Alpha Kappa Nu was one of several unsuccessful attempts to create an African-American collegiate fraternal organization in the United States in the early 1900s.

Social club

In The Story of Kappa Alpha Psi: A History of the Beginning and Development of A College Greek Letter Organization 1911-1999, Historian Ralph J. Bryson recounted that his own fraternity "may have begun in 1903 on the Indiana University campus, but there were too few registrants to assure continuing organization. That year, a club was formed called Alpha Kappa Nu Greek Society," but the unincorporated club disappeared after a short time.

Kappa Alpha Psi

Bryson states that the original moniker (Kappa Alpha Nu) of Kappa Alpha Psi

Kappa Alpha Psi

Kappa Alpha Psi is a collegiate Greek-letter fraternity with a predominantly African American membership. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never limited membership based on color, creed or national origin...

, which did become an African-American Fraternity, may have been chosen in tribute to the short lived club. However there is no concrete evidence as to why the Greek letters Kappa Alpha Nu were chosen, and the name was later changed.Kappa Alpha Psi's historian credits the name change in 1915 with allowing their organization to "thereby became a Greek letter Fraternity in every sense of the designation."