History of North American College Fraternities and Sororities - Ethnic and Cultural Differences

Ethnic and Cultural Differences

While the late 1800s held tremendous growth for the fraternity system, it was also a time of great discrimination against the minorities who were increasingly entering the universities. Informal agreements were often codified in bylaws to restrict membership only to white Christians (but not necessarily all Christian denominations).

Christianity was huge part of college life at this time. Training for the ministry was a common application of time in a university and attending chapel was often mandatory. Jewish students could rarely gain entry into any fraternities as, at the time, just one member could often block the initiation of any new member. Even Christianity was not enough for many as there was also much discrimination against Irish Catholics. Catholic students at Brown University would create Phi Kappa Sigma (not to be confused with the national Phi Kappa Sigma) in 1889. Three Jewish students, upset at any idea of religious discrimination, would found the non-sectarian (no discrimination against race, religion, or color) Pi Lambda Phi at Yale University in 1895. On the other end of the spectrum, fourteen students would form the Z.B.T. Society (later Zeta Beta Tau) in 1898, which was only open to Jewish students.

The establishment and evolution of fraternities and sororities for African-Americans partially mirrored the development of social fraternities and sororities. Literary societies with Greek letters came first: the Alpha Phi literary society was founded at Howard University in 1872. The first and oldest successful African-American collegiate fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, was formally established as a fraternity at Cornell University in 1906, though it operated as a social study club in 1905. Precursors to Alpha Phi Alpha included Sigma Pi Phi (a non-collegiate fraternity), and unsuccessful attempts such as Gamma Phi Fraternity at Wilberforce University (first campus recognition documented in 1923; a 1923 yearbook entry reported operation as early as 1905), Alpha Kappa Nu at Indiana University (formation attempted in 1903, but involved too few registrants to assure continuing organization), and Pi Gamma Omicron at Ohio State University (formation originally reported in the Chicago Defender in 1905; but organization failed to receive school recognition). Through 1920, the eight organizations who made up the National Pan-Hellenic Council until 1996 would be formed. Black fraternities and sororities were based on existing fraternities and sororities but cultural additions were made including calls, open hand signs, and step shows; though social in nature, many African-American fraternal organizations were formed with an emphasis on public service and civil rights.