ELECTION TIME -- A Voteless People Is a Hopeless People

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., began to participate in voting rights issues, coining the well-known phrase “A Voteless People is a Hopeless People” as part of its effort to register black voters. The slogan"A Voteless People is a Hopeless People" is a slogan still used in Alpha Phi Alpha's continuing voter registration campaigns.

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity’s Education for Citizenship program evolved through mass meetings, ratio talks, plays, pageants, displays of placards, and the tagging of individuals. In the 1930's, many African-Americans had the right to vote, but were prevented from voting because of poll taxes, threats of reprisal, and lack of education about the voting process.

  

Maryland NAACP leaflet using slogan.

The Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy said "Alpha Phi Alpha...developed citizenship schools in the urban South and with its slogan ‘A Voteless People is a Hopeless People’ registered hundreds of blacks during the 1930s, decades before the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) launched their citizenship schools in the 1960s.” 

Voter education and registration has remained a dominant focus of this outreach activity for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., over the past 75 years. In Ohio, the Federal Election Commission indicates that Ohio registration applications must be delivered at the designated agency, or postmarked, 30 days prior to an election before individuals can vote.  

 

During the 20^th century, with the tireless work of the attorneys and other activists in the Brotherhood, this national program of Alpha overturned disparate treatments. A Voteless People Is a Hopeless People initiatives were able to address the turmoil present in Black communities because of discrimination and Jim Crow, unequal opportunities in employment, education and military service, and affirmative action and Civil Rights.

In the 1990's, the focus has shifted to include political awareness and empowerment, delivered most frequently through town meetings and candidate forums. Other activities may include mayoral candidate forums, city council think tanks, voter registration drives, political intelligence roundtables, poll watchers, and voter transportation.

For more information, refer to the Fraternity’s link for Program implementation.