Drkch03, Published on Apr 21, 2008
A Phi A Ape Walking at FISS 2008 Greek Fest
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Selected comments from the discussion thread for this video are found in the video section
of this pancocojams post.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision - January 30, 2026
This pancocojams post presents information, comments about, and videos of Alpha Phi Alpha, Fraternity, Inc's "Alpha Walk"("Ape Walk").
This group performance movement is also known as "The Alpha Stroll" and possibly other names.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
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A portion of this post was published in this 2013 pancocojams post: http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/deconstructing-stereotype-of-black.html Deconstructing The Stereotype Of Black People As Apes & Monkeys
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TWO STATEMENTS FROM ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY'S NATIONAL HISTORIANS
Statement #1
From https://www.facebook.com/btlalpha/posts/a-moment-in-alpha-history-alpha-man-or-ape-manthe-historical-context-of-this-mom/734498876564239/
Beta Theta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
October 29, 2013 ·
..."It was a little over four decades after slavery and sixteen years after the first African-American students graduated from Cornell University, in the 1905-1906 academic school year, the response came after the feeling of isolation and the real challenges of being black students scattered broadly across a wide Cornell University campus, it was then that a few educated black young students, not apes, decided to create a social study club. This club served the dual purpose of helping the men with scholastic studies as well as providing a structure to build a community and a fellowship. The young men who envisioned a solid foundation of leadership, scholarship, and brotherhood to conceptualize a model for all other black Greek-letter organizations to follow, transformed the lives of its members, and provided the country with some of its most distinguished leaders.
On the sloping hills of Cornell University, on December 4th during a period through the racial barriers of time, seven young men founded the conception of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans, in Ithaca, New York. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity revered those young men as our “Seven Jewels”, saw the need for a strong bond of Brotherhood among African descendants in this country not apes. ”Society offered us narrowly circumscribed opportunity and no security. Out of our need, our Fraternity brought social purpose and social action. We wanted more than the traditional American college fraternity. Our job ahead required a fellowship, which would embrace those millions outside the ’talented tenth.’ We realize that the leaders of any people emerge chiefly from the best-trained, best oriented members of the group”. Jewel Henry Arthur Callis.
I say all of this today in this moment whereby I was in conversation with another gentlemen from another fellow Greek fraternity spoke to me and greeted me “What’s up Ape Man”? Little did he know he caused a firestorm of a response, which led to an apology on his behalf? The efforts of our founders and the opportunity to join this great fraternity, I was not look upon as an ape but at a young man to say what I can do for Alpha. I dare not belittle the dream of the founders to refer to my fellow Alpha men as an Ape Man. I even had a small thought what if we replace some poems with “There goes an Ape Man” or “To be an Ape Man” or “Test of an Ape”….
Our founders, just in case you forgot, Jewel Callis, Jewel Chapman, Jewel Jones, Jewel Kelly, Jewel Murray, Jewel Ogle, Jewel Tandy, were well inform, educated, intellectual young black men, who set the standards of other men to follow. From a period where black men were ridiculed with the “N” word or with the mocking of being associated with an ape or monkey as our place of origin or classification, but our founders saw a different black men to represent our heritage as Noble, educated, men of class and of industry. What disappoints me is to constantly see the misrepresentation of Alpha Phi Alpha associated with presentation of an Ape as our symbol, sounds or moniker. Have we gone back in time to Jim Crow or should we live in the future. I take the stand to no longer support the continuation the use of the APE out of the context that it is intended to be the face for Alpha. I ask you today what symbol do you want to represent Alpha Phi Alpha now or in the next 50 years. But I can assure you today and when I’m called into the Omega Chapter, that I’m not an Ape-man. I stand before you as an Alpha man. This is your moment in Alpha History.
Brother Sean Hall, Historian"
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I reformatted this excerpt to increase its readability.
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Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_r5zdPkDZE for a YouTube video entitled #1 Alpha Phi Alpha Stroll 2009 BE. ( NC A&T )". This video shows Alphas doing what is described as an "old school" stroll while wearing a t-shirt with the word " APE".
