JGArchitects is pleased to announce the practice’s participation working with Frank Wilkinson, RA and Quentin Brathwaite, RA, on the proposed Ithaca, NY Memorial to the Founding of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the first black intercollegiate Greek – lettered fraternity.
In Ithaca, NY. In 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha’s founders “bound themselves together to ensure that each would survive in a racially hostile environment” preceding by decades the emergence of such on-campus programs as Affirmative Action and Upward-Bound.
411 East State Street was home to Mr. and Mrs. Archie Singleton, members of the strong Negro community, who graciously opened their home to Cornell University students who could not find accommodation on campus. Jewel Robert Ogle was one of those students and in 1905 hosted meetings of the social study club. It is the location where the decision to become a fraternity was made and served as the first regular meeting place for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
The monument at 411 East State Street will be a space that would stimulate the interests of visitors who may not be familiar with Alpha Phi Alpha and the role it has played locally, nationally, internationally and on the development of college life.
