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Elder Watson Diggs
Elder Watson Diggs in 1914
Born(1883-12-23)December 23, 1883
Madisonville, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedNovember 8, 1947(1947-11-08) (aged 63)
Occupation(s)Founder of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity; Public school teacher and principal
Spouse(s)Clara Bell Smith; Elizabeth Byrd; Lydia Diggs

Elder Watson Diggs (December 23, 1883 – November 8, 1947)[1] was a school principal in Indianapolis, and the first African American to graduate from the Indiana University School of Education.[2] While a student at Indiana University, he played the leading role in founding the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, one of the first Black fraternities in the Midwest. Later he served as a lieutenant in World War I, and was instrumental in the 1936 amendment to the Indiana Constitution that removed racial barriers to enlisting in the Indiana National Guard.[3]

Early life and education

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Diggs was born on December 23, 1883 in Madisonville, Kentucky, as one of the three children of Cornelia Diggs.[4] He attended a one-room schoolhouse in Louisville, which gave him his first teaching experience, as he helped to teach the younger students.[1]

Diggs later attended the Indiana State Normal School, from which he graduated in 1908.[1] From 1909 to 1910 he studied at Howard University, where he met fellow Hoosier Byron Kenneth Armstrong, with whom he later co-founded the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.[5] In 1910 he and Armstrong transferred to IU, where Diggs continued his educational studies. Diggs left school in 1913 to care for his sick wife, returning after her death in that same year.[5] He graduated from IU with a bachelor's degree in education in 1916.[4] He later earned a master's degree in education from Howard University in 1944.[3]

Kappa Alpha Psi

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When Diggs transferred from the majority-Black Howard University to Indiana University, he encountered a radically different and profoundly racist climate. Black students were banned from university housing, from participating in entertainment and recreational activities, and from competing in contact sports.[6] Co-founder Edward Giles Irvin later opined that "if prejudice were prestige, IU would have been classier than Harvard".[7]

In the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, Diggs is known as "the Dreamer", as the founder who first came up with the idea of the fraternity and brought it to fruition.[3] At Howard, he and Armstrong had encountered early Black Greek organizations, but had not joined them.[8] At IU, however, the isolation brought on by the university's racist policies led him and other Black students to form a social organization that they initially informally called "Alpha Omega" in the fall of 1910.[9] On January 5, 1911, Diggs and nine other students formally established the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity (known initially as Kappa Alpha Nu). Diggs took responsibility for developing the fraternity's rituals and ceremonies.[10] Because the university refused to recognize the fraternity as a student organization, they organized as a corporation instead, becoming the first Black Greek-letter organization to incorporate.[11]

Diggs was appointed the fraternity's first polemarch, or president.[10] He served as polemarch for the first six years of the fraternity's existence, from 1911 until he enlisted in the officer training school at Fort Des Moines in 1917.[12][13] After the end of the 1912 school year, Diggs, Byron Armstrong, and Irven Armstrong (Byron Armstrong's cousin) continued to develop the various aspects of the fraternity while they worked as waiters in Fort Wayne, Indiana.[5] Diggs completed the fraternity's constitution and initiation ceremony, and with the help of the others, completed the fraternity's coat of arms.[5]

During his time as polemarch, Diggs traveled around the country supporting new fraternity chapters.[12] In these early years the fraternity had a strong orientation toward social justice and racial uplift.[14] In 1913–1914, Diggs continued to work on expanding the fraternity to other universities.[5] Diggs also worked to improve the academic and cultural opportunities for Black students at IU, engaging in projects such as establishing a permanent debate club which participated in competitions, the profits of which were donated to charity.[5] The fraternity grew rapidly during this period: it established its first two branch chapters in 1913 and by 1918 it had chapters from coast to coast.[15] In 1915, Diggs sent a letter to A. Langston Taylor, the founder of Phi Beta Sigma, proposing a merger of the two fraternities, which were both expanding rapidly nationwide.[16] Phi Beta Sigma declined.[16]

In 1924 Diggs became the first recipient of the fraternity's highest honor, the Laurel Wreath.[10] He would later also become the namesake of the fraternity's second highest honor, the Elder Watson Diggs Award.[17]

