The Contributions and Complications of Black Fraternities and Sororities

By Sean Pittman

Black fraternities and sororities are significant in the African American community, with the cultural and service-oriented tenets acting as strong reasons that individuals join. In the early 1900s, America was a place where Black people were looking for spaces to fit in. Black college students were looking for others with relatable challenges to bond and organize with for individual and collective success. There were few avenues for educated Black people to come together for service to their people and community until these fraternities and sororities emerged.

The founding of these organizations was influenced and rooted in a legacy of trauma and hurt—hurt that was carried by individuals who were in the same generation as families raised in the antebellum South under Jim Crow. They all promote higher education as a means to elevate their people. They all advocate for closing wealth and healthcare disparities, civil and voting rights, affordable housing, criminal justice reform, and jobs with living wages, and they all believe in robust community service and mentoring. But, as we see in Fire Shut Up in My Bones, they also were all plagued with unsanctioned and unfortunate occurrences of hazing.

Charles Blow and I were drawn to the same fraternity—Kappa Alpha Psi—presumably for the same reasons: the mission of achievement, the idea of brothers who stand together and stand up for one another, and the comfort of men who would befriend and never betray. Kappa gave us leaders and role models to emulate. In fact, most Black men doing significant things were members of a Black fraternity. These associations help raise the bar for what one can accomplish, especially against overwhelming odds.

Navigating America as a Black man or woman presents a unique set of challenges which are marginally mitigated by joining a fraternity or sorority. For me and Blow, it became important to have the support and encouragement of a group of people who also aspired to be leaders and change agents. The potential of being hazed seemed a small price to pay for this bond and legacy of strength and community. Because of this rationale, pledges and brothers generally attributed honor and heritage to the legacy of hazing and were each trained to teach the same to those who followed. And therein lies the cycle of a historic and horrific mentality that has left a black eye on the great character and value of fraternities and sororities, otherwise amazing treasures in the Black community.

I recall similar instances of hazing in pledging Kappa as those depicted in Blow’s memoir and Terence Blanchard’s opera. The questions Blow asked himself, I asked myself. The conflicting emotions that he experienced also surfaced within me. Sadly, after more than 30 years as a brother, I still find myself trying to balance, equate, and weigh the good versus the brutal and bad.

Blanchard’s opera shows that every individual brings their own stories, traumas, and experiences with them to college and to fraternities or sororities. How they are shaped, formed, and realized will be different for each individual. For me, pledging was not the highlight of the fraternal experience. I appreciate that the opera brilliantly captures the beautiful traditions of stepping and line dancing in celebration of a rich history of achievement. My memories also involved challenges that shaped me into the man I am today. Not only did it prepare me for the rigors of being a Black man in America, but it also helped me see all the possibilities that can be achieved through hard work and perseverance. These are the same challenges that Blow faced during the process of joining a fraternity, as well as the general history of Black people learning to rise above the surrounding circumstances. I am proud that our fraternities today are exercising safer, legal ways to create bonds that uplift the next generation of Black leaders in America.

Sean Pittman is an alumnus of Kappa Alpha Psi’s chapter at Florida State University, where he earned bachelor’s and law degrees and was student body president. A prominent attorney, philanthropist, and host of The Sean Pittman Show and podcast, he is past president of the Orange Bowl Committee and General Counsel of the National Bar Association.