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Statement #2
From https://apa1906.net/the-derogatory-meaning-of-the-ape-a-perspective-from-the-national-historian/ "The Derogatory Meaning Of The Ape From The National Historian"
..."When racists want to denigrate African Americans, they usually compare us to animals, more specifically “apes,” as Roseanne Barr tweeted on Monday, May 28th, about Valerie Jarrett, who served in the White House as Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama. White racists, who could not stomach the presence of African Americans in the White House in any capacity other than as servants, often referred to Barack and Michelle Obama as “apes.”
[...]
Many Brothers want to use some form of transformation to mark the transition from pledge to member of Alpha Phi Alpha. They have seized on the metaphor of evolution from “ape” to “man.” But that metaphor is fraught with stereotypical dangers with which we should not want to be associated. Other than evolution, we could use other models such as metamorphosis. Or, we could use qualifications for membership in a guild from apprenticeship, to journeyman, to master craftsman. We could adapt rites of passage programs that avoid stereotypes. Stereotypes die hard, and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity of all organizations should not be complicit in perpetuating them. The image of the “ape” is not one with which we should want to be associated. It runs counter to everything that Alpha Phi Alpha was built on and stands for. In its verb form, “to ape,” means to imitate. While others might base their organizations on brute strength, men of Alpha are leaders and men of intellect who set the standard for others to follow. We do not “ape” anyone or anything and need to abandon the image of the “ape.”
Bro. Robert L. Harris Jr., Ph.D.
National Historian"
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No publishing date was given with this statement, but it was probably published in 2018. Click https://www.cbsnews.com/news/roseanne-barr-racist-valerie-jarrett-tweet-also-compared-susan-rice-to-ape/ for the May 30, 2018 article entitled "Roseanne Barr compared Susan Rice, another black Obama official, to an ape in 2013".
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITORIAL NOTE
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. is the first historically Black Greek letter fraternity.
Although it's clear from watching videos of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (APhiA; Alphas) step shows & strolls that a number of Alphas consider apes as their unofficial mascot, symbol, or icon, this symbolism is unofficial.This is underscored by the fact that there's no mention of apes being a symbol of A Phi A on that organization's website http://www.alpha-phi-alpha.com or on the Wikipedia page about that organization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Phi_Alpha.
"Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ) is the first Black, Inter-Collegiate Greek-Lettered fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs) that soon followed in its footsteps. It employs an icon from Ancient Egypt, the Great Sphinx of Giza as its symbol, and its aims are "manly deeds, scholarship, and love for all mankind," and its motto is First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All."...
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An excerpt from Alpha Protocol & Etiquette Manual by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity reads "Brothers and chapters are prohibited from using the ape publicly to represent Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc." https://issuu.com/apa1906network/docs/protocol_etiquette_manual/18
Also, a note credited to Rashid Darden on a Pinterest page for Alpha paraphernalia (shirts, jackets etc) reads "THIS IS A NO NO....The Ape is not in any way associated with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, yet many brothers wear this type of clothing to official Alpha events and in photos representing Alpha. Not a good look" https://www.pinterest.com/pin/511158626426311047/?lp=true
The number of Alphas who associate "apes" with their fraternity is evident in a number of the Alpha Phi Alpha step show/stroll YouTube videos as well as in a number of comments in those video's discussion threads. Examples are given below.
Online references to "apes" and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. occur in YouTube videos of and comments about the strutting group movement art called a "walk" (also known as a "stroll"). Comments that I've found online (given below) strongly suggest that the "ape walk" is a newer term for what was once called (and may still be called) the "Alpha walk". Also, these online comments and an excerpt from Elizabeth C. Fine's book Steppin suggest that the "ape" and/or the name "Ape Walk" were unofficially adopted by members of Alpha Phi Alpha in the 1980s, although the "walk" itself is older than that.
In the context of historically Black fraternities/sororities, a "walk" (also known as a "stroll") is a movement performance art in which two or more people form a single file and do uncomplicated, repetitive, choreographed motions while moving at a slow pace in a circular manner, usually to recorded Hip Hop/R&B music. "Walks" ("strolls" can be competitive (i.e. performed during competitive step shows or stroll contests) or non-competitive (performed- sometimes extemporaneously- during social events such as parties (i.e. "party walks") or Greek (fraternity/sorority) picnics.
