Our National History
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.
Modern day Kappa Sigma was founded one chilly evening in the fall of 1869, as five students attending the University of Virginia in Charlottesville gathered in the room of William Grigsby McCormick, 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 that set forth the ideals and principles to all Kappa Sigmas today.
Today, Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest fraternities in the world and is well on the way to becoming the largest in the world. Current statistics show that the Fraternity's membership comprises of over 390 chapters and colonies in both the United States and Canada; with over 260,000 initiates since 1869, and over 20,000 current undergraduates.
The Five Friends and Brothers
In 1869, Miles Arnold, Covert Boyd, Grigsby McCormick, Courtney Nicodemus, and Law Rogers brought the Order of Kappa Sigma to the University of Virginia.
The Golden Hearted Virginian: Stephen Alonzo Jackson
Stephen Alonzo Jackson (while attending the University of Virginia) 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:
“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 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.
