Prominent Brothers

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. continues to stand at the forefront in the fight for inequality, today we continue in the spirit of leadership the Fraternity has demonstrated since 1906.

This is a select list of some of the prominent Alpha Men who has and still are doing extraordinary things around the World.

Activists

  • Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: Civil Rights Activist

  • Julius L. Chambers: NAACP Legal Defense Fund

  • Lester Granger: National Urban League

  • Frederick Douglass: Anti-Slavery Activist

  • W.E.B. Dubois: Writer, Historian, and Civil Rights Activist who often went tête-à-tête with Booker T. Washington regarding the black races primary focus for its own uplift. He was co-founder of the NAACP. He wrote “The Talented Tenth”.

  • Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.: Civil Rights Activist

  • Thurgood Marshall: Civil Rights Activist, Supreme Court Justice

  • Paul Robeson: Activist, Scholar, Singer, Football Player

  • Dick Gregory: Activist

  • William Gray: United Negro College Fund, Businessman

  • Franklin Williams: Phelps-Stokes Fund


Science/ Medicine

  • Dr. Lessall D. Leffall: President, American College of Surgeons

  • James Comer: Psychologist

  • Garrett Morgan: Inventor, Traffic Signal

  • Louis Sullivan: Secretary of Health and Education

  • Winston Scott: Commander NASA

  • Levi Watkins, MD: First African American to hold the position of Associate Dean for the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University.

  • Dr. Roger L. Youmans: Noted Surgeon in the Congo of Africa who is creditied with creation the modern hospital system used there today




Education/ Scholarship

  • James Check: Howard University

  • Thomas W. Cole, Jr.: President, Clark-Atlanta University

  • William B. DeLauder: President, Delaware St. University

  • John Hope Franklin: Historian

  • E. Franklin Frazier: Sociologist

  • Dennis Kimbro: Author

  • Frederick Patterson: Founder, UNCF

  • Dr. Ronald J. Temple: Chancellor, City Colleges of Chicago

  • Cornell West: Noted Author and Professor. Former professor of Afro-American Studies and Philosophy of Religion at Harvard University. He is the author of “Race Matters “, co-author of “Jews and Blacks”, and he currently teaches at Princeton University in New Jersey.

  • Andrew Zawacki: Rhodes Scholar, Author

  • Dr. Raymond W. Cannon: 1st Edition, Sphinx Magazine

  • Norm Francis: President, Xavier University

  • N.P.G. Adams: First African-American to be Dean of Howard University Medical School

  • Howard H. Long: Former Assistant Superintendent of D.C. Public Schools.


Government/ Politics

  • Hubert H. Humphrey: Former Vice-President of the United States of America

  • Roland Burris: United States Senator

  • Dennis Archer: Former Mayor of Detroit and First African American President of the American Bar Association

  • Marion Barry: Current City Councilman and Former Mayor of Washington, D.C.

  • Richard Arrington: First African American Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama

  • Willie Brown: First African American Mayor of San Francisco, California

  • Emanuel Cleaver: First African American Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri

  • David Dinkins: Former Mayor of New York

  • Rev. Emmanuel Cleaver: Mayor of Kansas City

  • Ernest Finney: South Carolina Supreme Court Justice

  • Earl Hilliard: Congressman, Alabama (7th District)

  • Maynard Jackson: Former Mayor of Atlanta and First African American Mayor of that City

  • Thurgood Marshall: Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice. First black U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 33rd Solicitor General of the United States of America, and a renowned attorney. He won the Supreme Court case Brown vs. Topeka, Kansas Board of Education, ending the racist tradition of separate but equal and thereby ending segregation in schools.

  • Earnest “Dutch” Morial: First African American Mayor of New Orleans

  • Marc Morial: Former Mayor of New Orleans and President of the National Urban League

  • Charles Rangel: Congressman, New York (15th District)

  • Robert C. Scott: Congressman, Virginia (3rd District)

  • Andrew Young: Former Mayor of Atlanta

  • Edward Brooke: Former U.S. Senator and Massachusetts State Attorney General and Recipient of the 2004 Presidential Medal of Freedom




Military

  • Roscoe Cartwright: General, AUS. First African American to reach the position of Brigadier General in the United States Army.

  • Samuel Gravel: Admiral, USN

  • Edward Honor: Major General, AUS

  • Fred A. Gorden: Brigadere General

  • Samuel Gravely: Admiral

  • Benjamin Hacker: Rear Admiral

  • Edward Honor: Major General

  • James McCall: Major General


Business

  • Thomas J. Burrell: CEO, Burrell Advertising

  • W. Melvin Brown: CEO, American Development Corp.

  • John H. Johnson: Entrepreneur; Publisher of Ebony and Jet Magazines; First African American to appear on the Forbes 400

  • Delano Lewis: President, National Public Radio

  • Henry Parks: Founder, Parks Sausages, Inc.

  • Joshua Smith: CEO, Maxima Corporation


Entertainment

  • Daryl Bell: Actor

  • Tony Brown: Journalist/Producer

  • Countee Cullen: Poet

  • Duke Ellington: World-renowned jazz composer and musician. Recipient of the French government’s highest and United States governments highest civilian awards; the Legion of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, respectively.

  • Donny Hathaway: Musician

  • Eugene Jackson: National Black Network

  • Stuart Scott: ESPN Anchorman

  • Chuck Stone: Philadelphia Daily News

  • Keenan Ivory Wayans: Comedian, Producer

  • Lionel Hampton: Awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton for his amazing ability with the vibraphone.

  • Lionel Ritchie: Acclaimed singer and songwriter with three Grammies, seven American Music Awards, and one Oscar.

  • Hill Harper: Actor


Sports

  • Quinn Buckner: Former NBA Player and Coach

  • Wes Chandler: Former NFL Player

  • Todd Day: Former NBA Player

  • Bobby Phills: Former NBA Player

  • Rosie Greer: Former NFL Player

  • Charles Haley: Former NFL Player

  • Michael Jackson: Former NFL Player

  • Carnell Lake: Former NFL Player

  • Jesse Owens: Olympic Gold Medalist

  • Fritz Pollard: 1st Black Head Coach in the NFL and first African American to play in the Rose Bowl

  • Mike Powell: Track Star; holds the World Record for the long jump

  • Eddie Robinson: Winningest Football Coach in NCAA History

  • Art Shell: Former NFL Player and Coach

  • Wes Unseld: Former NBA Player and Coach

  • Gene Upshaw: Former President of the NFL Players Association and NFL Hall of Fame Inductee

  • Lenny Wilkens: Winningest Coach in NBA History

  • John “Hot Rod” Williams: Former NBA Player

  • Reggie Williams: Former NFL Player (WR)

  • Greg Coleman: First black punter in the NFL.