Educational career

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While studying at IU, Diggs worked as a teacher and principal in the racially segregated schools of Bloomington and Vincennes, in order to pay for his own education.[1] He also taught in Rising Sun.[18] Diggs served as a high school principal at Vincennes, Indiana, in 1913 and 1914.[5]

In 1916 Diggs became principal of Indianapolis Public School 63 in Norwood, and in 1917 he became principal of Public School 64 in Haughville, to which he returned in 1919 following his military service in World War I.[1] In 1922, he was promoted to the larger Public School 42, of which he remained principal until his death.[1]

Students at Public School 42 remembered Diggs as a strict disciplinarian who would stand on the sidewalk urging students to go to class.[4] During his time as principal the school grew from a portable structure with outbuildings to a permanent brick building.[1]

Military career

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In 1917, at the urging of W.E.B. DuBois, the first officer training school for Black officers in the United States was established at Fort Des Moines.[19] Diggs enlisted in officer training there and was commissioned a first lieutenant.[3][20] He was one of several founders of Black fraternities who were trained as military officers at Fort Des Moines.[21]

Diggs served on the front lines in France in World War I in the 368th Infantry.[22] The 368th, nicknamed the "Buffalo Soldiers", was part of the 92nd Division. By Diggs' account, they saw battle on the front lines in the Vosges, in the Meuse–Argonne offensive, and at Metz.[23] Diggs was discharged on April 1, 1919, having served for six months overseas.[23] He then returned to his work as a principal in the Indianapolis Public Schools.[4] After the war, Diggs served as a captain in the Reserve Officer Training Corps.[3]

The Constitution of Indiana, adopted in 1851, rendered the status of Blacks "worse than in any other free state".[24] In particular, Article XII restricted service in the Indiana National Guard to males of the white race.[25] Diggs was instrumental in advocating for a constitutional amendment that eliminated it. The amendment was approved by the voters of Indiana on November 3, 1936.

Marriages

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Diggs was married three times in his life. In summer 1912, Diggs married his childhood sweetheart, Clara Bell Smith, in Lexington, Kentucky.[5] Smith was a public school teacher in Rising Sun, Indiana.[5] Because married women were not allowed to teach in Indiana at that time, their marriage was kept a secret.[5] Diggs returned to the Indiana University shortly thereafter. But Clara became seriously ill, and Diggs withdrew from the university to take care of her.[5] In March 1913, she died.[5][4]

In 1916 he married Elizabeth Byrd Diggs,[4] who died in 1935.[26] His third wife, teacher Lyla P. Diggs, formerly Lyla Roberts, a longtime public school teacher, died shortly after him in 1947.[27][5]

Death and legacy

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Diggs died at age 64, on November 8, 1947.[3][28] Memorial services were held by the Edward S. Gaillard post of the American Legion and by the local and national officers of Kappa Alpha Psi.[28] He was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery.[28]

Indianapolis Public School 42, of which Diggs had been the principal for 26 years,[28] was named after him following his death.[1] The school continues to bear his name as of 2022.[29]

In 1961, on the 50th anniversary of Kappa Alpha Psi's founding, the fraternity dedicated its new house in Bloomington as the Elder W. Diggs Memorial House.[30][31] The fraternity's five living founders attended the dedication.[31] The house no longer stands, but a historical marker marks its location on IU's fraternity row.[32]

