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.
Famous Kappa Sigma
Alumni
Five Friends And Brothers
Kappa Sigma was founded in
America on 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.
 |
 |
 |
| John Covert Boyd |
Frank Courtney
Nicodemus |
William Grigsby
McCormick |
 |
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| George Miles
Arnold |
Edmund Law Rogers |
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 brotherhoood 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
unviersity in the land!"
Jackson died on Marcy 4, 1892. His legacy to the Fraternity
included its Ritual, a revised Constitution, a precendent-setting
Grand Conclave, the first southern Fraternity to extend a
chapter to the north, and above all else, a spirit for
expansion.
