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Kappa Alpha Order Fraternity (U.S.)

[U.S. fraternity flag - Kappa Alpha Order]

image by Joe McMillan, 16 March 2001

image by Zachary Harden, 22 October 2011

Kappa Alpha Order
Black and White Flag
Supplemental Flag

See also:

Kappa Alpha Order

Kappa Alpha Order, is so-named to distinguish it from the separate Kappa Alpha Society, which is the oldest of the social Greek-letter fraternities. Kappa Alpha Order was established in Lexington, Virginia, at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in 1865. KA Order places special emphasis on the preservation of Southern heritage. KA Order has two flags. The basic flag is a vertical tricolor of crimson, white, and old gold, with a crimson Greek cross on the center. This flag was adopted in 1893. The supplemental flag is a vertical bicolor, crimson and old gold, with a white shield fimbriated in crimson on the center bearing the Greek cross beneath the letters K.A.

Sources: Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 20th ed. (1991), and
www.uark.edu

Joe McMillan, 16 March 2001

I was also able to get a public copy of the bylaws of the Order (The Kappa Alpha Laws as it is officially called) and it provides insights into the flags of the Order. All of these passages are from Appendix 210 - Other devices of the Order of The Kappa Alpha Laws.

The colors of the Order are crimson and old gold; both of these colors were given matching Pantone shades in November of 2004. The shades are 201 and 124, respectively. There are also only two official flags of the chapter

The traditional flag of the Order is composed of three bars of equal width, crimson next to the staff, white in the middle, and old gold at the flowing end, with a crimson cross of Greek design placed in the center of the white bar.
The house flag of the Order is composed of crimson and gold bars of equal width, crimson next to the staff and gold at the flowing end, with a white shield in the center of the flag, having thereon a crimson cross of Greek design and letters "KA" in crimson above the crest. (This is the supplemental flag)

Zachary Harden, 25 December 2012

Black and White Flag

image by Zachary Harden, 22 October 2011

While at the Arkansas Tech homecoming festivities (where the graduates of the school are celebrated), I went past the booth of the Kappa Alpha Order. The new flag I saw was the KA flag in all black and white. I did not ask the men what is the significance of the flag, partially due to the Order having secret ritual. But it was displayed next to the regular Order flag. Both of these flags have crosses smaller than what we depict right now.
Zachary Harden, 22 October 2011

I asked a few Brothers of KA on Twitter about the mysterious Black/White Order flag I saw. They didn't tell me if the flag has ritual meaning or not, but the guesses were that a flag was made to honor a Brother who has passed away.
Zachary Harden, 25 December 2012

Kappa Alpha Order Supplemental Flag

image by Joe McMillan, 16 March 2001

[Kappa Alpha Order Supplemental Obverse]

Obverse
image by Zachary Harden, 23 October 2011

[Kappa Alpha Order Supplemental Reverse]

Reverse
image by Zachary Harden, 23 October 2011

At the Arkansas Tech homecoming, the supplemental flag was also there, but it was a lot different from what we have now. The basic design is the same; a red and gold bi-color, split in the width, with a shield in white. On this shield is the red cross and the letters KA. There was no border around the shield and the letters did not have periods afterwards.
Zachary Harden, 22 October 2011

I was able to take a look at the Facebook page of the Order and was able to get a better idea of what the Supplemental flag looks like. The obverse and reverse are different; the obverse is red and gold with the shield; the reverse is gold and red with the shield. The shield reads correctly on both sides.
Zachary Harden, 23 October 2011