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Volume 80 Number 1 Winter 1995

THE

sphinx

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC.

ERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR "We have More than a Contract..."

ALPHA FORUM National Day of Prayer LPHA RENAISSANCE General President's Statement Oath of Office Community Leaders Laud President Davis "Putting Hope in a Child's Future" The Education Foundation Alpha Career Expo...Job Fair Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Supports SPECIAL FEATURE The Rosewood Tragedy The Hard Work School...and Schoolmaster lOLLEGE DAYS Miss Black and Gold "Where Do We Go From Here?"

The "Tuskegee Machine" INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Alpha Men and Foreign Affairs ' ALPHA ON THE MOVE Astronaut Winston E. Scott HISTORICAL MOMENT The Elimination of Racial Restrictions

.EISUREM^MHMI

INSIDE BACK

Sweet Swing Blues on the Road "Servant of the People" "Disclosure" IAPTER NEWS OMEGA CHAPTER CORPORATE DIRECTORY

The Sphinx (USPS 510-440) is published quarterly for $10 a year by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., 2313 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-5234. Second-class postage paid at Baltimore, MD and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Sphinx, 2313 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21213.

The Sphinx is the official magazine of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Send all editorial mail and change of addresses to Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. The Fraternity assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts or art. Opinions expressed in columns and articles do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Use of any person's name in fiction, semifiction, articles or humorous features is to be regarded as a coincidence and not as the responsibility of The Sphinx, and is never done knowingly. Copyright 1976 by The Sphinx, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Reproduction, or use without written permission, of the editorial or pictorial content of tfie magazine in any manner is prohibited. The Sphinx has been published continuously since 1914. Organizing Editor: Brother Raymond W. Cannon. Organizing General President: Brother Henry Lake Dickason.

Winter 1995 •

The Sphinx A 1

Interim Executive Director

We Have More Than a Contract With America

W

e have heard a lot lately about the angry white male, unhappy because of a belief that white men are somehow being denied employment and educational opportunities through a form of reverse discrimination.

Conservative lawmakers—capitalizing on the emotion—have launched a broad attack on affirmative action, saying that the policies give unfair advantage to minorities and women.

In the midst of the discussion on anger and reverse discrimination, we find The Republican Party in Washington putting out its contract with America. The contract calls for the "taking back of our streets" as part of an anticrime package. Also included in the deal are plans for prison construction, welfare slashing, affirmative action reversal and many other promises aimed at the emotions of the white middle class.

While these conservative politicans build their futures on the fears of others, the latest information shows that the family income for blacks is actually declining. A recent Bureau of Census report published in The Wall Street Journal shows that median household income for blacks—when adjusted for inflation—declined in 1993 to $21,542 from $22,253 in 1980, while it rose for whites to $39,300 from $38,458.

The unemployment rate for African Americans is still twice that of whites and Asians. Blacks still make up only a fraction of the managerial and professional work force. We are in large num-

2 A The Sphinx •

bers still denied bank loans that would afford us the opportunity to start our own businesses.

In a study conducted by the University of Chicago, it was reported that by the year 2000 more than 70 percent of all black men would be unemployed and 70 percent of all black children would be born into a household without a male figure. It was estimated that roughly one-third of all blacks would be members of a permanent underclass.

Brother Darryl R. Matthews, Sr. We are forced to wonder about the legitimacy of the recent controversy over preferential treatment when we consider the fact that African American men comprise only 6 percent of the total American population yet account for 34 percent of the nation's murder victims and that black men represent more than 30 percent of the prison population.

The conditions that confront the African American community can be disillusioning. Many members of the community have

Winter 1995

stopped pursuing the American dream and turned to the nightmare of drugs and guns.

There are still some in the community, however, who have refused to give in to disillusionment—who stand as a light so others can find their way. The reality is that many of the African American men who seek to light the way for others are Alpha Brothers. As a people, we have been faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. And yet, at the end of every struggle—when you look to the victory stand—there you will find a member of Alpha Phi Alpha. In the dimming fight of humanity, Alphas have picked up the torch and held it high.

Alpha Brothers across the nation are holding the torch high every day when they address the issues of racism, discrimination, poor education and unemployment. It is the men of Alpha who continue to demonstrate, with creative vision and positive expectancy, the hope for a brighter future. lpha Phi Alpha has more than a contract with America and the African American community.

We have a commitment that was adopted at the 1959 General Convention, stating: The objective of this Fraternity shall be to stimulate the ambition of its members; to prepare them for the greatest usefulness in the causes of humanity, freedom and dignity of the individual; to encourage the highest and noblest form of manhood; and to aid downtrodden humanity in its efforts to achieve higher social economic and intellectual status.

A

Alpha Forum

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE

AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILY Editor's Note: Brother Father Goode would want us to celebrate the African American family everyday of our lives, but with special emphasis on the first Sunday in February.

God of our weary years,

and achievements of The first Sunday in people of African February has come to God of our silent tears, descent in this nation. mark the Annual Thou who has brought us thus far on the way; During die month we National Day of Prayer celebrate and rededifor the African Thou who has by thy might cate ourselves to American Family. This bringing to life the valvery special day was led us into the Light ues instilled in us by conceived in 1989 at our foreparents—the Emory University in Keep us forever in the path, we pray focus on black pride, Atlanta during the dignity and heritage James Weldon Johnson National Black are symbols of a deepCatholic Convention. er acknowledgment of our Spirit to anoint our giftedness as During four days we focused on humanity, of our genius, our a people and to give us the grace the plight of African Americans generosity and our love.

It is and strength to move from the within and without the Catholic also a time we seek to reconcile prayer experience to action in Church. Presentations covered ourselves with our hardships, our various communities. We topics from child abuse and ask for the ability to build mean- sadnesses, and yes, failures. We neglect to racism, unemployrecommit ourselves to convertingful coalitions across religious ment, and gangs. With such ing our values to daily action, boundaries and philosophical heavy topics, I called on the not just in February, but each assembly to present our case to a barriers. day of the year.

We consecrate ourselves to higher power. Following die We meet the challenge daily our families, to our people, to lead of our foreparents who to acknowledge and celebrate our inclusion and further definidaily faced the degradation of our many gifts and the giftedtion of the American Dream on slavery yet knew there must be a this National Day of Prayer, cel- ness of each other. So often we God somewhere because as they overlook the positiveness and ebrated deliberately on t i e first so often said, "over my head I giftedness of our race. In the Sunday of Black History Month hear music," I knew that relying Souk of Black Folk, W.E.B. each February. on prayer would strengthen our DuBois stated it well when he Why February? February resolve. Thus, seven years ago, said. the seed for the National Day of has come to be a special month in die African American Prayer for the African American "Here we have brought our Community throughout die Family was planted. three gifts and mingled country. Ever since Dr. Carter It is a day that we pray for them with yours; a gift of G. Woodson (1926) initiated the healing of divisions, the story and song-soft, stirring and promoted the annual celemending of hurts, the power to melody in an ill harmonized bration of Black History Month, overcome and go beyond. We and unmelodious land, the February has become a time of celebrate not only our survival, gift of sweat and brawn to but our ability to thrive as a peo- annual commemoration of beat back the wilderness, hopes, dreams, visions, struggles ple. We call upon the Holy conquer the soil and lay

Winter 1995 T The Sphinx A 3

Alpha Forum

foundations of this vast economic empire...and the third, a gift of spirit."

