Our History
The Rho Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated is the 16th Alumni Chapter In Alpha, the PHIRST Alumni chapter in the PHIRST state of Alpha and the 50th House of Alpha Key #116.
Chartered By Eight Mighty Men
The Rho Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated was charter on a cold Saturday March 28, 1925 by eight mighty men. Upon inception, the Rho Lambda chapter encompassed the entire Western New York Region including both the Buffalo/Niagara and Greater Rochester Areas. With the chapter’s vast coverage area, members were able to live out the mission and vision of the Fraternity in two major cities in New York State west of Albany
DR. MARION AUSTIN ALLEN, D.M.D.
Sigma Chapter
Brother Marion A. Allen was born in 1893 and was a native of Girard, Alabama. Brother Allen was a graduate of Atlanta University and Harvard Dental School, where he was initiated into Sigma Chapter. He began his dental practice in 1920 in Buffalo. Brother Allen was the first Black dentist for the Buffalo Public Schools.
DR. PAYTON FORTINE ANDERSON, MD
Zeta Chapter
Brother Peyton Fortine Anderson was born in Virginia in 1890. Brother Anderson became a prominent physician in New York City and a specialist in the treatment of tuberculosis. Brother Anderson was Second Vice-President (East) at the time of Rho Lambda’s chartering in 1925
DR. GRAFTON RAYNER BROWNE, MD
Omicron Chapter
Brother Grafton Rayner Browne was born 1899 in Baltimore, Maryland. After completion of high school Grafton attended the University of Pittsburgh in 1919. The Fall of 1925 Browne left Buffalo to attend Howard University School of Medicine where he graduated in 1929. Dr. Brother Browne in 1930 entered general practice in Baltimore and practiced medicine for 43 years.
DR. VAN TUYL JEROME LEVY, D.D.S.
Eta Chapter
Brother Van Tuyl J. Levy was born in Brooklyn, New York in November 23, 1900. Brother Levy earned both a bachelor’s and a Doctor of Dentistry from Columbia University. At Columbia, he was the first and only African American member of the track team. he was also the first black dentist in rochester ny
DR. CHARLES TERRELL LUNSFORD, MD
Beta Chapter
Brother Charles Terrell Lunsford was born May 15, 1891 in Macon, Georgia. Lunsford attended Howard University (Beta Chapter), graduating with a bachelor’s degree; he attended Howard School of Medicine in 1913. He moved to Rochester setting up his own medical practice in 1921 becoming Rochester’s first African American physician. He also became a local civil rights advocate in the African American community. He successfully fought for admissions of Black students to the University of Rochester’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, for the YMCA to accept African American lodgers, for Eastman Kodak to hire Black workers, and the Red Cross to accept blood from people of color.
JAMES E. ROSE, B.D.
Iota Chapter
James E. Rose was born in 1883 in Centralia Virginia. Brother Rose graduated from Howard University in 1913 from the college of Arts. Brother Rose is also the first African American graduate of the Rochester Theological Seminary (Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School). Reverend Rose pastored Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Rochester from 1920 to 1942.
DR. JOHN LAMBERT WATERS, MD
Beta Chapter
John Lambert Waters was born April 30, 1890 in Maryland. Educated at Howard University, he earned both his Bachelor of Science in 1916 and Doctorate in Medicine in 1920. He was also an US Army veteran.. He came to Buffalo in 1923 and opened his first office in Lackawanna, NY.
HOME OF THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
The 50th “Golden Anniversary” National Convention of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. was hosted at the Statler Towers located in Downtown Buffalo in the summer of 1956, at which time Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Brother in Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. initiated through the Sigma Chapter) received Alpha’s highest honors
The Caretakers of Mother Annie C. Singleton
Annie Nixon was born in Alabama in 1872, seven years after the end of the Civil War. Her father, who was born a slave, was from Louisiana; her mother from South Carolina. In 1904, Annie married Archie Singleton and the couple moved north as many African Americans were doing then in search of greater freedom and equality. They bought a house at 411 East State Street in Ithaca, New York, located at the foot of the hill of the Cornell University campus.
By 1906, the civil rights movement in America was in its infancy. The marches and protests and federal legislation of future generations were only a distant dream. It had been only 41 years since Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery. And so, although there were a small number of black students studying at Cornell, they were not allowed to live on campus. Annie Singleton viewed this policy as discriminatory and just plain wrong. She decided to rent an upper bedroom of her home to a young man from Washington, D.C. named Robert Harold Ogle.
Soon, Robert had invited six other young black male students to join him at the Singleton house to create a literary society. Annie provided maternal support and hot meals. These young black men, known on campus as “the jewels” eventually formed the first black Greek letter college organization and Alpha Phi Alpha was born - becoming the model for other fraternal societies to follow.
One year later, both Beta Chapter at Howard University and Gamma Chapter at Virginia Union University were founded. By 1939, the fraternity had grown into a national organization. At the 1939 General Convention in New York City during the World's Fair, 33 years after the founding of the Alpha Phi Alpha, the fraternity invited Mrs. Annie Singleton as its special guest. General President Charles H. Wesley, eminent historian, who realized that the many members of the fraternity had not seen this grand lady, introduced her to the brotherhood. It was at this convention that the name "Mother" was endeared to the brotherhood, and she was officially designated the "Mother of Alpha Phi Alpha."
“Mother” Singleton later moved from Ithaca to Toledo, Ohio in the 1940’s and then returned to Buffalo, NY, where she lived until her death on July 25, 1960. She was interred here at Forest Lawn Cemetery, where on November 16, 2011, a new marker was unveiled and dedicated to her by 50 members of Alpha Phi Alpha. (See photo below) As one of the brothers said: “If it was not for this lady who opened her home to seven black kids, those guys maybe would have dropped out, and black fraternities and sororities may not have been founded.”
In fact, many of “the jewels”, those first young men that Annie Singleton took into her home, went on to distinguished careers. Robert Harold Ogle, her tenant, and the initiator of the group, returned to Washington upon graduation from Cornell. He had the unique privilege at the time to serve as a member of the professional staff to the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations. He was an African American pioneer on Capitol Hill. Annie Singleton’s motherly love inspired the move forward toward equality she and her husband had sought. She changed the lives of countless African American students on college campuses around the world.
A History of Phirsts
Charles Lunsford ~ The first black physician in Rochester, NY
VanTuyl Levy ~ The first black dentist in Rochester, NY
Marion Allen ~ The first black dentist in the Buffalo public schools
William L. Evans ~ The first black executive director of the Buffalo Urban League
William S. Powell, Jr. ~ The first African American Federal Probation Officer in the District of Columbia. The first African American to be appointed Director of Federal Probation in Buffalo, NY
Theodore D. Duke ~ The first African-American parole officer hired in upstate New York
Dr. Fred Douglas Archer Jr. ~ The first African-American to serve as president of the Erie County Dental Society
Leroy Raymond Coles Jr ~ The first non-lawyer and first African American to receive the Erie County Bar Association's Liberty Bell
Alonzo Thompson ~ The first black principal in Buffalo, NY
Mayor Byron Brown ~ The first black mayor of Buffalo, NY