Alpha Phi Alpha at Penn: Digitizing Early Black Student Experiences, 1914 -1930

Project Details

Alpha Phi Alpha at Penn: Digitizing Early Black Student Experiences, 1914–1930 is a digital history project dedicated to recovering and amplifying the lives of early Black students at the University of Pennsylvania. Centered on the chartering and early years of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, it explores how Black students built community, asserted their presence, and navigated a university environment that often marginalized them.

The project draws primarily on materials from the University Archives at the University of Pennsylvania, including University Records, yearbooks, student files, transcripts, and other institutional documents, as well as the Raymond P. Alexander Papers. Using digital and public history methods, these sources were digitized and curated into an online exhibit

Subjects or Themes

African American, education, Greek letter fraternities, University of Pennsylvania

Project Language(s)

English

Time Period

Geographic Location

Project Categories

Content Type

Digital History, Images, Artifacts, Text, Mapping

Target Audience(s)

Creators

Jordan D. Ross - Ph.D. Student at the University of Pennsylvania

Year(s)

3 Months

Host Institution / Affiliation / Project Location

The Price Lab for Digital Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania

Software Employed

Labor and Support

The labor for this project took place over a focused three-month period, from May to August 2025. I began the project in late May by gathering, scanning, and organizing archival materials related to the students featured in the exhibit. This work included returning to previously digitized items, scanning new materials from the Raymond P. Alexander Collection and other holdings in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, and organizing all digital files using the Tropy app. Throughout this phase, I provided regular progress updates to Stewart Varner, Managing Director of the Price Lab for Digital Humanities. In July and early August, the project shifted to the writing and design stages. I drafted all written content for the digital exhibit, experimented with layout and visual presentation, and sought feedback from fellow members of Alpha Phi Alpha, Penn classmates, and staff at the Price Lab. The final phase focused on refining the exhibit and completing all necessary edits ahead of the August 15, 2025 deadline. During this period, I also created and distributed a Qualtrics survey to gather viewer feedback, which helped identify strengths of the exhibit and highlight areas for future improvement. This project was completed as part of my work as a Summer 2025 Doctoral Price-Mellon Fellow, through which I received structured support and guidance from the Price Lab for Digital Humanities.