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 Elder
Watson Diggs (circa 1883-1947), born in Christian County,
Kentucky, was a graduate of Indiana State Normal (now Indiana
State Teachers College) and Indiana University, the birthplace
of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He
served as Grand Polemarch for the first six consecutive
years of the Fraternity's existence. For this and other
outstanding contributions to the Fraternity, he was awarded
the Fraternity's first Laurel Wreath in December, 1924.
An educator by profession, he taught in the public schools
of Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was elevated to a principalship.
After his death on November 8, 1947, the name of the school
where he taught was changed to the Elder Diggs School in
his memory. Upon America's entrance into World War I, Diggs
resigned his principalship to enter the Nation's first Officer's
Training Camp at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, and was commissioned
a lieutenant. After European service with the 368th Infantry,
he became a captain in the Reserve Officers Training Corps.
Diggs was instrumental in having the Indiana Constitution
amended to permit Negro enlistment in the Indiana National
Guard.
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