
schools. Additionally, some Students of Color—Black, Latinx, Native Amer-
ican, Asian—although small in number, were attending historically White
institutions (HWIs).
For those students, access did not translate to full opportunities to
participate in university life at HWIs. Rather, access was often intertwined
with exclusion for Students of Color. By the turn of the twentieth century,
this exclusion had manifested in specic ways on college campuses includ-
ing denial of residential housing, use of recreational spaces, and at institu-
tions where Greek-letter organizations were present, exclusion from F&S
life (Rogers, 2012). These restrictive policies created conditions in which
Students of Color were “socially homeless, invisible to the majority, with no
virtual or physical dwelling” (Rogers, 2012, p. 20). Racist policies such as
these took a toll on Students of Color and provided an impetus for creating
new social organizations specically for Students of Color.
The creation of many Asian American F&S reects this narrative. The
rst Asian American fraternity, Rho-Psi, was established in 1916 at Cornell
University by a group of Chinese American men (Chen, 2009). Ten years
later, Pi Alpha Phi fraternity was established at the University of California–
Berkeley. The members of Pi Alpha Phi were all friends who came together
to create their organization in response to the prevalent racism that they
faced on campus. In addition to experiencing housing discrimination, these
students were also ostracized in their academic disciplines. They majored
primarily in science and engineering elds, which at the time, and arguably
still today, were/are dominated by White men.
Between 1916 and 1970, eleven Asian American F&S organizations
were established, many of which were local ones located on the west
coast where substantial populations of Asian Americans were living due to
(im)migration patterns. Two of those organizations were Japanese Amer-
ican sororities—Chi Alpha Delta founded in 1928 at the University of
California–Los Angeles (UCLA) and Sigma Omicron Phi founded in 1930 at
San Francisco State Teachers’ College. While these organizations provided
some protection against racism at an individual level, they were greatly af-
fected by racism at an institutional level. Chi Alpha Delta unsuccessfully
tried to secure a house on sorority row at UCLA for almost three decades.
In 1938, they were given the opportunity to purchase the UCLA Religious
Conference Building which was owned by the Janss Investment Company.
An owner of the company refused to sell to the sorority, stating that he
would not sell to “Orientals.” By the time laws were lifted that had re-
stricted People of Color from owning property (also known as restrictive
covenants), housing prices were so high that the sorority could not afford
to purchase any housing in the area (Chen, 2009).
NEW DIRECTIONS FOR STUDENT SERVICES •DOI: 10.1002/ss
RACE AND RACISM IN FRATERNITY AND SORORITY LIFE 11
At the same time that colleges and universities were excluding Stu-
dents of Color from broad participation in campus life, the HWFS that
were founded during the nineteenth century were enacting similar exclu-
sionary practices. Although there is little evidence to suggest that Students
of Color wanted to join these early HWFS, many of these organizations
ensured that it would be impossible to do so by creating policies referred
to as “white clauses.” These racially exclusive policies were often incorpo-
rated into the formal constitutions of HWFS, essentially stating that only
students who were White would be considered for membership. Further-
more, White as a racial category was often linked to Christianity as a way
to refuse membership to Jewish students (Hughey, 2009). For more de-
tailed information about white clauses, we refer you to Chapter 2 of this
publication.
Racial Uplift
Historically, African Americans’ (which we use interchangeably with Blacks
in this chapter in reference to race) aspirations to nd activities in higher
education to empower, uplift, and support them while receiving an educa-
tion motivated them to create organizations for themselves. This is obvious
in the start, rise, and longevity of historically Black Greek Letter Organi-
zations (BGLOs) in response to reconstruction and during the time of Jim
Crow America. As noted, African Americans were not welcomed to join
any of the HWFS, and many university administrators would not allow
African Americans to form their own organizations at HWIs (Clark, 1970).
