From the onset, he envisioned an fraternity that stood toe-to-toe with its mainstream counterparts. He served as a teacher and principal for 26 years until his death.ĭiggs' contributions to Kappa Alpha Psi are as deep as they are wide. In 1921, Diggs returned to the State of Indiana, and sought work as a teacher at Indianapolis Public School #42. After the war, Diggs became a captain in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. The Allied victory along the western front effectively brought the war to a close. The unit is credited with participating in the Battle of Argonne Forest in France during the fall of 1918. One of the first members of Kappa Alpha Psi to join the armed forces, he served with the 368th Infantry. In 1917, Diggs resigned in order to enter the United States' first Officer's Training Camp at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. After earning a graduate degree, he returned to that school, serving as its principal. During the summers, he worked as a waiter in hotels in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Cape May, New Jersey.ĭigg's field of study, however, was education in 19, he withdrew from university to care for an ailing wife while working as a teacher at a high school in Vinciennes, Indiana. Caine, with whom he would later found Kappa Alpha Psi. During the school year, he worked as a server on campus, most notably in the Beta Theta Pi house, alongside Paul W. In 1943, he returned to Howard University and earned his second masters degree in education in 1944.Īs was the case for many African Americans at Indiana University, Diggs held many jobs. In 1916 when he graduated, became the graduate school's first African American to earn a master of arts degree. Diggs enrolled in the university's newly established school of education. In the fall of 1910, Diggs and Armstrong left Howard University to attend Indiana University. In 1908, a year later, Indiana University established its school of education, making Diggs amongst its earliest enrollees. Three years prior to his arrival, the Indiana state legislature had authorized its board of education to establish a normal (primary) school system throughout the state. The university likely offered better prospects for employment in Indiana if he graduated from a school in state. His high school sweetheart and future wife, Clara Bell Smith, was a teacher in Rising Sun, Indiana, which was less than 50 miles from Bloomington, Indiana. Transfer to Indiana ĭiggs' decision to transfer from Howard to Indiana was likely the culmination of personal, as well as professional, pursuits. During the spring of 1910, Armstrong had been visited by his cousin, Irven Armstrong, who was a student at Indiana University and promoted its virtues. It was here that, in 1910, he met Byron Kenneth Armstrong. The following year, he enrolled at Howard University and pursued graduate studies in education. He was the eldest son of Henry and Cornelia Diggs With his brother, Ellis, and sister, Essie, Diggs was raised in nearby Madisonville, Kentucky.ĭiggs attended Indiana State Normal School in Terre Haute, Indiana (now Indiana State University), graduating in 1908. Diggs was born on December 23, 1883, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, an agricultural town in the western part of the state.
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