The History of Alpha Phi Alpha; A Development in Negro College Life tells the story of the growth of fraternities in Negro colleges from 1820 to 1909. The predecessors, Phi Beta Kappa, Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi and Delta Phi are also mentioned. Until the early Twentieth Century, the schools for Negroes were called "colleges" and "universities", but not one of these schools was more than a first-rate academy or high school. As the economic condition of the Negro improved, they began sending their children to northern colleges. The students then returned to the South to teach their own people. The Northerners who had been teaching suffered unkind treatment and ostrasicm from their own group at times. The forming of fraternities did much to improve the self esteem of students of that time in history.
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