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.

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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.