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Interviewee: Gregory Delts

Interviewers: Mark Naison and Steven Payne

Transcription by the Bronx Historical Society

Summary by Ellie Harkins

January 7, 2022

Disciplines

African American Studies | Public History

Abstract

Growing up and living in the Bronx up until recently, Gregory Delts detailed the institutions and communities that greatly impacted his life and how he has given back. The apartment building in which Greg was raised showcased the diversity of the Bronx and the strong community that they shared among residents. Friends and family alike cared for him and the other kids in the neighborhood by sharing their homes and food with one another. Although he attended the public schools in the Bronx until high school, he was sent to the rigorous Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts for his teenage years. When Gregory graduated, he took with him lessons of discipline and routine, and as the only Black student. After these formative years away from the Bronx, Greg returned, joining Fordham University’s freshman undergraduate class of 1985, coming back to his original community in hopes of finding a group he could identify with.

After trying wrestling and other sports groups in an attempt to find a communal space, Greg found brotherhood while pledging to the Greek fraternity Kappa. The bonds created during pledging completely transformed how Greg formatted his life. Even during his years serving in the military after graduating from Fordham, his Kappa brotherhood followed him along his journey, providing friends and community throughout his adulthood. Without the experience of being a Kappa, Greg notes how his life would have been less rewarding and expansive. His participation in this fraternity provided the most profound connection, even more so than Masonry, in which he was a four-year patron. In 2012, Greg was contacted by a fellow Kappa, asking him to join the Bronx alumni chapter, to which Greg agreed. Missing his close connection to his chapter since college, Greg dove headfirst into the alum group, helping out with numerous community service opportunities. Through much hard work and planning, he eventually became the chairman of community service and then the Polemarch in 2018. Under Greg’s leadership, the Bronx Alumni Chapter of Kappa has joined other Greek life organizations to boost a sense of community internally and externally. Service for the Bronx is essential to the chapter, and many projects are done yearly based on the needs of Bronx locals. Although he has since moved from the Bronx, Greg notes the importance of the community it provided for him as he strives to give back under the Kappa name.

Link to Video Recording: https://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/baahp/id/60/rec/11

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