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
evening 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
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, our pledge manual:
Stephen Alonzo Jackson was born September 22, 1851.
He was left motherless in his infancy and was raised
by his grandmother. A close associate and brother,
Francis Nelson Barksdale, recalled him with these
words:
"Gentle as a woman, firm as a rock - a perfect
bundle of nervous energy. His love of the Fraternity
knew no bounds, and his enthusiasm was so contagious
that it influenced everybody who came within his
reach. His one ambition was to make Kappa Sigma the
leading college fraternity of the world, and to that
end he thought and worked by day and night, until the
end of his busy life."
During the Fraternity's second Grand Conclave in 1878
in Richmond, Virginia. Jackson was re-elected as
Worthy Grand Master. In his speech, he expressed his
ideal and goal of an enduring and expanding brotherhood as he addressed the Order:
"Why not, my Brothers, since we of today live
and cherish the principles of the Kappa Sigma
Fraternity, throw such a halo around those principles
that they may be handed down as a precious heirloom
to ages yet unborn? Why not put our apples of gold in
pictures of silver? May we not rest contentedly until
the Star and Crescent is the pride of every college
and university in the land!"
Jackson died on Marcy 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.