What better way to begin Black History Month than with a day of prayer for our families.

The family, after all, is the centerpiece of our history and survival as a people. I can hear our ancestors cry out the words of Charles Albert Tindley:

When the storms of life are raging Stand by me When the storms of life are raging, Stand by me When the world is tossing me, Like a ship upon the sea; Thou who rulest wind and water, Stand by me.

The National Day of Prayer for die African American Family is a day for us to celebrate our faith and faithfulness to God in Prayer, to have a conversation with God, believing and knowing if we have tihe faith, God has die power.

We know the lessons—they simply must be affirmed. We know the need to embrace each other with our lives, our history, laughter, dance, burden, language, and religious beliefs. We know also the need to embrace our African culture and perspectives, our spirituality, our stories, ourselves. We know the need for compassion. We know how

who has witto triumph over nessed our "triour fears. We umph" over know the need segregation— to embrace and subsequent those not of our loss, so hard to blood but of our define that we need—we are have no name the mentors, we for this space in are our future, Brother Jim. Goode which "family we are our past, values" are spoken by those who we are our elders, and our would orphan youth for the sin youth. We are the single of poverty. We are puzzled fathers, mothers, perbecause often our youth are sons with MDS, frail blind to the sacrifices made on seniors, we are poor and conversely, we are their behalf—just as we "wiser rich. Most important- ones" are blind to the struggle ly, we are compassion- our youth face in the world of their peers. We respond with ate. fear despite the fact that we Because National learned about prayer at our Day of Prayer allows grandparents knees. They and us to reflect and we need to learn again about reclaim we have a chance to broaden our unconditional love. They and we need to know they are loved response to the chaland appreciated for who we are. lenges we face as a people.

Helping us with this lesson are the stories of how we got For too long we over: the African American have "survived." Our need now story of liberation. We should is to focus on "revive" and never tire of telling the story of "thrive." We are so familiar with Sojourner Truth, Harriet struggle, that we even struggle Tubman, Nat Turner, Denmark with success. Strangers in a land, Vesey, Frederick Douglass, we have allowed others to Martin Delany, Richard Allen, embrace our children, influence James Varick, Henry Highland them, instill in them strange valGarnett, Henry M. Turner, ues, substituting theirs for our W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. own. Now is the time for us to Washington, Marcus Garvey, A. reclaim our children and youth.

Philip Randolph, Martin Luther This difficult work is made easier King, Jr., Malcolm X, Mary by our focus, together, during Mcleod Bethune, Thurgood the National Day of Prayer on Marshall, Fannie Lou Hamer, the stories of our dreams and Medgar Evers, Benjamin Mays, struggles, on our history in word Mother Mary Lange, Rosa and deed.

Parks and so many others. We We have hard work ahead of need to tell the story of our own us to reclaim this generation

4 A The Sphinx T Winter 1995

Alpha Forum

parents and grandparents—the ones we know, the ones taken from us, the ones who became ours when no others were left.

Finally, we must let our youth know that now is their history in the making.

Isn't it ironic that our great story parallels great biblical stories of revelation and redemption. The African American spirituality emerges from the encounter of a believing black folk with the God who specializes in saving, delivering and remaking people. It is a theological story in that it reflects faith understandings and insights that have evolved through our black social, cultural and religious experiences. And it is an educational story about a people who came to know the God of the Bible, feel the transforming and redemptive power of His word, and were thus committed to acting with God in his mission of liberation, not only for themselves, but for all people who were oppressed in mind and in spirit.

It is no great mystery that we would love the miracle triumph of Nelson Mandela and the new South African nation he leads.

Thus we come to a National Day of Prayer for the African American Family to affirm our need of God and each other.

We acknowledge the need of God in our lives not in a superficial way, but in our every real deed. We need to pause and

remind ourselves that we are created in the image and likeness of God and that God is a God of justice and righteousness. We need to also acknowledge God in one another. As Maya Angelou notes in her poem Alone:

Now if you listen closely I'll tell you what I know Storm clouds are gathering The wind is gonna blow The race of man is suffering And I can hear the moan, Cause nobody, But nobody Can make it out here alone, Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone.

We have a powerful need for one another. We need each other to fill in the spaces in each of us where something may be lacking. Like the roots of a tree we must lean on each other for nurturance. Isolated, we are strangled by alien, unfriendly and untamed weeds. Knowing one another's zodiac signs will not be enough. Rather, we must reinforce the difficult lesson of extending ourselves, risking a great deal to care for the well being of others. If we have lost

touch with our extended family, then we must again link ourselves to that destiny. We forever are brothers' and sisters' keepers. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his 1968 speech Where Do We Go From Here? proclaimed: "All life is interrelated.

The agony of the poor impoverishes the rich, the betterment of the poor enriches the rich. We are inevitably our brother's keeper because we are our brother's brother.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity is in the lead again having embraced the National Day of Prayer for the African American Family. Now, together, let us as "Alpha Men" celebrate our universal family.

Let us continue to put our prayers into action building programs focused on the African American Family in its many forms.

Let us make that commitment a personal, collective, and compassionate pledge to our present and future generations.

Brother Father Jim Goode, OFM, is Founder, National Day of Prayer for the African American Family, Spiritual leader of Saint Paul of the Shipwreck Catholic Church, and a member of Gamma Chi Lambda Chapter, San Francisco.

Winter 1995 •

The Sphinx A 5

Alpha Renaissance

To the Past General Presidents, Members of the Board, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

T

he presence of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in Tuskegee, Alabama, is not new. From our earliest days the destinies of Alpha and Tuskegee have been intertwined.

Our Alpha history book records with great care that the Twenty-second Annual Convention of tfre Fraternity occurred on December 28, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. When the organization of die convention had been completed, plans were made immediately for the visit of the Fraternity delegates to Tuskegee, where the convention was the guest of Alpha Nu Lambda Chapter.

The trip was made partly by bus. The roads were difficult of passage because of heavy rains and the delegates arrived later than was planned.

The delegates made visits to the Tuskegee Veterans Hospital, the Institute school buildings and grounds and to the monument of Booker T Washington, where a wreath was placed.

There was also a review of the student body and services were held in the Institute Chapel,

6 A The Sphinx •

during which General President Andrew Rose spoke for the Fraternity.