African Americans were concerned not only about being socially accepted,
but about fellowship for the sake of protection and promotion of ideals, in
spite of white supremacy, in order to uplift Black Americans (Kimbrough,
2003). The rst two BGLOs, founded in 1906 and 1908, were partly mir-
rored to White F&S (Wesley, 1961). However, unlike the socially focused
HWFS, the mission of BGLOs included a principle of service to the com-
munity (Kimbrough, 2003).
BGLOs were formed in America at a time when racial segregation and
White supremacy were a way of life. The 1896 U.S. Supreme Court ruling of
Plessy v. Ferguson constitutionally upheld racial segregation in public places
(specically railroads) and legalized the doctrine of “separate but equal”
(Fireside, 2004). This separate but equal doctrine meant that society must
be racially segregated, but allegedly ensure equal opportunities to all races
(Fireside, 2004). This doctrine was evident on the campuses where the rst
two BGLOs, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity,
were founded. At Cornell University and Indiana University, both HWIs,
the same racial tension and segregation that dominated the country also
supported the education structure of these institutions where Students of
Color found themselves restricted from fully participating in campus and
academic life.
NEW DIRECTIONS FOR STUDENT SERVICES •DOI: 10.1002/ss
12 CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF RACE,ETHNICITY,AND CULTURE
Eventually, African Americans developed strategies, philosophies, and
organizations out of response to their need for racial uplift and access to
higher education. One example of the response to the need for strategizing
for racial uplift was “The Niagara Movement” of 1905. This event, led by
W. E. B. DuBois and W. M. Trotter at Niagara Falls across the Canadian bor-
der, was the precursor to the establishment of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Notably, DuBois went on to
become a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. The purpose of the
meeting was to discuss African Americans’ dissatisfaction with their place
in society, as well as with the policies of accommodation and conciliation
promoted by African American leaders, such as Booker T. Washington (Ru-
bicon, 2006). African American students attending Cornell University were
highly engaged with the Niagara Movement and the call for advancement
of People of Color in America.
Cornell University was one of the few universities in the north at the
time that allowed Black students to attend. According to the Public Broad-
casting Service (PBS) documentary Alpha Phi Alpha Men: A Century of Lead-
ership, Cornell University was seen as a liberal university where many Black
scholars from the south traveled to receive a higher education (Rubicon,
2006). In the early 1900s, a strong Black neighborhood had been formed
in Ithaca, New York, where Cornell University is located. Historians sus-
pect that this neighborhood was formed because it was a stop on the Un-
derground Railroad (Rubicon, 2006). Black students found lodging and a
support network in the Ithaca Black community because they were not
permitted to live in campus residence halls (Rubicon, 2006). Many of the
Black students found jobs at the university as cooks, janitors, and tutoring
other Black students. They were not allowed to participate in co-curricular
programs or activities. One founder of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Henry
Arthur Callis, found work at a White fraternity house waiting tables
(Wesley, 1961).
Callis, and the other founders of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, did not
have the social support of the university outside of the classroom (or in the
classroom for that matter). Black students could not participate in sports,
debate teams, student government, or fraternities. In 1905, the Black male
students at Cornell University formed a social study club in response to the
prejudice they experienced and in order to support and retain one another
(Wesley, 1961). Over the next year, this social study club evolved into a
fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, with rituals and initiation similar to White fra-
ternities. It is posited that the similarities in Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
and White fraternities are because some of the founders witnessed these
fraternity rituals when working at White fraternity houses (Wesley, 1961).
This brotherhood, for the sake of security and encouragement of principles
that could help Black students get ahead as a race, was now the foundation
for the fraternity. The fraternity became a response to their lack of social
NEW DIRECTIONS FOR STUDENT SERVICES •DOI: 10.1002/ss
RACE AND RACISM IN FRATERNITY AND SORORITY LIFE 13
capital, and for Black male students on the campus of Cornell University
their own form of social capital.
