The Legacy of George Biddle Kelley

As part of our ongoing Black History Month series, where we celebrate Black pioneers in the AEC industry, we’d like to honor George Biddle Kelley, New York State’s first registered African-American engineer and the founder of Alpha Phi Alpha, America’s first Black fraternity.

George Biddle Kelley was born in Troy, New York in 1884. His father, Richard Kelley, was a former slave who served in the 20th United States Colored Infantry Regiment during the Civil War and later became a carpenter. His mother, Matilda Decker Kelley, was the daughter of William H. Decker, who was associated with the Underground Railroad. As a boy, he became the only black graduate of Troy Military Academy, and continued his education at Cornell University in 1905, where he enrolled in the College of Civil Engineering. It’s there where he and 6 other students formed Alpha Phi Alpha in December 1906, the first African-American Greek fraternity in the United States.

After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering in 1908, Kelley returned to Troy, New York and made history by registering as New York’s first certified African-American engineer. He joined the New York Engineering Department and worked with them on several projects, such as the New York Barge Canal, now known as the New York State Canal System. The New York Barge Canal was a project that retooled the Erie Canal and built several new canals to connect Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and others to the Hudson River and Atlantic Ocean, while retrofitting the river for modern ships. Later, Kelley switched to working in taxation, first for New York, and later privately, before retiring. He died on May 5th, 1962 in his childhood home in Troy at the age of 77.