Kappa Alpha Psi

Founded by a group of ten Black students at Indiana University, Kappa Alpha Psi was originally called Kappa Alpha Nu. It is one of the historic Black Greek Letter organizations that make up the National Pan-Hellenic Council. The founders defied the presence of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana and discriminatory practices on campus to establish the fraternity on January 5, 1911. The organization became the first Black intercollegiate fraternity to incorporate as a national body on May 15, 1911. The Detroit (MI) Alumni Chapter-Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., the fraternity’s second alumni chapter, was chartered on April 3, 1920. McKinley Carey was its first Polemarch. The chapter aided Black Americans moving to Detroit after World War I. It was also instrumental in the 1927 founding of the Alpha Beta undergraduate chapter at Wayne State University.

[Back]: In 1944 the Detroit (MI) Alumni Chapter - Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. purchased this 1906 home designed by Lemay Nohelan. Called “Kappa Kastle,” its dedication began on Easter Sunday, April 15, 1945, and continued throughout the week. The fraternity’s membership grew as World War II veterans used government funds allocated by the G.I. Bill to pursue college educations. The alumni chapter contributed to city and state civil rights movements through fundraising, networking, sponsoring events, and close work with organizations, such as the NAACP. It has aided in the creation of chapters at colleges and universities across the state. The chapter alumni of the fraternity include United States Representatives John Conyers Jr. and George Crockett Jr.; Dr. Ossian H. Sweet; and Michigan’s first Black Secretary of State, Richard H. Austin.