What is the Full Form of KA

KA: Kappa Alpha Order

A social fraternity and fraternal Order, the Kappa Alpha Order (A), also known as Kappa Alpha or simply K.A., was established in 1865 at Lexington, Virginia's Washington College (now Washington & Lee University).

Since the Order's founding in 1865, more than one lakh fifty thousand people have been initiated. The Kappa Alpha Order currently counts one hundred and thirty-three active chapters, five provisional chapters, and 52 suspended chapters as of December 2015.

History

On December 21, 1865, at Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia, Phi Kappa Chi, the precursor to Kappa Alpha Order, was established. The fraternity's founders are William Nelson Scott, Stanhope McClelland Scott, James Ward Wood, and William Archibald Walsh. Due to objections from the local Phi Kappa Psi chapter in Virginia Beta shortly after the organization was founded over the name "Phi Kappa Chi," Wood decided to modify the fraternity's name to K.A. by April 1866. The ritual of the Order would be enhanced within a year by Samuel Zenas Amman, known as the "practical founder." In the years that followed, the fraternity expanded into states including California, Arizona, New Mexico, and the Southern region of the United States. K.A. makes up one-third of the Lexington Triad, including Sigma Nu and Alpha Tau Omega.

The founders used Robert E. Lee as an example of gallantry and gentlemanly behaviour. John Temple Graves named Lee the "Spiritual Founder" of the Order during the 1923 Convention.

Relationship with Robert E. Lee

One of the Order's founders, James Ward Wood, was in Company F of the 7th Virginia Cavalry and fought alongside Lee and the Confederacy. Lee is referred to as "a true gentleman, the last gentle knight" in the organization's publications.

In 1923, Lee was named the spiritual Founder (i.e., a good example to follow) and was included in the K.A. Mission Statement in 1994. Before this, the fraternity had no official connections to Lee, although documents from the organization spoke of Southern culture and Lee's various influences on the fraternity. For instance, the following is how the formation of the organization is described in the History and Catalogue of the Kappa Alpha Fraternity, which was published in 1891 by the Chi Chapter at Vanderbilt University with authorization from the Fifteenth Kappa Alpha Convention.

The Order was conceived and developed at a college where Gen. After a terrible military struggle, R. E. Lee served as president in the Valley of Virginia, which won the hearts of Southerners with its tenacity in defending Southern rights. Some early 20th-century K.A. members claim that Lee actively assisted K.A. in growing its chapters by enabling members to leave their academic responsibilities to install chapters in other universities. According to one KA, Lee pushed K.A.'s extension efforts, while the K.A. Journal published another K.A. who said Lee assisted K.A. in growing. The Kappa Alpha reviewers stated in their 1915 K.A. Journal review of the birth of a nation that Lee's personality gave the K.A.

In its early historical records, K.A. supported a particular interpretation of the Lost Cause story. The conflict in Virginia is depicted as one of bravery in favour of states rights rather than in defence of slavery in the fraternity's history from 1891. Additionally, it portrays Union armies as invading. "Southern in its loves, it adopted Jackson and Lee as its favourite sorts of the perfect Knight," the fraternity's history states. In keeping with its sentiments, it did not admit Africans. Racially exclusive wording was ingrained in the organization's founding documents.

In this perspective, Robert E. Lee was designated as the organization's spiritual Founder in 1923. The fraternity offers four grounds for Lee's elevation to a pedestal within the group. When Lee became president of Washington College, he represented integrity and responsibility to his pupils. At the 1915 Convention in Richmond, Virginia, the founding Scott brothers and Colonel Jo Lane Stern, a former Civil War aide to Lee, testified to Lee's role in the organization's founding.

The 1923 Convention in Washington delivered a toast that formally established Lee as the organization's spiritual Founder from that time forward. The K.A. belonged is deeply ingrained in Grave's toast. Lee was almost revered in the toast, which compared him to Jesus. Born with Lee was the "K.A. Creed," according to the toast. According to Graves, the actual toast to The Kappa Alpha Fraternity is annually observed on January 19 with unwavering regularity and unfailing reverent compassion.