Alpha Nu Lambda Chapter

ing and enrolling at Cornell University. Brother Dr. Emmett J. Scott, who for many years was the confidential secretary to Dr. Booker T. Washington was a stalwart member

of Alpha Phi Alpha

my home chapter chartered in 1928 has given continuous leadership and service to this community for over 67 years. Jewel Founder Henry Arthur Callis served here at the Tuskegee Veterans Administration Hospital after graduating from Cornell University and completing his medical degree. Jewel Founder Vertner Woodson Tandy was a student here at Tuskegee Institute before leav-

Winter 1995

Fraternity. So we see that our Fraternity has a long, rich and impressive involvement with the people and the institutions of Tuskegee, Alabama.

Whenever and wherever leaders in the African American community seek the proper direction for our people it is essential for success that you involve yourself in someway in the "Tuskegee Experience." This is hallowed and sacred ground.

This City and this University are places where generations have come seeking knowledge, truth, and a sense of self, all the while building confidence to face the challenges of life. Each generation has set out from this place with only one mandate — that is to provide leadership and service wherever you are in the world with excellence.

Continued on page 33

Alpha Renaissance

OATH OF OFFICE I, Milton Carver Davis, beii ind min« do solemnly swear, to uphold the constitution and by-1; of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; to envision programs [fj| designed to enhance the future development and Alpha Phi Alpha; to lead the Brothers elected to members of my cabinet; to inspire the Brotherhoo Alpha Phi Alpha to move onward and upward, am the needs of the Fraternity whereever and whenever n< ed—so help me God! Administered by Brother T. Winston Cole, Sr., Senior Past General President, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. at Tuskegee, AL January 20, 1995

In front of the Booker T. Washington Monument on the campus of Tu: bers of the Board of Directors and staff who attended the January meeting (front row, second from right Brothers Washington, Sutton, Ponder, Cole, Davis were among those in attendance.

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Winter 1995 •

The Sphinx A 7

Alpha Renaissance

The dais during the Fraternal Luncheon honoring the Board of Directors and the oath of office for the second term of General President Milton C. Davis included (from left): Brother Dr. Benjamin F. Payton, president of Tuskegee University; Atty.

Davis; Brother Charlie E. Hardy, Alabama District Director; Macon County Commissioner Frarik Lee;foi~mer General President and Brother James Williams; Brother Thomas Reed, Alabama State Representative; Brother Robert Davis.

Tuskegee Mayor Johnny L. Ford declared January 20, 1995, Milton C. Davis Day in the City of Tuskegee.

COMMUNITY LEADERS LAUD GENERAL PRESIDENT DAVIS A product of the St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School, Tuskegee Institute High and Tuskegee University, Milton Carver Davis went on to earn a law degree from the University of Iowa before he returned to Alabama.

After first serving as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Alabama, Atty. Davis opened a law practice in his native Tuskegee, AL. His hometown was proud of their native son, and 'no man is a prophet in his homeland,' they came to tell him so during a Fraternal Luncheon in his honor and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Board of Directors meeting in Tuskegee. Davis was being sworn in for his second term as General President of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. he President of Tuskegee University, the Mayor of the City of Tuskegee, the Chairman of the County Commission, the Alabama Senator who represents Tuskegee, AL, in the legislature, and the Alabama Representative who represents Tuskegee, AL, in the legislatureâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in their own but not surprisingly similar ways, they thanked General President

T

8 â&#x20AC;˘ The Sphinx T Winter 1995

Davis for his service to the community and expressed confidence that his second term as General President would be filled with as much quality as the first two years.

While the Board of Directors, including past General Presidents, were special guests, the Fraternal Luncheon was an opportunity to "congratulate and celebrate the accomplishments of one of our own," said Brother Robert Davis, president of Alpha Nu Lambda Chapter in Tuskegee.

Alpha Nu Lambda co-hosted the Fraternal Luncheon.

He had pledged Alpha Phi Alpha in Beta Delta Chapter at South Carolina State in 1953, Brother Dr. Benjamin F. Payton remembered. "I was a very active Alpha, but then I got busy and became not so active." As his responsibilities increased, he did not see how he could give Alpha any priority, Brother Payton continued.

But with Atty. Davis as General President, he had "learned much more about Alpha Phi Alpha, much more than I have known since I left college," Brother Payton added. And largely because of what he had learned about Fraternity initiatives through General President Davis: "...I am rejoining the club." Brother Payton is now a Life Member.

Alpha Renaissance Brother Thomas Reed would not be outdone in letting it be known that he too had a personal relationship with General President Davis.

The Davis family, Reed noted, would receive Christmas gifts from the Reed family before the Reed family received their own gifts, Brother Reed recalled. And Reed added, his house was the last house Brother Davis visited before leaving for law school. During that visit, Reed remembered, he asked President Davis to "stay the course, complete Brothers, their spouses, fiends and community leadersfilledone of the ballrooms lawinschool and come back and inspire the Tiiskegee University Kellogg Conference Centerfor the Fraternal Luncheon at people in this community." young which General President Milton Davis took the oath ofoffice for his second term. Reed called President Davis "a The Luncheon took place during the weekend meetings of the General Board ofcommon man with an uncommon Directors which was attended by all seven living General Presidents. touch."

Brother Charlie E. Hardy, who He was convinced, Brother Payton concluded, presided at die lucheon as Alabama District Director, that President Davis' leadership would make it also remembered Davis as an energetic student durpossible to continue the saying that "strong men ing his school days. Hardy was director of bands at keep coming on, getting stronger."

Tuskegee Institute High School at the time.

General President Davis was an exception to President Davis' leadership would surpass the the old adage that "no man is a prophet in his accomplishments of his first two years, former homeland," State Senator George Clay mainGeneral President T Winston Cole promised tained. Characterizing Tuskegee University as before he gave Brother Davis the oath of office. "hallowed grounds," Clay acknowledged Davis as And about the Tuskegee Experienceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;about a product of the University's soils. He has demon- meeting in Tuskegee, AL. The Fraternity would strated his interest in this community "down be back, Brother Cole suggested. through the years," Clay said about Davis.

"Tuskegee is not just a city. It is a way of living.

Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford declared January It is a styleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a place you want to return to after 20, 1995, "Milton Carver Davis Day" in the city. you have been here."

And he paid homage to Davis on President Davis, meanbehalf of 357 African American while, saluted former mayors of cities and the 1,105 General President Walter men and women in 3 3 countries Washington for having who constitute the World the longest tenure of any Conference of Mayors. campus president.

Washington was credited ounty Commissioner with 3 7 years of service to Frank Lee called his American Higher friend a "man among Education, 25 years as men." He remembered riding president of Alcorn State "school bus number 9" with University in Mississippi.

Davis as the two of them grew up in Tuskegee, AL. Former General President In Davis' hands, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity is "well taken Walter Washington was cited care of," Lee noted. Lee creditby General President Milton ed Davis with "providing me C. Davis for his distinguished with words of encouragement" career in higher education as he faced the challenges of including 25years as chairing the Macon County govPresident ofAlcorn State ernment.

University in Mississippi.