Dr. Walter Kimbrough (2003) pointed out in his book, Black Greek 101,
that similar activities were going on at the campus of Indiana University in
Bloomington, Indiana. By the year 1870, Indiana University had established
four fraternities on campus (Kimbrough, 2003, p. 22). At the same time,
residents in Bloomington started to acknowledge the presence of African
Americans in the Bloomington community, although not always in positive
ways (Clark, 1970). For example,
In 1867 the Editor of the Student newspaper wrote about an encounter with a
Black man who walked by him without speaking after the editor greeted him
by the name of “Sambo.” The editor was incensed by being ignored and wrote
that he was “in favor of the nigger” in his right place. (Kimbrough, 2003,
p. 23)
The student newspaper also reported that the Ku Klux Klan was establish-
ing a dangerous presence within the university by 1872. Even though there
was a hostile climate, Indiana University records show that three black stu-
dents entered the university in 1890. By 1903, Kimbrough (2003) cited that
the Black Greek society of Alpha Kappa Nu was formed, eventually becom-
ing Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity in 1911. Clark (1970) noted that the change
in the fraternity name was due to comments made by White Indiana under-
graduates who used a derogatory racial epithet when saying the name of
the organization. These organizations and the foundation of their princi-
ples grew out of the response to white supremacy during the Jim Crow era
of American history.
It is important to note that while Black men were organizing for racial
uplift at HWIs, Black women were also organizing in response to racism and
sexism at HBCUs. Racial issues faced by Black men at Cornell and Indiana
University were parallel to the patriarchal issues faced by Black women at
HBCUs such as Howard University. By 1910, Howard had only graduated
twenty-three women. Women’s lives were heavily controlled by the univer-
sity. Mail was interceded by a matron, women could not venture off campus
without a chaperone, and expulsions, which were common practice, were
often in response to women engaging in activities deemed inappropriate by
the university such as drinking, smoking, and entertaining the opposite sex
in an unapproved manner (Rogers, 2012). Paula Giddings (1988) wrote, “it
was no accident that the rst Black fraternity was established at a PWI and
the rst Black sorority at a coed HBCU” (p. 29). In fact, the rst three Black
sororities, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, and Zeta Phi Beta, were
all established at Howard University as they searched for both racial and
gendered uplift.
The same concepts that legalized racial segregation in America, and the
power structure that caused BGLOs’ founders to form these organizations,
NEW DIRECTIONS FOR STUDENT SERVICES •DOI: 10.1002/ss
14 CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF RACE,ETHNICITY,AND CULTURE
still are in place today. The recurring themes of self-segregation, exclusion,
and being the “other” within fraternity and sorority organizations are still
relevant to BGLOs at HWIs. Many Black F&S members continue to share
that their organizations provide a place of protection from racism on cam-
pus and a means of uplifting the African American community (Brown,
Parks, & Phillips, 2005; Chambers & Walpole, 2017; Johnson, Chambers,
& Walpole, 2012; Kimbrough, 2009).
Cultural Relevance
In addition to racial uplift, multicultural F&S organizations emerged in
efforts to create a sense of validation and cultural relevance in light of
the oppression and marginalization they experienced in higher education.
When Students of Color were prohibited from engaging in a full campus
experience and/or joining HWFS, they were being invalidated, “treated as
empty receptacles and/or incapable of learning ...expected to disconnect
with the past ...and are oppressed, silenced and cast in subordinate roles”
(Rend´
on, 1994, p. 48). As racially diverse student populations (African
American/Black, Latinx, Asian American, Native American) started to en-
roll and experience isolation in colleges and universities, they learned to
negotiate a racist campus culture and climate through the support of their
multicultural F&S. These students created groundbreaking history in the
fraternal movement, as they formed fraternal organizations—fostering and
validating learning communities of peers.