In 2021, the IU School of Education established the Elder Watson Diggs scholarship in his honor.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Hale, Michelle D. (1994). "Diggs, Elder Watson". In Bodenhamer, David J.; Barrows, Robert G. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. Indiana University Press. p. 505. ISBN 9780253112491.
  2. ^ a b Winkler, Catherine (2021-02-17). "New scholarship established in honor of Elder Watson Diggs". School of Education: Indiana University Bloomington. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Elder Watson Diggs" (PDF). Gallery of Great Black Kentuckians. Kentucky Commission on Human Rights. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Smith, Gerald L.; McDaniel, Karen Cotton; Hardin, John A., eds. (2015). "Diggs, Elder Watson". The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia. University Press of Kentucky. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-8131-6066-5.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Bryson, Ralph J. (2003). The Story of Kappa Alpha Psi: A History of the Beginning and Development of A College Greek Letter Organization 1911-1999. Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
  6. ^ Sharp, Jo Ellen Myers (1991-02-02). "Black Fraternity, Sorority Take Root". The Indianapolis Star. p. 12.
  7. ^ Leon Taylor (1979-06-03). "Case of missing founder". Evansville Press.
  8. ^ Jennings, Michael E. (2008). "The Pride of All Our Hearts: The Founders of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity". In Parks, Gregory S. (ed.). Black Greek-letter Organizations in the Twenty-First Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 116–117. ISBN 9780813172958.
  9. ^ Jennings 2008, p. 117.
  10. ^ a b c Jennings 2008, p. 118.
  11. ^ Jenkins, Ramon DeMar (2010). "Black Fraternal Organizations: Understanding the Development of Hegemonic Masculinity and Sexuality". Journal of African American Studies. 16 (2): 228. doi:10.1007/s12111-010-9149-7.
  12. ^ a b "Celebrating Elder Watson Diggs". School of Education: Indiana University Bloomington. 2018-02-08. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  13. ^ Wilson, Adam P. (2015). African American Army Officers of World War I: A Vanguard of Equality in War and Beyond. McFarland. p. 193 n.73. ISBN 978-1-4766-2007-7.
  14. ^ Parks, Gregory S.; Laybourn, Wendy Marie (2016). "The Sons of Indiana: Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and the Fight for Civil Rights" (PDF). Indiana Law Journal. 91 (4): 1426.
  15. ^ Ford, David Julius, Jr. (2014). A grounded theory of the college experiences of African American males in Black Greek-letter organizations (Ph.D. thesis). Old Dominion University. pp. 45–46.{{cite thesis}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ a b Jenkins 2010, p. 230.
  17. ^ Parks & Laybourn 2016, p. 1458.
  18. ^ "Elder W. Diggs, School Principal 26 Years, Dies". The Indianapolis Star. 1947-11-09. p. 21.
  19. ^ Hampton, Isaac (2013). The Black Officer Corps: A History of Black Military Advancement from Integration Through Vietnam. Routledge. pp. 10–11. ISBN 9780415531894.
  20. ^ "Colored Officers Commissioned from Seventeenth Training Regiment". Official U. S. Bulletin: Pub. Daily Under Order of the President of the United States by Committee on Public Information. Vol. 1. Committee on Public Information. 1917-10-27. p. 10.
  21. ^ Wilson 2015, p. 58.
  22. ^ "Lieut. Diggs Home Soon". The Indianapolis Star. 1919-01-29. p. 5.
  23. ^ a b Meregaglia, Alessandro (2014-12-02). "Indiana University and World War I: Student Involvement (Part 3 of 5)". Blogging Hoosier History. Indiana University Libraries. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  24. ^ Finkelman, Paul (March 2015). "Almost a Free State: The Indiana Constitution of 1816 and the Problem of Slavery". Indiana Magazine of History. 111 (1). Indiana University Press: 66. doi:10.5378/indimagahist.111.1.0064. JSTOR 10.5378/indimagahist.111.1.0064.
  25. ^ Finkelman 2015, p. 66 n.7.
  26. ^ "Mrs E.W. Diggs Dies". The Indianapolis Star. 1935-01-26. p. 3.
  27. ^ "Rites for Mrs. Lyla P. Diggs, Teacher 23 Years, at 1 Today". Indianapolis Times. 1947-12-08. p. 9.
  28. ^ a b c d "Elder W. Diggs". The Indianapolis News. 1947-11-10. p. 13.
  29. ^ "Ignite Achievement Academy at Elder W. Diggs School". Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  30. ^ "Fraternity Elects at I.U. Convention". The Indianapolis Star. 1961-09-01. p. 19.
  31. ^ a b "Dedicate New $250,000 Fraternity House". Omaha Star. 1961-09-08. p. 1 – via GenealogyBank.
  32. ^ "Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity's centennial to include "historic pilgrimage" to IU Bloomington". IU News Room. Indiana University. 2010-07-06. Retrieved 2022-07-13.

See also

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Category:1883 births Category:1947 deaths Category:Indiana University alumni Category:People from Madisonville, Kentucky Category:College fraternity founders Category:African-American military personnel Category:African-American educators Category:American educators Category:Burials at Crown Hill Cemetery Category:School principals and headteachers Category:People from Christian County, Kentucky

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