October 24th 2025.
At Yale University, two students are working tirelessly to preserve the legacy of their respective Black Greek-letter organizations. As the last remaining members on campus, Alejandro Rojas and Keith Pemberton are determined to honor the history of their fraternities before they graduate.
Rojas, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., explains that the lack of documentation from Yale has resulted in the loss of a significant portion of their organization's history. He believes that this is due to the university's failure to recognize the status of Black students in the past. Despite this, Rojas feels a strong sense of responsibility to ensure that their history is honored and not forgotten.
According to Rojas, Alpha Phi Alpha has had a presence at Yale since the 1970s, even before the founding of the Afro-American Cultural Center. In the 1980s and 1990s, their fraternity had nearly 20 members on campus. However, due to the limited documentation at the university, tracing their history has been a challenging task. Many Black students were not listed in Yale's enrollment logs before 1970, and some members were not recorded in yearbooks or class archives, leaving gaps in their historical record.
As the current president of the citywide Eta Alpha Lambda chapter, Rojas has made it his mission to uncover as much of their history as possible. He has even reached out to other universities, such as Cornell and Howard, to gather information. He also mentions that other schools, like Brown and Harvard, also have only one Alpha member, highlighting the need for more awareness and recognition of their history.
Pemberton, a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., shares Rojas' dedication to preserving their fraternity's legacy. As the only member of his fraternity at Yale, he represents the citywide Epsilon Iota Iota chapter, which was founded in 1922. While about nine Yale students have joined the chapter since its founding, it had been 15 years since the last Yale initiate before Pemberton. He hopes that his role as the sole Omega on campus will pave the way for more Black men to achieve success and pursue scholarship at Yale and in New Haven.
Both Rojas and Pemberton emphasize that their goal is not just to increase their fraternity's numbers, but to ensure that their members are dedicated to honoring their history and bringing their own perspectives to it. They believe that acknowledging and embracing their Black history is crucial, both in terms of denied history and Black history in general.
In light of their efforts, Yale has recently established a new Black Studies Department, showing the university's growing embrace of the Black diaspora. Rojas and Pemberton's work aligns perfectly with this mission, and they hope to continue inspiring others to acknowledge and celebrate their history.
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