C

Winter 1995 T The Sphinx A 9

Alpha Renaissance

Danyl R. Matthews, interim executive director, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; General President Milton C. Davis; the Honorable Mary Pat Clarke, president of the Baltimore City Council; and Tom McKenna, national executive director, Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

Principal participants in the Alpha Phi Alphaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Big Brothers/Big Sisters Reception (front/left to right): Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke; General President Milton C. Davis; Tom McKenna, National Executive Director of Big Brothers/Big Sisters; Harry Evans, Kappa Phi Lambda president, Columbia, MD; Iota Alpha Lambda Chapter President J. Keith Scroggins, Aberdeen, MD. Rear (left to right): Brother Josh Thomas, news anchor, WBFE-TV45, Baltimore; DarrylR. Matthews, interim executive director, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; Vernon Dorkins, Delta Lambda Chapter president, Baltimore; and Judge Andre Davis, president of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Central Maryland.

"...PUTTING HOPE IN A CHILD'S FUTURE" ALPHA PHI ALPHA AND BIG BROTHERS/BIG SISTERS

T

he mentoring theory behind Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, Inc., is very basic. It says having a Big Brother or Big Sister as mentor could make the difference in whether a child gets an education or leads a life of poverty, gets a job or leads a life of crime, believes in himself or places his hope in drugs.

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., since 1906, has operated under a similar theory of mentoring. The Fraternity has long recognized the need for mentors

to help African Americans on college campuses and in professional life.

In 1990, the two groups formed a national mentoring partnership when Alpha Phi Alpha adopted Big Brothers/Big Sisters as one of its national programs. The goal: the development of African American youth and empowerment of their families and the communities in which they reside.

The Fraternity and Big Brothers/Big Sisters held a program to commemorate the part-

10 A The Sphinx T Winter 1995

nership in January 1995 at Johns Hopkins University's H o m e wood Campus in Baltimore.

The program attracted community and civic leaders from Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and Northern Virginia. Those attending the event included Baltimore's Mayor Kurt Schmoke, Baltimore City Council President Mary Pat Clarke, and newly appointed Maryland State Secretary of Juvenile Justice Stuart Simms.

General President Milton C. Davis and Tom McKenna,

Alpha Renaissance executive director of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, were keynote speakers.

Brother Davis thought it was time for African American males to put their names on the line to save their communities.

"Brother King asked in one of his famous books: 'Where do we go from hereâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;chaos or community?' Brother Davis observed. "Alpha's response to Dr. King's question is community. We build that with relationships to people. We build that with relationships to our families. We build that with relationships to our young people," the General President said. cKenna, meanwhile, told the audience that the largest challenge facing the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization is recruiting volunteers.

There are 30,000 children and youth across the country on waiting lists for a Big Brother or Big Sister, McKenna noted. A large number of the young people are African American males who need the guidance of an adult, he added.

"Our mission is basically to get caring adults in the lives of kids who are in need of adult role models and mentors," McKenna continued. "I guess

M

we must be committed not only youth in the Big Brothers/Big in words," Davis said.

Sisters partnership agreement.

"Brothers, I want to see us put As the oldest predominately our names on the line to be African American Greek-letter paired up with these young peoorganization in the country, ple."

Alpha Phi Alpha Brothers have Nearly two dozen men of been serving as role models and Alpha signed up during the procommunity leaders since the gram to become Big Brothers to organization began 89 years ago waiting youth.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters has matched adult volunteers with children on a one-to-one basis since the turn of "I guess you can say that what we do is as elethe century.

Combining the mentary as putting a friend in a child's life. It is resources of both groups allows for as essential as putting hope in a child's future." outreach and services to even greater numbers of young people than the organizations were previously able to reach. tr~>\ "It's our children that we are speaking of...it is our children who need our personal commitment and attention," General President Davis said in his address presented on the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., birthday.

"We could easily write a check and say we have done something, but

"It's our children that we are speaking of.Jt is our children who need our personal commitment and attention"

you can say that what we do is as elementary as putting a friend in a child's life. It is as essential as putting hope in a child's future."

Alpha Brothers commit themselves as role models for

Winter 1995 â&#x20AC;˘ The Sphinx A 11

Alpha Renaissance Brother Christopher Womack

Advancing Our Legacy Through the Education Foundation The Alpha Phi Alpha Education Foundation was next decade and hopefully sooner. Now is the time to established to be an active social arm of the Fraternity commit ourselves to doing more in our communities. supporting die scholastic pursuits of Brothers and What Will It Take To Reach This Goal? offering help to the broader community.

First of all, we must secure a commitment from Over the years, the Foundation has carried out a you the Brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha. Before we can number of Fraternity initiatives. Each year, the embark on an aggressive external campaign, we must Foundation awards 15 educational scholarships to look within. We must demonstrate to the outside members of the Fraternity. The Foundation has also world that we are prepared to accept this challenge underwritten the induction of Brothers and we must manifest this acceptance invited to join honor societies, and through strong leadership. sponsored summer academics to enrich Secondly, the development and the educational experience of disadvanadministration of community programs taged youths with college potential. will allow us to partner with corporate L e a d e r s h i p development and and other interests in securing funding. citizenship workshops have We must look very critically at the been sponsored in each Alpha Academies and similar programs region to support high school students particularly with an eye on expanding with recognized leadership potential. such ideas.

All of these programs are consistent There is much to be done. Alpha with the overall objectives of the must continue to show leadership and Fraternity and the Foundation. The provide answers to the great social fact is the Education Foundation has dilemmas we face today. accomplished a great deal. However, Brother Christopher Womack Over the next few weeks, we will much more needs to be done. finalize the details of a specific marketThe great social challenges our country and coming and fundraising plan to significantly increase the munities face today require the active involvement of endowment of the Education Foundation. We will be our Fraternity. We must do all we can in partnership working with Brothers from around the country to with our communities to help identify and implement identify potential partners. Our plan will be presented programs that provide hope. to the General President and the Board of Directors To enhance our involvement, the Education for their review and endorsement. In the meantime, Foundation should be endowed with at least $1 million. we will be working with Brothers from around the Throughout the history of the Foundation, discussions country to develop specific strategies and identify have taken place regarding the need to substantially potential corporate partners. increase its size. During the 1970s and '80s, consideraA campaign for the Education Foundation can and tion was given to a $1 million campaign drive, but simi- should be done without affecting the fundraising lar campaigns by the NAACP, UNCF, and National efforts of local chapters. This will be one of our comUrban League put the Foundation's drive on hold. mitments.

Internal projects like the national headquarters drive As we move forward, the help and support of every also put the needs of the Education Foundation on Brother, active and inactive, will be needed to reach standby. our goal. Let us commit ourselves to advancing our Now is the time to aggressively move forward to legacy and making good things happen in our comincrease holdings of our Foundation. Now is the time munities. Now is the time. to commit ourselves to have a $1 million endowment Brother Christopher Womack is an Alabama in place by the year 2006, the Centennial Anniversary Power Company Vice President and Chairman of our Foundation. This will help insure the legacy of of the Alpha Phi Alpha Education Foundation our Fraternity forever. This can be done over the

12 A The Sphinx T Winter 1995

Alpha Renaissance Brother Wilbur E. Jackson

ALPHA CAREER EXPO ...JOB FAIR What is the "Alpha Career Expo"? How does it relate to the annual Job Fair during the General Convention? What is die relationship between the Alpha Career Expo and tiie Business and Economic Development Commission?