Since the birth of the Babe in Bethlehem of ancient Judea, that day saw the birth of the noblest character ever to inhabit mortal flesh. Virginia's Robert Edward Lee was born on that day. The Creed and unrivalled Ritual of the Kappa Alpha Order was born that day. Because Lee was either the inspiration for the Creed at the time of its creation, Robert E. Lee inspired and actualized the unrivalled Ritual of our Fraternity. His name was lived on forever in their memories and the annals of human history. But the life of Lee had ignited the heart of Ammen.

Lee's fingertips had contact with Ammen, the author of the Creed. Gentlemen, Knights, and Brethren raised their glasses that night, and made themselves promise to the Spiritual Founder, the first, last, and unparalleled Knight Commander of the Kappa Alpha Order, Robert Edward Lee of Virginia, for all time in the spotless liquid that symbolizes his greatness.

The Varlet's Toast first appears in the 12th edition, although it has since been eliminated in the 13th. It is noteworthy because K.A. promoted Grave's career, and The Kappa Alpha Journal published Graves's speech. A speech in which Graves defended the lynching of African Americans was hailed by The Kappa Alpha Journal as "a really forceful lecture on the issue of lynching and the racial problem" and was backed by K.A.

The general assembly at the 1929 convention in Louisville, Kentucky, altered the Convivium date (a ceremony honouring the establishment of the organization) to January 19 to honour Robert E. Lee. Since 1923, Lee has continued to serve as the organization's spiritual Founder and an inspiration to its members. The Advisory Council of K.A. established the following as the organization's mission statement in 1994. The Robert E. Lee-inspired Kappa Alpha Order that it aims to offer a once-in-a-lifetime experience centred on reverence for God, duty, honour, character, and gentlemanly behaviour. Despite continued internal and external criticism regarding K.A.'s affiliation with Lee, this hasn't altered either.

Office Administration

The Mulberry Hill neighbourhood of Lexington, Virginia, is home to the Kappa Alpha Order National Administrative Office. Robert E. Lee is said to have spent his first night in Lexington atop Mulberry Hill after arriving to assume the presidency of Washington College.

Member Services of the Leadership Institute of Number I

The Number I's Leadership Institute is a comprehensive informational and instructional retreat for chapter presidents (Number 1 is the title of the chapter president). The retreat is hosted in a conference facility run by Baptists.

Educational Foundation of the Kappa Alpha Order

The Kappa Alpha Order Educational Foundation (KAOEF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit, was founded in 1982. The Foundation awards scholarships to graduate and undergraduate students and funds for the fraternity's educational initiatives, including the National Leadership Institute and province councils. These initiatives are supported by donations from K.A. graduates to KAOEF.

Journal

The fraternity's publication is the Kappa Alpha Journal, or K.A. Journal. Since 1879, it has been published. Those initiated within the last ten years or members of the Loyal Order are eligible for a complimentary subscription to The K.A. Journal. Between 1936 and 1951, new members received a lifetime subscription to the journal, was granted to members who joined 1936 and 1951.

Devoted Order

The Kappa Alpha Order has an alum programme called The Loyal Order. The K.A. Journal and other alums resources are sent by the national office using funds from Loyal Order membership dues.

Military Branch

In 2009, the Kappa Alpha Order created its Military Division. Kappa Alphas who have previously served in the U.S. military or been honourably discharged or retired are eligible to join. The Maltese Cross, depicted on the Recognition Pin of the Military Order and has eight points, represents the chivalric virtues of loyalty, purity, frankness, bravery, glory and honour, contempt for death, helpfulness towards the poor and sick, and respect for the church. It also uses the K.A. colours of crimson and old gold.

