The Mu Iota Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi

Kappa Alpha Psi History

Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. was founded on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University in Bloomington Indiana.
The Fraternity is founded on the fundamental value of Achievement in every field of human endeavor. Initially founded as
Kappa Alpha Nu, the Fraternity came about as a result of the acquaintance of Byron Kenneth Armstrong and
Elder Watson Diggs. They and eight other Black men, frustrated by the racial prejudices at Indiana University, resolved to form an organization that that would bring Black students closer together. Brother Elder Watson Diggs prepared the rituals and ceremonial forms himself, while Byron K. Armstrong was given the job of creating the insignia and emblems. Diggs was made the permanent chairman; John M. Lee, the secretary; and Byron K. Armstrong, the sergeant of arms. These offices were later to be called Polemarch, Keeper of Records, and Strategus. The application was filed over the signatures of Elder Watson Diggs, Ezra D. Alexander, Byron Kenneth Armstrong, Henry T. Asher, Marcus Peter Blakemore, Paul Waymond Caine, George Wesley Edmonds, Guy Levis Grant, Edward Giles Irvin, John Milton Lee and Fredrick Mitchell. Mitchell
subsequently withdrew from school and never returned to become a member. Due to lack of housing for Black men on
campus, Diggs leased a five-room house at 721 Hunter Avenue (The First Fraternity House). Living together under the same
roof strengthened the brotherhood of the chapter.