Alpha Kappa Nu

Alpha Kappa Nu was one of several attempts to create an African-American collegiate fraternal organization in the United States in the early 1900s.cite web|url=http://www.aaanupes.com/name.htm|title=A Brief History: Kappa Undergoes a Name Change|publisher=The Abington-Ambler Pa. Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.]

History

ocial club

In "The Story of Kappa Alpha Psi: A History of the Beginning and Development of A College Greek Letter Organization 1911-1999", Historian Ralph J. Bryson recounted that his own fraternity "may have begun in 1903 on the Indiana University campus, but there were too few registrants to assure continuing organization. That year, a club was formed called Alpha Kappa Nu Greek Society," but the unincorporated club disappeared after a short time.cite book|last=Bryson|first=Ralph J.|title=The Story of Kappa Alpha Psi: A History of the Beginning and Development of A College Greek Letter Organization 1911-1999| publisher=Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.|year=2003]

Kappa Alpha Psi

Bryson states that the original moniker (Kappa Alpha Nu) of Kappa Alpha Psi, which did become an African-American Fraternity, may have been chosen in tribute to the short lived club. However there is no concrete evidence as to why the greek letters Kappa Alpha Nu were chosen, and the name was later changed when it became an ethnic slur among racist detractors at Indiana, who went so far as to refer to a member as a "Kappa Alpha Nigger." Kappa Alpha Psi's historian credits the resulting campaign and name change in 1915 with allowing their organization to "thereby became a Greek letter Fraternity in every sense of the designation."

References