Welcome to Inauguration Web Site of the 33rd General President!

There is an air of excitement that is affecting this country and we find ourselves poised for a cataclysmic change of new energy and new ideas. One hundred and two years ago, seven young architects of fraternal life constructed a grand house that allowed the world’s brightest and most intellectual men to reside in it so that we could prepare ourselves to step outside into our communities to perform great service for mankind and humanity. This past summer, in Kansas City, this past summer at the 102nd Anniversary Convention, brothers across Alphadom, bestowed upon me the mantle of leadership to continue to carry out the aims and wishes of our beloved Seven Jewels by electing me as the 33rd General President of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

On January 24, 2009 at high noon at the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel on the campus of Morehouse College, I will formally accept that charge in our fraternity’s first Public Inaugural Ceremony before an anticipated crowd of 3,000 witnesses. I am expecting every Alpha who is able to come to stand with me as the city of Atlanta and the world will meet us on this day to hear our plan as we write a new chapter in our second century of leadership and service.

Therefore, I issue this clarion call to the “believers of the 7”, brothers across the globe (regardless of active status in the fraternity) to meet me in the A-T-L for our Inaugural Celebration from January 22-25, 2009. The National Board of Directors will also meet in this session and conduct the business of the fraternity. The Atlanta Inaugural Committee has planned a spectacular weekend full of the “pomp and circumstance” that is the trademark of Alpha Phi Alpha. It will be grand, elegant, splendid and electricfying. There will be something for all to do (including your wives/significant others) so please bring them as well.

I am asking all brothers who are educators ( College Presidents, Vice Presidents, Deans, Professors, Principals, Teachers, Advocates and Stakeholders for the education of our young boys) to join me on Friday morning, January 23, for the Inaugural Symposium and Lecture where we meet under the theme “Alpha Phi Alpha on the Road Less Traveled: Guiding our boys from the High Chair to High School and on to College.” We will begin the much needed conversations, formalize the fraternity’s plan and create solutions to attack with a vengeance, the ills surrounding the nurturing and educating of our young black males. It will be our approach for the next four years to join with our partners in preventive measures that will ensure the successes of the boys in our village. I need every Alpha who cares about the future of young boys to be in Atlanta for this critical discussion.

There is much work to do in the name of dear Alpha Phi Alpha. Change is eminent! Out of the box thinking is mandated! New blood, new resources and new energy is the order of the day. The spirit of the Seven Jewels will preside over our activities and I invite you to renew your belief in the power of Alpha Phi Alpha!

Herman "Skip" Mason, Jr.
33rd General President-Elect

Acceptance Speech in Kansas City at the General Convention

Part I
Part II

Click Below for Forms

Committee Chair Cover Letter
Committee Application Form
Mason Kansas City Convention Newsletter.pdf