Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-Letter African American fraternal organization, was founded December 4, 1906, at Cornell University and incorporated in 1908. The Mu Iota Chapter was chartered at UT on May 29, 1976. In 1978 the fraternity moved into a house at 1810 Lake Avenue.
In November 2003 the UT chapter was suspended following the arrest of seven members for the assault of an individual who was a member of the fraternity at a different institution during the fraternity’s step show on campus. The fraternity returned after serving its suspension.
In spring 2014 UT closed the fraternity until 2016 because of reported hazing events after the chapter president waived his right to a hearing and accepted the ban, which would keep the fraternity from reopening until at least August 2016. The national fraternity had already been denying all prospective applications for new members, and the fraternity chapter was, therefore, not accepting any new members. The students who reported being hazed thought they were undergoing the pledge process.
The motto of the fraternity is First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All. The colors of the fraternity are black and old gold, and the mascot is the Sphinx. Its philanthropies are the Deaderick Shelby Foundation and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Among its notable members have been W. E. B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and Paul Robeson.