Why should Alpha Men be concerned about career enhancement?

The Annual Job Fair has evolved into a multifaceted Alpha Career Expo. The Job Fair now includes many major corporations, government agencies, and private organizations interested in partnerships with Alpha Men. The National Bone Marrow Donors, die U. S. State Department, corporations like Hallmark looking for minorities interested in franchises, large and small businesses, and companies of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all tliese and many more are represented at the Alpha Career Expo.

Brothers have been able to identify career enhancing opportunities with Chase Manhattan Bank, General Electric Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, the Dallas Fire Department, Cook County Hospital, Dupont, Johnson and Johnson, among many others. An increasing number of organizations are realizing the cost effectiveness of using the Alpha Career Expo to improve their workforce in all skills and at all levels of leadership.

The Alpha Career Expo is also a revenue source for the Fraternity as the volunteer Expo Committee has developed a profitmaking equation for vendors and improving service to the Brotherhood. Prospective employers view this service as a bargain.

The Ford Motor Company set a real standard in sponsoring the 1994 General Convention Welcome Reception and in providing scholarships for the Collegiate Scholar's Bowl winners. Brother James Moore, a Ford Motor manager and a key member of the Job Fair Committee, was instrumental in making the

Ford-Alpha Partnership possible.

The Job Fair Committee is chaired by Brother Wilbur E. Jackson, an IBM software development manager; Brother Matthew H. Dawson of Del Monte Foods chairs the Business and Economic Development Commission whose vice chairman is Brother Marshall Hudson. Brother Ather Williams, a Johnson and Johnson vice president, also provides excellent leadership as Johnson and Johnson consistently supports Alpha programs.

Other companies with long-established partnerships with Alpha include Anheuser Busch, Motorola, Northern Telecom, Allied Signal, Krogers, to name a few.

The future looks bright. Here is how Brothers can help. ***Every Brother in a leadership position with any business, corporation, agency, government entity, or private nonprofit organization should make his position known to the Business and Economic Development Committee. ***Every Brother interested in establishing or enhancing his career should keep a current resume on file in the Fraternity's General Office.

The Job Fair Committee and Business and Economic Development Commission intends to continuously improve Alpha's outstanding program of service to the business community. We promise to take Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity into the 21st century as a leader in providing career enhancement for the Brotherhood.

We are counting on the Brothers of Alpha to support the goals of the Alpha Career Expo and the Business and Economic Development Commission.

Brother Jackson chairs the Job Fair Committee and is a member of Eta Sigma Lambda Chapter, San Jose, CA. Alpha Renaissance continued on page 45

Winter 1995 T The Sphinx A 13

Special Feature Brother Larry E. Rivers Although physical violence toward blacks on a large scale no longer plagues the state of Florida, racial lynchings were a persistent problem over the turn of the last century. From 1922 to 1929, 34 blacks were executed in Florida by groups of whites who took the law into their own hands. ' One of the most notorious of these tragedies occurred when whites destroyed the northwest black Florida community of "Rosewood" in January 1923.- The events that precipitated die crisis were familiar

and around the Rosewood area, it was evident that she had been attacked by someone, and they took her word when she claimed that a black man was the culprit.3 Needless to say, black survivors of the Rosewood affair, such as Lee Ruth Davis and Arnett T. Goins, disagreed with the white versions of events.

According to Davis, who was nine at the time, it was a white

ROSEWOOD

ones.

Frances (Fannie) /j Taylor, a 2 2-year-old, married white woman, claimed that a black man forced himself into her house and assaulted her. Some versions suggested that Taylor was bodi raped and robbed, but most accounts indicated that she was not raped. According to Taylor, she sought help only after the alleged attacker left her home.

To the greatly aroused whites in

The man was never identified by name, but he supposedly worked for the Seaboard Coast railroad.

Sarah Carrier saw the man because she was at the Taylor home on January 1, washing clothes when the man in question arrived that morning shortly after Fannie Taylor's husband James left for work at the sawmill in Sumner, a village three miles away.5 To cover up the liaison with another man, who some members of the black Rosewood community believed to be • • • her white lover, Taylor fabricated the story of being brutalized by a black man.'' At this time and in this locale, the validity of an alleged attack upon a white woman by an African American man was never challenged by the white community. Therefore, Taylor's version of the situation was immediately accepted without question.

Thus, on the same day of the

"A Tragic Episode in Florida's Past" man who had visited Taylor on New Year's Day and subsequently assaulted her. Davis and Goins said that their aunt, Sarah Carrier, and cousin Philomena Goins-Doctor, saw him leaving the home of Fannie Taylor.4

1 James R. McGovern, Anatomy of a Lynching: The Killing of Claude Neal (Baton Rouge, 1982); National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States, 1889-1918 (New York, 1969).

2 Investigative Report by Larry E. Rivers, Maxine Jones, David R. Colburn, R. Tom Dye, and William W. Rogers, A Documented History of the Incident Which Occurred at Rosewood, Florida, January 1923 (State of Florida, 1993).

3 Ibid.

4 Deposition of Lee Ruth Davis, May 4, 1992, 12-16; Deposition of Arnett T. Goins, February 27, 1993. Depositions of Davis and Goins were taken by Stephan Hanlon, law offices of Holland and Knight, Miami, FL; Arnett T. Goins interviewed by Larry E. Rivers, September 24, 1993, tape recorded, Tallahassee, FL; see also Jacksonville Times-Union, January 3, 1923, Tampa Morning Tribune, January 2, 1923; Oliver Mills interviewed by Tom Dye and W. W. Rogers, December 2, 1993, tape recorded, Cedar Key, FL. 5 Ibid, 6 Ibid.

14 A The Sphinx T Winter 1995

Special Feature This Happened to 18 Negro Homes

The deliberate burning of these cabins and a church wiped out the Negro quarters of Rosewood. The colored inhabitants took to the woods.

-in i m ?

T January 20, 1923 Literary Digest alleged attack a posse was formed under the direction of Levy County Sheriff Robert E. Walker to catch the unidentified criminal. The group increased in size as word spread about the incident. By the second day, Tuesday, over 500 men from the Rosewood vicinity and surrounding area had joined the posse.7 Given such a short peri-

od of time, many were probably not deputized. In fact, some formed their own gangs in search of the suspected black felon.

Black and white newspapers reported what had happened during the week of January 1-7, the Associated Press being die source of information. In addition to publicizing the known

7 8

facts concerning Rosewood, the black and white press ran many editorials. Black newspapers noted that whites had to find a scapegoat in an attempt to control the behavior of blacks in Rosewood. White newspapers made it clear that no black man should escape white rage when assaulting a white woman."

A black man was found and

Tampa Morning Tribune, January 2, 1923.