The "Ape Walk" ("Alpha Walk"/"Alpha Stroll") is usually performed to the Hop Hop record "Mic Checka Remix" by Das EFX.
**
The "Alpha Walk" was performed long before the "Alpha Male" meme "became a thing" in mainstream American media. However, there's no doubt that the Alpha man meme reinforced some positive meanings that members of Alpha Phi Alpha had given to their Alpha Walk.
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BOOK EXCERPT ABOUT ALPHAS AND THE APE WALK
From Elizabeth C. Fine's 2003 book Soulstepping: African American Step Shows quotes a passage in Howard University's 1988 Bison yearbook mentions apes in reference to Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
P.40
..."One of the few descriptions of a different type of step show-the probate show-appears in the 1988 Bison. In “Probation prior to Vacation: Karen Samuels provides colorful details about the performances of five pledge clubs, demonstrating the importance of movement, song, and symbolic costumes....
There are also photographs of the AKA pledge club, the Delta pledges performing their ritual duck walk; and the “Nubian Apes of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Inc.” who “let out whoops and snatched members of the audience into their arms as they prepare to cross the burning sands into Alpha land.” [Samuel, Bison, “Probation Prior to Vacation” 14-15
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Another passage in Elizabeth C. Fine's book Soulstepping: African American Step Shows quotes a passage in Howard University's 1988 Bison yearbook that mentions apes in reference to Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; P.40
..."One of the few descriptions of a different type of step show-the probate show-appears in the 1988 Bison. In “Probation prior to Vacation: Karen Samuels provides colorful details about the performances of five pledge clubs, demonstrating the importance of movement, song, and symbolic costumes"
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There are also photographs of the AKA pledge club, the Delta pledges performing their ritual duck walk; and the “Nubian Apes of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Inc.” who “let out whoops and snatched members of the audience into their arms as they prepare to cross the burning sands into Alpha land.” [Samuel, Bison, “Probation Prior to Vacation” 14-15]
COMMENTS FROM SHOWCASE VIDEO #1 [given at the top of this post]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKMGpWnzm5k
Numbers added for referencing purposes only.
[Comment #1 was posted in response to a question that was asked about the name of the recorded song that is used for this stroll. That comment is no longer available.]
1. @Drkch03, 2009
"Mic Checka by Das EFX"
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Reply
2. @s86phoenix, 2011
"@sertafacation Das EFX - Mic Checka remix
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Reply
3. @171TITO, 2011
"@balla2305 Its called Mic Checka from Das Efx debut album 'Dead Serious'
4.
"Yep it's called the "Alpha Walk" here in GA. The
Delta Eta chapter at Savannah State University started it even before I came in
(in spring 02). Mic Checka by Daz Efx is the official song thanks to our old
heads - and thanks to our many roads trips and step shows, everyone knows it!
AAAAAA PHHHII!!!!!"
Phi-Skee!!!
We spread it through roads trips (always visiting another
school - especially here in GA) and of course conventions. I think we deserve a
little credit for it's popularity - and no one does it like us either (not that
I care). Do you guys still do it?"
5.
"Way to be ice cold Phrat..
Y'all make a old bruh proud..
FA '99
BX
#2"
Reply
6
"Not sure who this is, but I read your post and wanted to
correct you...The Alpha Walk was created by the Beta Nu Chapter of A Phi A at
Florida A&M in the early 1990s when Mic Checka remix came out.
I pledged in Spr. 99 BN and trust me, there is no chapter who does it like we do...I am glad that other chapters (probably through regional/national conventions and visits to FAM) have tried to adopt it, but please give proper credit where it is due.
Pettis Kent
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Reply
7. @pettisk28, 2009
"My bad for coming on so strong, but the reason why I
responded like that is because far too often, proper credit is not given for
certain things especially within the frat.
Anyway, yes, we do the alpha walk at the end of each party we have, as well as other parties and we do it at steps shows, frat house BBQs, etc. I think if you search Beta Nu Alphas, you may be able to see same clips of the current guys doing it.
Take care of yourself bruh, and thanks for doing the Alpha walk.