As a new wave of immigrants were entering colleges and universities
in the 1980s and 1990s (Rend´
on, 1994), more multicultural F&S organiza-
tions started to appear in colleges and universities (National Multicultural
Greek Council, 2009). Students continued to be interested in joining orga-
nizations that were culturally relevant. Oxendine, Oxendine, and Minthorn
(2013) explained that this was also true for Native American students.
Before historically Native American F&S were created in the mid-1990s,
Native American students’ only option was to join social organizations that
may have been inclusive but were not culturally relevant. The notion of
cultural relevance is central to the creation and sustenance of these F&S
and marked a revolutionarily and “auspicious beginning” for fraternities
and sororities (Mu ˜
noz & Guardia, 2009, p. 2009). The forerunner of multi-
cultural fraternity and sorority organizations was the National Pan-Hellenic
Council (NPHC), formed in 1930 by historically Black F&S. Decades later,
in 1998, the National Association of Latinx-based Fraternal Organizations
(NALFO) and the National Multicultural Greek Council (NMGC) were
created. Last, in 2004, the National Asian Pacic Islander American Pan-
hellenic Association (NAPA) was established (Barber, Espino, & Bureau,
2015). The creation of these councils is signicant in that it shows the
growth and importance of racial/ethnic/multicultural organizations within
college F&S life. Since the rst multicultural F&S organizations and
NEW DIRECTIONS FOR STUDENT SERVICES •DOI: 10.1002/ss
RACE AND RACISM IN FRATERNITY AND SORORITY LIFE 15
councils were founded, “Their development offers a tremendous catalyst
for Latino and Latina [as well as African American/Black, Asian American,
and Native American] student[s’] success and cultural awareness” (Mu ˜
noz
& Guardia, 2009, p. 2009), and it transformed these students into “pow-
erful learners . . . who became involved in the social and academic fabric of
the institution” (Rend ´
on, 1994, p. 29).
Rend´
on’s research has shown that students seek to be validated inside
and outside the classroom (Rend´
on&Mu˜
noz, 2011). Often times, students
get invalidated in their learning environment, and they pursue validation
through their family members, peers attending college and not attending
college, signicant others, tutors, teaching assistants, and resident advisors
(Rend´
on, 1994). Within this context, we understand Students of Color, who
were often prohibited from joining White F&S, to have formed and created
their own fraternal organizations as a strategy of reproducing validation.
In order to foster a validating learning community for Students of Color,
Rend´
on (1994) suggested that colleges “promote pride in cultural, gender,
and sexual orientation through college sponsored activities and organiza-
tions” and that “cultural pride is recognized and fostered in-and out-of-
class” (p. 50). These organizations served as a vehicle for Students of Color
to be validated in a culturally relevant manner.
Conclusion
As illustrated in this brief chapter, the themes of exclusion, racial uplift,
and cultural relevance/validation are woven throughout the histories of col-
legiate fraternities and sororities. We hope that this chapter has served as
either a reminder or perhaps new information regarding the histories of
race, ethnicity, and culture in F&S life. Going forward, we ask readers to
consider, how are you engaging critically with histories of F&S life? Whose
histories do you know? Whose histories do you need to learn more about?
Which histories are privileged in the telling of F&S life, and how might
you challenge this practice? Last, how are you working with F&S organiza-
tions, especially racially and ethnically minoritized organizations, to docu-
ment the histories of their organizations? As critical educators, we must be
mindful to not only be critical consumers of history but also critical pro-
ducers, keepers, and documenters of history.
References
Barber, J., Espino, M., & Bureau, D. (2015). Fraternities and sororities: Developing a
compelling case for relevance in higher education. In P.A. Sasso & J.L. DeVitis (Eds.),
Today’s college students: A reader (pp. 241–256). New York: Peter Lang.
Brown, T., Parks, G., & Phillips, C. (Eds.). (2005). African American Fraternities and
Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky.