Symbolism

The Order's traditional colours are Crimson and Old Gold. The colours represent the money spent (old gold) and the bloodshed (crimson red) to defend the nation. The magnolia blossom and the red rose are the Order's official flowers. The white magnolia blossom represents purity, whereas the red rose symbolizes machismo. The bottom of the crest is decorated with the flowers of the Order and a ribbon bearing the motto of the Order. The crest symbolizes several ideas, the hand clutching the axe stands for the Order's and the Knight Commander's enduring authority.

The Knight Commander of the Order once used the Helmet as a sign. The lions on either side of the badge, which is the focal point of the crest, each stand for a different meaning. The lion on the left, who is not looking, represents the adjective "rampant," which means magnanimous. The right-facing lion represents "regardant," another word for cautious or circumspect.

Motto

The Mississippi State Capitol's ceiling has the motto of the Kappa Alpha Order, "Dieu et les Dames" (God and the Ladies). The slogan tagline "A Moral Compass for the Modern Gentlemen" is also used by Kappa Alpha Order.

Membership Guide

The Varlet is the title of the Kappa Alpha Order membership guide. One is sent to each member in cardinal red, and non-members can read it online. It covers things like K.A.'s laws, history, and structure.

The Charge of racism

The coincidence that Kappa Alpha Order and Kuklos Adelphon share the initials "K.A." is because, as was previously mentioned, Kappa Alpha Order was originally known by the name Phi Kappa Chi, which would have given them the initials "X."

The recently concluded war had resulted in the disappearance of the well-known antebellum society Kuklos Adelphon, founded at the University of North Carolina in 1812. Still, it is a reputation well-known in the South, according to the fraternity. Kuklos Adelphon was more than just another fraternity for students. Long after its members had left college campuses, its "Circles" continued to meet in local areas. Knowing this, Wood found the idea of a lifetime "Circle of Brothers" quite appealing. Mississippi State Capitol's ceiling, the slogan tagline "A Moral Compass for the Modern Gentlemen" is also used by Kappa Alpha Order.

K.A.'s official journal frequently discussed what it considered to be K.A.'s connection to the Ku Klux Klan in the early twentieth century, according to historian Taulby Edmondson, who has investigated K.A.'s archives. When the major motion picture, The Birth of a Nation, based on the book, The Clansman by K.A. alumnus Thomas Dixon, Jr, was released in 1915. K.A. came and grew, embracing all of the Southland and still serving and cherishing. The Klan's membership and activities are cloaked in secrecy. The round cross of the Kappa Alpha Order was worn by its members on their breasts. "The Klan served, through violent, warlike means, the very principles they formed our Order to revere," the review added. Five years later, in a book he wrote about Samuel Zenas Ammen, the "Practical Founder" of Kappa Alpha. Some K.A. organizations described themselves as belonging to a "Klan."

Some participants identified themselves as "Klan" members. The Kappa Alpha chapter at the College of William and Mary referred to itself as "the KA Klan dwelling on the peninsula between the York and the James" in 1913, while some KA alumni reported in 1917 that they had established an "informal Klan" in Detroit, Michigan, in The Kappa Alpha Journal.

Additionally, the Oklahoma University Beta Eta chapter boasted about its Ku Klux Klan-themed dance in the KA Journal in 1920, calling it "the talk of the University" and declaring that it "was the best dance ever given." "The girls were dressed in the days of 1865, while the members wore the white robe and hood of the Ku Klux Klan, with a crimson cross on a golden background (KA's symbol), worn over the heart," the KA Journal stated about the dance.

The Corolla, the yearbook of the University of Alabama, published a picture of KAs parading in Confederate garb in 1957. It was captioned, "The Klan in their afternoon formals." Associate editor Vinson Lackey wrote the opening piece for a 1922 issue of The Kappa Alpha Journal. When African Americans challenged white women and

southern civilization during the Reconstruction era, Lackey explains what has been considered to be the fraternity's white supremacist origins.