Men of Alpha Phi Alpha Celebrate Black History with a Powerfully Touching Rendition of Their Hymn

As I ponder and reflect on the powerful history of my fellow African Americans, I think of the many avenues we use to celebrate our culture. Schools conduct Black history programs, people on social media post daily Black history facts, and companies hold special diversity and inclusion events. But one thing I find very interesting is the Black bond between brothers of fraternal organizations. With that, none other than Dominique J. Lee, founder of 8th Wonder, a boutique entertainment and brand management firm, and a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated is using his fraternal bond to celebrate Black history by not only celebrating the culture but by honoring his fraternal hymn with The Hymn Project.

Since 1906, the men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. have stayed true to their motto “First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All.” We all know that during the early founding days of fraternities and sororities, times for African Americans were hard and challenging. African Americans dealt with racism at an all-time high, and the discrimination was like no other. Celebrating the fraternal power of these organizations is very important. They transcended all! With Dominique celebrating his fraternal hymn, he asked himself, “why isn’t there an updated version of our fraternity hymn?” That thought-provoking moment encouraged Dominique to do something different for the culture and urged him to get to work on doing it.

The powerful The Hymn Project video opens with the House of Alpha poem by Alpha Phi Alpha member Sydney P. Brown, and four Alpha brothers sharing unity singing the fraternal hymn. The Alpha men featured in the video are Martavius Leonard, Ken Alston Jr., Ron Liburd, and Dominique Lee. This private yet sharing moment captures not only the unity of fraternity brothers but the unity of African Americans as a whole. It shows that by us sticking together, we can continue to build on another and continue to create lasting legacies. What this project also does is honor classic hymns. For decades, our people have used hymns to mourn, rejoice, and get through times of adversity, and it’d be silly of us not to cherish those hymns. With the Hymn Project, Dominique has revamped and given a more modern life to the hymn. He has created history.

Check out The Hymn Project below and stay up to date with Dominique and The Hymn Project by following him on Instagram.