Delta-Alpha Alumni AssociationKappa Sigma Fraternity

European Beginnings

The Kappa Sigma Fraternity was originally founded as a secret society of students at the University of Bologna in the year 1400. The group was founded by Manuel Chrysoloras, a Greek scholar, who taught at the University. In that day of city-states, the group's initial purpose was mutual protection of its members against physical attack and robbery by the unscrupulous governor of the city, Baldassare Cossa. In 1400, Chrysoloras and his five disciples formed a society for mutual protection which inspired the Ritual and beliefs of modern day Kappa Sigma.

Kappa Sigma in America was founded one chilly eveing in the fall of 1869, as five students attending the University of Virginia in Charlottesville gathered in William Grigsby McCormick's room at 46 East Lawn and planted the seed of Brotherhood. For many weeks the bonds of friendship had drawn these five together; now the need became clear for a formal structure to contain their feelings. Thus, not only did the Founders formalize their friendship, but they also created a fraternity steeped in the traditions of the past and dedicated to the Pursuit of Learning. The new brothers recorded their bond in a Constitution and in an Oath which set forth the ideals and principles to all Kappa Sigmas today.

The Golden Hearted Virginian

Stephen Alonzo Jackson is regarded as possibly the most important man in Kappa Sigma's history . Through his efforts a struggling local fraternity became a strong national organization. He was the architect of our Ritual, writer of our Constitution, and was our first Worthy Grand Master. The following is an excerpt from the Bononia Docet:

During the Fraternity's second Grand Conclave in 1878 in Richmond, Virginia, Jackson was reelected as Worthy Grand Master. In his "Apples of Gold" speech, he expressed his ideal and goal of an enduring and expanding brotherhood as he addressed the Order:

Jackson died on March 4, 1892. His legacy to the Fraternity included its Ritual, a revised Constitution, a precedent-setting Grand Conclave, the first southern Fraternity to extend a chapter to the north, and above all else, a spirit for expansion.

Today, Kappa Sigma comprises over 200 chapters and colonies in both the United States and Canada, with over 200,000 men. Kappa Sigma is the sixth largest fraternity and has approximately 150,000 brothers in North America.