As Phi Beta Sigma continued its expansion in the Eastern and Southern United States, other national fraternities were beginning to take notice. Beta chapter became the first chapter of any African-American Greek-lettered organization to be chartered south of Richmond, Virginia. On November 13, 1915, Beta chapter was chartered at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas by graduate member Herbert Stevens. įounding photo of Alpha chapter, Howard University, circa 1914Ī year after the establishment of Phi Beta Sigma, it began expansion to other campuses. Stevens was initiated, as the first Graduate member of Phi Beta Sigma. It inducted such African-American scholars as Dr. In the spring of 1915, the fraternity worked to emphasize its intellectual reach. House Franklin were standout football players for Howard University. On the athletic field, captain John Camper and J. Foster, John Berry, Earl Lawson, among others, were presidents of the Debating Society, the college YMCA, the Political Science Club, and the Athletic Association, respectively. Other fraternity members also advanced to leadership positions at Howard: W.F. Langston Taylor, were elected Editor-in-Chief and circulation manager, respectively. The following year, Walker and founder A. Walker, a fraternity member, was elected associate editor of the Howard University Journal. Brown and opened a public library and art gallery, which became the foundations of the Benjamin Banneker Research Society and the Washington Art Club, respectively. On April 15, 1914, the Board of Deans at Howard University officially recognized Phi Beta Sigma and the following week The University Reporter, Howard University's student newspaper, publicized it.ĭuring the first two years, the fraternity organized and maintained a Sunday school program, led by A.H. On January 9, 1914, the permanent organization of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity was established in the Bowen Room of the 12th Street Y.M.C.A Building in Washington, D.C. Those men were the first charter members of the organization. Soon after the first committee meeting, Taylor, Morse, and Brown chose nine associates to join in creating the fraternity. By November 1913, they established a committee to develop what was to become Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. Brown as the third member of the founding group. Morse had their initial conversation about starting a fraternity. Soon after, he started as a student at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Langston Taylor thought to establish a fraternity. In the summer of 1910, after a conversation with a recent Howard University graduate in Memphis, Tennessee, A. The birthplace of SIGMA: the Twelfth Street YMCA Building in Washington, D.C. D., and the fraternity's headquarters are located at 145 Kennedy Street, NW, Washington, D.C. The current International President is Chris V. Phi Beta Sigma is a member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) and a former member of the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC). According to its Constitution, academically eligible male students of any race, religion, or national origin may join while enrolled at a college or university through collegiate chapters, or professional men may join through an alumni chapter if a college degree has been attained, along with a certain minimum number of earned credit hours. Although Phi Beta Sigma is considered a predominantly African-American fraternity, its membership includes college-educated men of African, Caucasian, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian descent. Today, the fraternity serves through a membership of more than 200,000 men in over 700 chapters in the United States, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. The fraternity expanded over a broad geographical area in a short amount of time when its second, third, and fourth chapters were chartered at Wiley College in Texas and Morgan State College in Maryland in 1916, and Kansas State University in 1917. It is the only fraternity to hold a constitutional bond with a historically African-American sorority, Zeta Phi Beta (ΖΦΒ), which was founded on January 16, 1920, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., through the efforts of members of Phi Beta Sigma. The fraternity exceeded the prevailing models of Black Greek-Letter fraternal organizations by being the first to establish alumni chapters, youth mentoring clubs, a federal credit union, chapters in Africa and a collegiate chapter outside of the United States. Brown, wanted to organize a Greek letter fraternity that would exemplify the ideals of Brotherhood, Scholarship and Service while taking an inclusive perspective to serve the community as opposed to having an exclusive purpose. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students with nine other Howard students as charter members. ( ΦΒΣ) is a historically African American fraternity.
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