The Alpha Phi Alpha, Theta Zeta Lambda Chapter records primarily documents the activities of the Theta Zeta Lambda alumni chapter in the larger Ann Arbor-Detroit, Michigan area.
Materials in this collection include meeting minutes and agendas, reports, correspondence, event tickets and planning materials, issues of The Sphinx magazine, and the personal papers of Watson A. Young, who was a longtime member of Theta Zeta Alpha. Also included in this collection are some photographs, mostly of Young's family and various unidentified events he attended, and recordings of speeches given at various Alpha Phi Alpha events.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. is the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity that was established by and for African American men. It was founded in 1906 at Cornell University by seven men, known as the "Seven Jewels" of the fraternity: Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy. While the fraternity's original purpose was to provide support to Cornell students facing racial prejudice, its mission has since expanded to push for educational, economic, political, and social justice for African Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha chapters were soon established at other colleges and universities, and the first alumni chapter was established in 1911. Prominent Alpha Phi Alpha members include W.E.B. DuBois, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and Paul Robeson. The fraternity motto is: "First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All."
The Theta Zeta Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha is an alumni chapter based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and serves the Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and larger Metro Detroit area. Membership requires a degree from a fully accredited four year college or university. The Theta Zeta Lambda chapter was founded on January 23, 1962 by seven men: Lyman S. Parks, John L. Ragland, John Mansfield, Thomas Bass, Rollins P. Greene, Booker Brooks, and Henry C. Bryant. In its early years, the chapter helped the activist community fight against racist practices in employment and housing in the Ann Arbor area, and it currently provides tutoring, scholarships, voting assistance, and food for the disadvantaged. In 2014 the chapter established the Theta Zeta Lambda Scholarship Fund.
The collection also includes the papers of Watson A. Young, who was a member of the Theta Zeta Lambda chapter and a well-known figure in the Inkster, Michigan area. Born in Abbeville, South Carolina in 1915 to parents Joseph and Ollie Mae Young, the family moved to Inkster (a Detroit suburb) in 1923. After graduating from Dearborn High School in 1934, Young worked at the Ford Motor Company for a year to help pay for college. He first enrolled at Eastern Michigan University in 1935 (then Michigan Normal College) as a music major, but changed his major to pre-med and graduated in 1938. It was during this time that Young was initiated into the Theta Zeta Lambda chapter.
Young then enrolled in the University of Michigan's Medical School and graduated in 1942, despite being refused U-M housing due to his race. After encountering prejudice that made it almost impossible to secure an internship at a hospital in Michigan, Young interned at black-owned and operated Homer G. Phillips hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.
In 1950, Young was drafted by the U.S. Army for the Korean War, but delayed entry until 1954 due to his medical residency. He served two years in the Medical Corps, after which Young moved to Belleville with his wife Aundree (whom he had married in 1943) and their five children, where he was the first black doctor with a practice in the area. He retired in 1980, and passed away in 2010. Young had 72 years of uninterrupted membership in Theta Zeta Lambda, served as a Life Membership Committee chairman for part of the 1980s, and sponsored many Life Membership fees for members.
