Step show and lecture celebrates black fraternities and sororities
Members of UK fraternity Omega Psi Phi perform their step piece on Center Theatre stage as they talk about their fraternity’s history during the UK Stepping Through the Decades event at the Student Center on Monday, February 8, 2015. Photo by Marcus Dorsey
February 9, 2015
By Cheyene Miller
Step routines and history lessons were entwined in the Student Center Sunday afternoon as the UK chapter of the National Pan-Hellenic Council hosted the second annual “Stepping through the Decades” event.
Over 200 students filled the Center Theater, as NPHC affiliated Greek organizations on campus were able to show the crowd the research they gathered and the dance routines they prepared.
Event speaker and former NPHC president Ja’Mahl McDaniel told the crowd that the event was intended to “give a little spin on your average history lesson.”
The event first featured a brief lecture on the history of black fraternities and sororities at UK, which began with the Epsilon Chi chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha in 1965.
Then, each organization was allotted time to give power point presentations that highlighted their organization’s history, scholarships, academic achievements, community service and notable alumni.
During and after each presentation, organizations performed step routines resembling the types of routines featured at the annual Stomp-A-Palooza dance competition.
According to NPHC president Dominic Murphy, organizations were encouraged to “do their research” and “go out and find facts” about their respective organizations.
“We wanted to open the door to that research,” said Murphy, a senior majoring in business management and minoring in psychology.
Murphy noted that all nine of the presenting organizations collected their own information and were encouraged to do the step routines in correspondence with their presentations.
“It’s something we definitely wanted these chapters to do, and definitely take time to highlight, because it is a big part of who these chapters are and who we are as a council,” Murphy said.
Lee Jackson, retired president of the Kentucky Association of State Employees and Alpha Phi Alpha alum, was in attendance for the event and took part in the panel discussion that proceeded the presentations.
Jackson said that he was at UK during the Vietnam War, and that he and other black students faced harsh discrimination in the early years of black Greek organizations.
“We were called the n-word, commonly, just walking across campus,” said Jackson, who noted that unity among the NPHC organizations has been crucial to their success.
“Don’t be what other people want you to be,” said Jackson, insisting that Greek members should work together as groups while also maintaining the individuality. “Be what you want to be.”
