Who were the first initiates of Alpha Phi Alpha?

Who were the first initiates of Alpha Phi Alpha?

• A. Lemuel E. Graves; Eugene Kinkle Jones; Gordon Holmes Jones
• B. Henry Arthur Callis; Charles Henry Chapman; Eugene Kinckle Jones
• C. Lemuel E. Graves; Nathaniel Allison Murray; Vertner Woodson Tandy
• D. Eugene Kinckle Jones; George Biddle Kelley; Robert Harold Ogle

Answer: (A)

The question tests knowledge of who initiated Alpha Phi Alpha at its founding. At the 1906 founding at Cornell, seven students formed the fraternity and initiated one another, but the first initiates are typically identified as Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, and Eugene Kinckle Jones. These three are consistently cited as the initial initiates who helped launch the organization, with the other four founders—George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Vertner Woodson Tandy, and Robert Harold Ogle—joining as part of the founding group as the fraternity grew. The names that appear in the other options aren’t the trio most often identified as the very first initiates, so the trio that historians usually point to when describing the first initiates is Callis, Chapman, and Kinckle Jones.

The question tests knowledge of who initiated Alpha Phi Alpha at its founding. At the 1906 founding at Cornell, seven students formed the fraternity and initiated one another, but the first initiates are typically identified as Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, and Eugene Kinckle Jones. These three are consistently cited as the initial initiates who helped launch the organization, with the other four founders—George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Vertner Woodson Tandy, and Robert Harold Ogle—joining as part of the founding group as the fraternity grew. The names that appear in the other options aren’t the trio most often identified as the very first initiates, so the trio that historians usually point to when describing the first initiates is Callis, Chapman, and Kinckle Jones.