Newspaper articles by the black and white press in the possession of Rivers, Tallahassee, FL; Jason McElveen tape, no date, on file at Cedar Key Historical Society Museum, Cedar Key, FL

Winter 1995 T The Sphinx A 15

Special Feature made to pay for the alleged crime. The scapegoat was Jesse Hunter, an escaped convict serving time for carrying a concealed weapon. Hunter had fled a road-work detail near Rosewood around the time that Fannie Taylor was attacked.

Whites in purusit of Hunter believed that blacks in Rosewood were attempting to hide him. Prior to the assault on Taylor, Hunter was seen supposedly in the company of Sam Carter, a 45-year-old blacksmith who lived midway between Rosewood and Sumner. Sheriff Walker and others went to Carter's home to seek information on his association with Hunter. According to newspaper accounts, bloodhounds led the posse to Carter's home.9 arter admitted to the Sheriff that he had given a man a wagon ride from the Rosewood community, and took Walker and others to the place where he left the unidentified man. Because Carter did not answer all questions to the satisfaction of his interrogators, he was tortured and then hanged from a tree.

His body was discovered by the side of the road on Tuesday, tJie

C

next day. This was the first documented killing in the Rosewood tragedy.10 lack survivors of Rosewood maintained that it was Carter who had really assisted the unidentified white lover of Fannie Taylor, and not Jesse Hunter.

They noted also that he helped the white man escape from Rosewood because as a member of the Masonic Order, Carter felt a sense of obligation to aid a fellow Mason in trouble.

According to Arnett Doctor, son of Philomena Goins-Doctor, it was not only Carter who assisted the white man, but also Sarah Carrier's son, Aaron. When the posse learned that Aaron Carrier may have abetted the escape of this person, they threatened to lynch him. Edward H. Phillsbury, the son of W H. Phillsbury who supervised the sawmill in Sumner, managed to help Carrier elude his captors.

With the exception of the discovery of the body of Sam Carter, Tuesday and Wednesday were quiet, but gangs of whites continued to look for Fannie Taylor's assailant.''

On Thursday, the situation in Rosewood intensified again.

B

9

An additional source of friction that would lead to disorder and violence was the long held perception by whites that blacks in Rosewood were too arrogant, independent, and self-sufficient.

Thus, when a posse approached Sylvester Carrier, another member of the larger Carrier family, with questions concerning the escapee, the scene was set for further confrontation. Carrier was an outspoken and proud man. According to survivors and descendants, the posse was not satisfied with his responses or his attitude.1' It would be ironic that on that same day, the unreserved Carrier had given instructions to members of the Carrier family to gather at his mother's house for protection against further violence. As he had anticipated, whites came to Sarah Carrier's house on that Thursday. From a small posse of six men, two approached the house, according to some newspaper accounts, and were shot to death when blacks opened fire on them. Other newspaper reports had whites firing first.

When the shooting had stopped, two white men lay dead, and four were wounded.

The surviving posse members

Noel G. Carper, "The Convict Lease System of Florida, 1866-1923," Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State University, 1964.

10 Box C; 1029-23, Office of the Clerk, Levy County Courthouse, Fred Kirkland, interviewed by Tom Dye and W. W. Rogers, December 2, 1993, tape recorded, Chiefland, FL. 11 Arnett Doctor, interviewed by Maxine Jones, Larry E. Rivers, and W. W. Rogers, September 24, 1993, tape recorded, Tallahassee, FL; also Arnett Goins deposition and interview.

12 Arnett Doctor interview; Ernest Parham interview by David Colburn, November 10, 1993, tape recorded, Orlando, FL; Jacksonville Times Union, January 6, 1923.

16 A The Sphinx T Winter 1995

T h e Scene of Florida's New Year Race Riotâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;The Morning After

The ruins of the house near Rosewood, Florida, in which 20 armed Negros fought off a band of white men searching for a Negro who, it is said, had attacked a white woman.

January 20, 1923 Literary Digest

Special Feature then left the Carrier home on Thursday evening to regroup."

The killing of whites by blacks broke one of the strongest Southern racial taboos. It ignited white rage.

Additional men returned to the house at 2:30 a.m. on Friday.

Approaching the domicile again in an attempt to climb through an opened window, one intruder fell back wounded. This set off a blaze of gunfire from inside and outside the house that lasted for over an hour. The shooting ceased around 4 a.m., and blacks in the house seized the opportunity to escape into the nearby swamps and woods. When whites approached the house for the third time at daylight, they found the bodies of Sylvester Carrier and his mother, Sarah.

The documented death toll was now five.'4 Frustrated by the escape of those in the Carrier house, and by the killing of two whites, the common goal of the posse became the punishment of as many blacks as possible. Gangs of whites began a rampage that burned and destroyed personal property of suspects. Lexie Gordon, a black woman of 50years old who had hidden under a house, was shot and killed as she fled the burning house.

Mingo Williams, another mid-

dle-aged black, was also killed that day. His body was discovered near Bronson, a community some 20 miles from Rosewood. The number killed now totalled seven. By afternoon, most of the Rosewood community was destroyed, and very few, if any, blacks could be found in the area. Although Governor Cary Hardee was aware of trouble in Rosewood through the Associated Press reports as early as Tuesday, the available evidence suggests that it was not until that fateful Friday morning that he sent a telegram to Sheriff Walker asking if the situation was under control. He then departed on a hunting trip.15 nfortunately, the problem in Rosewood had not subsided. James Carrier, brother of Sylvester and son of Sarah, returned to Rosewood on Saturday. He asked W. H. Pillsbury, the white manager of the Sumner sawmill, for protection from the mob. But when whites learned of Pillsbury's actions, they forced him to turn James over to the mob. Carrier was taken to a black gravesite and interrogated as to what he knew concerning the people in Sarah Carrier's house on Thursday, and whether one of

U

them was Jesse Hunter. Carrier admited being in the house during the exchange of gunfire, but would not divulge the names of others. His captors shot him and left his body where it fell.16 The body count was now eight.

It is difficult to determine how many people were killed in Rosewood or the surrounding areas by Saturday night.

Estimates were as high as 20 to 30 murdered. However, from the first of January to the seventh, there is documented proof that eight people died in the Rosewood tragedy.

Was Rosewood unique when compared to the violence experienced by blacks in other parts of Florida during this period?

The answer is yes and no.

Rosewood was similar to problems faced by blacks in Ocoee, FL, on November 2, 1920, when two whites and five blacks were killed over voting rights.

Many were run out of town and their property destroyed.

Blacks, nonetheless, returned several days later and began to rebuild their homes. There was no further indication of trouble.

Rosewood was also similar to what occurred in Perry, FL, on December 9, 1922, when a black man was burned at the stake for allegedly killing a white school teacher. After the lynching,

13 Jacksonville Times Union, January 5, 1993; also Tampa Morning Tribune, January 5-6, 1923; Gainsville Daily Sun, January 5, 1923; Jacksonville Journal, January 5, 1923.