Chambers, C., & Walpole, M. (2017). Academic Achievement among Black
Sororities: Myth or Reality? College Student Affairs Journal,35(2), 131–139.
https://doi.org/10.1353/csj.2017.0018
NEW DIRECTIONS FOR STUDENT SERVICES •DOI: 10.1002/ss
16 CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF RACE,ETHNICITY,AND CULTURE
Chen, E. W. (2009). Asian-Americans in sororities and fraternities. In C. L. Torbenson
& G.Parks (Eds.), Brothers and sisters: Diversity in college fraternities and sororities
(pp. 83–103). Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses.
Clark, T. (1970). Indiana University: Midwestern pioneer (Vol. 1). Bloomington, IN: In-
diana University Press.
Fireside, H. (2004). Separate and unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme Court decision
that legalized racism.NewYork:Carroll&Graf.
Giddings, P. (1988). In search of sisterhood: Delta Sigma Theta and the challenge of the
Black sorority movement. New York: William Morrow and Company.
Hughey, M. W. (2009). Rushing the wall, crossing the sands: Cross-racial membership in
U.S. college fraternities and sororities. In C. L. Torbenson & G. Parks (Eds.), Brothers
and sisters: Diversity in college fraternities and sororities (pp. 237–276). Cranbury, NJ:
Associated University Presses.
Johnson, R. E., Chambers, C., & Walpole, M. (2012). The quest for excellence: Re-
viewing Alpha’s legacy of academic achievement. In G. S. Parks, S. M. Bradley (Eds.),
Alpha Phi Alpha: A legacy of greatness, the demands of transcendence. Lexington, KY:
University Press of Kentucky.
Kimbrough, W. (2003). Black Greek 101: The culture, customs, and challenges of black
fraternities and sororities. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses.
Kimbrough, W. F. (2009). The membership intake movement of historically Black Greek-
lettter organizations. NASPA Journal,46, 603–613.
Mu ˜
noz, S. M., & Guardia, J. R. (2009). Nuestra historia y future (our history and future):
Latino/a fraternities and sororities. In C. L. Torbenson & G. Parks (Eds.), Brothers
and sisters: Diversity in college fraternities and sororities (pp. 104–132). Cranbury, NJ:
Associated University Presses.
National Multicultural Greek Council. (2009). History: Emerging of multicultural fra-
ternal organizations. Retrieved from http://nationalmgc.org/about/history/.
Oxendine, D., Oxendine, S., & Minthorn, R. (2013). The historically Native Ameri-
can fraternity and sorority movement. In H.J. Shotton, S.C. Lowe, & S.J. Waterman
(Eds.), Beyond the asterisk: Understanding Native students in higher education (pp. 67–
81). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Rend´
on, L. I. (1994). Validating culturally diverse students toward a new model of learn-
ing and student development. Innovative Higher Education,19(1), 33–51.
Rend´
on, L. I., & Mu ˜
noz, S. M. (2011). Revisiting validation theory: Theoretical founda-
tions, applications, and extensions. Enrollment Management Journal,2(1), 12–33.
Rogers, I. H. (2012). The Black campus movement: Black students and the racial reconsti-
tution of higher education (pp. 1965–1972). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Rubicon Productions (Executive Producer). (2006, February 25). Alpha Phi Alpha men:
A century of leadership [Television broadcast]. Washington, DC: PBS TV.
Wesley, C. H. (1961). The history of Alpha Phi Alpha: A development in college life.
Chicago, IL: Foundation Publishers.
KATHLEEN E. GILLON is assistant professor in higher education at the University
of Maine. She is a member of Alpha Xi Delta Fraternity.
CAMERON C. BEATTY is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and is an
assistant professor in the Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Department
at Florida State University.
CRISTOBAL SALINAS JR. is assistant professor in educational leadership and re-
search methodology at Florida Atlantic University. He is a member of Sigma
Lambda Beta International Fraternity.
NEW DIRECTIONS FOR STUDENT SERVICES •DOI: 10.1002/ss