PK"
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Reply
8.Blockchaindoc06, 2019
"I'll have to agree with pettisk28 on his point. I
remember going up to FAMU in like '94-96 and bruhs were definitely doing the
A-Walk to Mic Checka. The BN bruhs definitely deserve props for that. Because
the stroll is so cold it has been adopted many chapters. I'm just happy to see
the bruhs from the Florida Fed. showing love and repping nationwide like they
are currently. Much love to all the Florida bruhs especially my Tau Delta
chapter bruhs!
Nutty Professor
#2TDSp99"
**
9. Reply
@Geechie2ATL, 2009
"Wow...uh ok. I heard of the florida walk that your band used to do (correct me if I'm wrong). I see this is pretty important to you. No one trying to take credit away. Thanks for your 2 cents...Great job...
We spread it through roads trips (always visiting another school - especially here in GA) and of course conventions. I think we deserve a little credit for it's popularity - and no one does it like us either (not that I care). Do you guys still do it?"
**
Reply
10. @Geechie2ATL. 2009
"The original is a lil bit different though" .
Reply
11
"Let me put my 7 cents in - I pledged in the 80's before Mic
Checka was ever a song and the Alphas were doing the Ape Walk back then even
before I pledged!!! And yes, we called it the Ape Walk then! These brothers are
doing the Ape Walk as we did then, but the Ape Walk was a smooth and cool party
hop. We also placed our right hand on
the right shoulder of the brother in front of us while doing the Ape Walk too!
And just as these brothers are saying "my leg, my leg, my %#&
leg," we did as well!"
Reply
12. @
"interesting the "APE" walk done in texas is
different..it actually looks like an APE walking in part of the strut which is
weird because i always wondered who studied an ape and put it in a
strut..lol"
**
"Way to be ice cold Phrat.
Y'all make a old bruh proud..
FA '99
BX
#2".
**
14. @bulletsnr, 2010
"In the midwest, it's called the 'Old Man'. No matter what it's called, it's the ish and
I miss that ish!
#2 Khafre, Fall '97, Bloody O!"
15.
"The gorrilla mask guy and the one next to him was killing
that sh-t*"
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*This word is fully spelled out in this comment.
16.
"The Apewalk and The Train!"
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ADDITIONAL YOUTUBE VIDEOS & COMMENTS
BakerClassics, Published on May 11, 2010
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Alphas do the Ape Walk in the beginning of the video
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The Ape Walk is done to Mic Checka Remix - Das EFX. This appears to be the record that is always used for this Alpha walk/stroll,
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Video #3: Infamous APhiA Stroll
BigMonayBlamz, Published on Apr 17, 2012
Had to do an english project on something relating to FSU so I decided to do it on the NPHC and the MGC. This is just a part of my project, I recorded the Infamous Iota Delta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc strolling at FSU's marekt Wednesday during Alpha weeek.
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Video #4: Alpha Phi Alpha WIN 2012 Atlanta Greek Picnic step show
Atlanta Greek Picnic, Published on Jun 17, 2012
Alpha Phi Alpha WIN 2012 Atlanta Greek Picnic $10,000 step show
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In a portion of that video (around 1:42 to around 2:10) & in some other A Phi A step routines, Alphas mimic apes. They crouch down and jump up & down like apes. They hold their arms to the side like apes, hit their chest & hit the ground in front of where they are standing. And they make ape sounds while looking menacing. In some videos of Alpha strolls [party walks] one or more members of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity wear a gorilla mask.
Here are two comments from viewers of the step show video that is featured above:
1. "MY BLACK MY BLACK MY BBBBBBBBBLACK!
A Phi to the Apes! Congrats bruhs!"
-Santwon Hines, 2012
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2. "thats how APES do it . great performance PHRAT . you APES did your thing ."
PHROZEN spr' 12
Gamma Kappa
Miles College
-tri66z, 2012
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Visitor comments are welcome.
APE=Always-Pursuing-Excellence *Epsilon Gamma Chapter
ReplyDeleteThanks for that information, Anonymous.
DeleteWith all due respect (as a AKA soror although I haven't been active for a looooong time), I prefer the Alphas' connection with Egypt and consider the ape movements/depictions as problematic.
Also, my guess is that the "Always pursing excellence" is a "backstory">
In linguistics a "backstory" is a definition that is invented about a word, or a saying, or a story, after the word, saying, or story was used, usually to make it/them sound good.