14 Jacksonville Times-Union, January 6, 1923; Gainsville Daily Sun, January 5, 1923; Tampa Morning Tribune, January 6, 1923.

15 Jacksonville7<K/?7M/, January 5-6, 1923; Miami Daily Metropolis, January 5, 1923; Miami Herald, January 5-6, 1923.

16 Jacksonville Times-Union, January 7, 1923; also Tampa Morning Tribune, January 7, 1923; Oklahoma City Black Dispatch, January 9, 1923.

18 A The Sphinx â&#x20AC;˘

Winter 1995

Special Feature conditions in the town appeared to normalize on the surface.

Again, blacks stayed and rebuilt their community.17 On the other hand, Rosewood was different from the tragedies that occured in Ocoee and Perry since the violence there lasted approximately one week (Monday - Saturday).

The situation was never under control. State and local law enforcement officers recognized the violence but did little to stop it. Life and property were lost forever. Blacks, fearing for their lives, never returned to Rosewood. That physical violence as a means of social control was a way of life in many Southern towns was clearly evidenced by the events in Rosewood.

It was not until 1993 following a report submitted to die Florida Board of Regents by an investigative team from Florida A&M University, Florida State University, and die University of Florida diat a legislaive hearing was conducted on the Rosewood tragedy. After considering die details of die report and testimonies of Rosewood survivors and descendents as well as others, die hearing officer recommended tiiat $2.1 million be granted to die survivors and descendants of Rosewood. Aldiough hody debated by Florida lawmakers, die compensation bill passed bodi houses of die legislature. This was, indeed, die first time in die history of die country diat blacks were compensated for uncontrolled violence, and die destruc-

tion or loss of property. Recendy, nine survivors of Rosewood received $150,000 each. A $500,000 fund was also established to compensate descendants of black families who lost property in Rosewood in 1923.18 Thus did die present generation seek to make amends for a tragic episode in Florida's past.

Brother Dr. Larry E. Rivers is professor of history and director of the master of applied social program at Florida A&M University. He was the coproject director of the Rosewood investigative Report. He is a life member of Alpha and active with Gamma Mu Lambda, Tallahassee, FL.

17 Lynching-Ocoee, FL. Papers of the NAACP. Part 7 The AntiLynching Campaign, 1912-1955. Series A: Anti-Lynching Investigation Files, 1912-1953. Reel 9, Group 1 Series C, Administrative Files, Box C-353, Micofilm, 1987. University Publications of America. Also Lester Dabbs, Jr, "A Report of the Circumstances and Events of the Race Riot on November 2, 1920 in Ocoee, FL," M.A. Thesis, Stetson University, July 1969; The Gainsville Sun especially the issues of December 8-9, 1922.

18 Tallahassee Democrat, January 7, 1995.

Dr. Larry E. Rivers, Florida A&M University

Winter 1995 â&#x20AC;˘

The Sphinx A 19

Special Feature

The Hard Work School...

"WE CAN BREAK THE PO

P

rovidence-St. Mel School on Chicago's notorious West Side is in a city district with 60 percent unemployment, drugs, guns, prostitution, boarded-up houses and all the other things connected with high-crime areas.

But the conditions of the community have not been a deterrent to the goals of Principal Paul J. Adams and his dedicated faculty and staff. A remarkable 100 percent of St. Mel graduates in recent years have been accepted to some of the top schools in the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern, Morehouse, Clark-Atlanta, Loyola, and the University of Pennsylvania, among them.

Some are college-bound honor students when they enter St. Mel. But most are not. Many 9th graders are considered at risk students whose scores on the nationwide California Achievement Test placed them as low as the 35 percentileâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;meaning that 65 percent of the students across the country who took the same national examination outscored them.

"A part of our psychology is that these kids are bright and intelligent but they have not been afforded an opportunity to succeed," says Brother Paul J. Adams III. It was Adams who fought to keep the school open when in 1978 the Chicago C a t h o l i c Archdiocese withdrew its support and ordered the school closed.

"We have a lot of students walking around here who are intelligent. They just haven't done their homework in the past eight or nine years," Adams continued.

"We're taking youngsters that would not ordinarily go to college and we're saying that we are going to send them to Harvard or Morehouse or whatever the institution."

And they do go. And they do well. Very well.

School records indicate that all graduates of the school in the last eight years have enrolled in college. Prior to that, some 90 percent of the seniors went on to college.

The oldest of four children, Brother Adams grew up in Montgomery, AL, during a time of strict segregation. His father died when he was 8years-old. Adams' mother was a school principal

20 A The Sphinx T Winter 1995

who worked as a domestic during the summer to help send his brother and two sisters to college.

It was his involvement in the civil rights movement in Montgomery that largely influences his drive and determination to help those he is currently mentoring. Adams remembers meeting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1954, working with the Montgomery Improvement Association, and living a block away from the Rev. Ralph Abernathy and across the street from Dr. King's secretary.

"I don't think I intend to do it but psychologically I keep going back to that era in my life. It had a profound effect on me," Adams remembers.

"And you realize you have to make the world a better place."

Brother Adams graduated from Southern Normal High School in Brewton, AL, in 1957 and completed studies at Alabama State in 1962. "I was suppose to teach in a small town but when I called they told me that they could not offer me the job because I was on some list," Adams says.

He had been black-balled, he believes, because of his civil rights involvement.

Special Feature

and Schoolmaster VERTY CYCLE" In Chicago, he landed a job teaching and later students pay as worked for the Illinois Department of Mental little as $250 a Health. He earned a master's degree in psycholo- year.

A d a m s gy from Northeastern Illinois University, the same believes that year he tried his hand in the fast-food business.

When he joined the Providence-St. Mel staff each student pay in 1971, the students were undisciplined. They should ruled trie hallways. But not for long. A group of something, no students tested his seriousness by drinking liquor matter what the financial condition of the family. between classes. He did not suspend them, as His philosophy is that people help themselves they might have expected. Rather, they were when they are asked to contribute something, made to work around the school in the evenings instead of having everything handed to them.

"There are more scholarships going begging in and on weekends.

Although behavioral problems were decreas- this country than are used," Adams maintains. ing, the school's future was not at all bright. The Thus, students are required to take courses in colArchdiocese announced plans to close the school lege enrollment and financial aid. The school has in 1978. Adams said no. Bake sales, bingo parties, partnerships with some firms, McDonald's among newspaper advertisements, donations and prayers them, and administers a growing internship probrought in enough to lease the building. But the gram for students. Close to 600 students have Sisters of Providence decided against a lease and participated in external programs over the last five sold it instead for $1. That helped, but the diffi- years. ars. nonprofit corporation has been orgacult times were not over. nized to redevelop a six-block area Enrollment plummeted to some 200, and makround the school. ing the payroll was not easy. But an appointment XVar Art Murnan, a St. Mel guidance counselor for to President Reagan's Advisory Council on Private Sector Initiatives put Adams in contact with jV" ""««ty people who would help him witki fundraising. here are about *4*0 WORK. Q 600 students * r ARE MOT rWOHTEHeD AT enrolled today in grades 1 through 12.

