01/04/2025
Happy Birthday Founder Marcus Peter Blakemore!
Marcus P. Blakemore, affectionately known as “Blakie”, a man of deep religious convictions and quiet confidence, contributed greatly to education, his community, his church, hospitals, and his Fraternity, was born in Franklin, Indiana, on January 3, 1889, and was the eldest of four children.
Blakemore moved with his family to Anderson, Indiana, where he attended public schools and graduated high school in 1909. He entered Indiana University the following year. After leaving Indiana University, he organized the Electric Engineering Company, which he operated until he enlisted with the U.S. Army in World War I.
He later entered the Dental School of the University of Pittsburgh, from which he graduated with a DDS degree in 1923. In 1949, Blakemore became the first Black to receive the MS degree in Prosthetic Dentistry from the University of Pittsburgh Dental School.
Blakemore was a member of national and local Dental Societies and a staunch member of Ebenezer Baptist Church, having served as a trustee and a clarinet soloist.
He was one of the two Founders who pawned his watch to help raise the Fraternity’s incorporation fee. Founder Blakemore was one of the first three freshmen initiates of Kappa Alpha Nu. He wired the first Fraternity house for electricity, the first Negro home ever wired for electricity in Bloomington. He was a charter member of the Pittsburgh (PA) Alumni Chapter and was instrumental in establishing the Beta Epsilon Chapter.
Founder Blakemore maintained his dentistry practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for 35 years until his death on October 9, 1959.
Kevin Scott
Grand Historian