About 70 percent of them come from within a threemile radius of the school, WE CAN CHANCE while others travel from OUR CONCEPTION W0Rl areas outside the district because of the school's r e p u t a t i o n for helping students succeed. All of the students receive financial assistance to help them with tuition— $3,000 for high school students and $2,500 for elementary students.

About 35 percent of the

T

,8/180% THAT 9L7BS

<>

Winter 1995 •

The Sphinx A 21

Special Feature 24 years, noted the value of monetary awards the school has traditionally made in acknowledgement of academic excellence. The monetary incentives have caused students to strive harder for good grades, some earning enough to help pay their $250 tuition.

Students can now receive stock in the M c D o n a l d ' s Corporation. "We're trying to teach the kids die importance of money and how it works," Murnan says.

Merrilyn Brannigan, director of External Programs and a former English teacher, says St. Mel St. Mel students preparing for a play. students want to learn "They get excited about their fter 13 years at St. Mel there is no place education. They make me teach to the best of my else she would want to teach. Paul ability." dams is a large part of her enthusiasm, she says. "He feels very responsible for what happens—that the school works, that the kids learn, that they go where they need to go.

"He surrounds himself with people he can trust—people who have the children's best interest at heart—and he listens to their advice."

Brannigan calls Adams a role model for the St. Mel students. He works alongside them with his sleeves rolled up, she observes. He shows them how to achieve their dreams by what he has done with the school, she says.

"When a kid goes off to Cornell University, they realize that their education is as good as anyone else's—that they have the tools they need, they have confidence about what they can do," Brannigan says.

Adams concurs. "We can break the poverty cycle with good quality education. There is just no substitute for it," he says. "I have seen plenty of students come back in school and be successful. We take kids who are in that cycle of poverty and we help them to break away."

AS

22 A The Sphinx •

Winter 1995

Special Feature

"THE FOCUS IS ON TRYING TO EXCEL" state championship competition each year of the three Marvin Spiller is a 1987 graduate of Providence-St. years Spiller was on the team.

Mel. He has since earned bachelor's and master's St. Mel students have to work hard. Paul Adams degrees and is currently a doctoral student at the requires that. St. Mel students must obey rules. Adams University of Illinois. requires adherence to the rules.

Cassandra Minor is a member of the 1984 St. Mel Cassandra believes that rules help develop appreciasenior class. She has since earned a baccalaureate from tion for things. "They (rules) let you know how to Harvard University, a Doctor of Medicine from the respect things, how to take care of them."

University of Chicago medical school, and will com"I don't think that any of the rules were unreasonplete her residency in internal medicine later this year. able," Cassandra added. "Rules provide structure.

Matthew Hicks graduated from Providence St. Mel Rules give you a sense of what the expectations are." in 1983. He has since done a four year tour of duty in Spiller says he was among students who were at first die U. S. Navy, earned his bachelor's degree and is curresentful of school rules and Adams' authority. He— rently an investigator with the Chicago police departand others—thought that many of the rules and Adams' ment. authority were arbitrary.

Sylvia Jones graduated from St. Mel in 1989 and But "in retrospect," he says: "that is what we needwent on to Stanford University where she earned bached in the African American community. Even in the elor's degrees in psychology and communications—in face of tears, we needed someone to stand firm." And three years. She later earned a master's in broadcast Adams always stood firm. "Even though it may cause journalism from Northwestern before launching her some temporary grief and pain, he still stood firm," own business—Black Strip Productions.

Spiller remembers.

There are other forces motivating them to succeed, St. Mel convinced him that "hard work does pay but Providence-St. Mel—and Paul J. Adams—also get much of the credit.

Dr. Minor believes that the success of many St. "The focus is on trying to excel. It is not going to be Mel students is due to the "early focus on education." She says Adams and the St. Mel staff teach easy," they are told, "but you have to hang in there." students that school is not some place you go until you are 16 years old.

"The focus is on trying to excel. It is not going off," Spiller says. Hard work for him means being perto be easy," they are told, "but you have to hang in sistent. No short cuts, he explains. there."

Sylvia credits Adams with "adding structure to our St. Mel students also benefit from what Cassandra lives." Adams was so much of a role model that school calls the "openess" about academics. Quarterly honors was "an extension of home. Going to school was not assemblies were a manifestation that it is alright—it is going somewhere else" other than home, she explains. good—to do well. "Doing well is not some dirty "He (Adams) was not only a principal, but he was secret," Cassandra said.

Spiller switched from psychology to sociology after he one of the few positive role models a lot of us had and in that sense, it helped us with the transfer from home learned that psychology was perhaps too narrow a field to to school." help him understand "the problems that were affecting Hicks calls Principal Adams a "very disciplined" my community"—the lawlessness, the drugs, the poverty, man—very stern." Adams, he said, was "hardcore the gang violence, the destruction of property. about what he believed in. He was a man who had his But before he left St. Mel to pursue degrees in psyway." But students soon learned to appreciate, as he chology and sociology, Spiller said he learned that the did, Hicks said, "what he was trying to achieve and he community problems that concerned him did not was very easy to get along with from that point on." define the individual.

Sylvia says that St. Mel was a "stern but extemely "Through hard work, you can overcome all of those nurturing environment. There was amid the many barriers," he maintains. "It dosen't take the biggest rules and regulations "so much support." gymnasium to win the state championship." He ran Adams always made the point, Hicks remembers: track at St. Mel for three years, Spiller remembers, and "...you are here to get an education. All else is secthe school hallways were the practice field. "We didn't have the best facilities, but we had the desire and will to ondary. He would give you a chance, but he would definitely put you out" if you abused the chance. compete," he says. The St. Mel track team made it to

Winter 1995 T The Sphinx A 23

Special Feature Special rules for special students? Not at Providence-St. Mel. Cassandra was an "A" student but had to suffer die punishment of after school detention when she once forget her homework. She had broken a St. Mel rule—even if unintentionally. "No matter how well you did in school, he treated you the same," Cassandra says of Adams.

"As quick as he would let you in, he would let you

"It dosen't take the biggest gymnasium to win the state championship." out" just as quick if you failed to follow die rules, Hicks says.

Ironically, Hicks says he never wanted to attend St. Mel. "The most important person in my life pushed me," he said referring to his mother. Although she was a single parent and didn't have much money, Hicks said his mother insisted that St. Mel was the best place for him. He agrees now that she was right.

"I came out in this world feeling that I could do anything I wanted to do," Hicks says. At Rosary College in River Forest, IL, where he studied business administration, Hick says, "I was well-equipped."

Spiller was twice rejected for admission to the doctoral program at the University of Illinois because of his scores on the Graduate Record Examination. But

he persisted. And after one year in the doctoral program at Southern Illinois University, he is attending the University of Illinois on a doctoral fellowship.

Sylvia competed with classmates at Stanford who she said had "expensive, fancy educations." They had "boarding school backgrounds," she remembers. Yet, she found herself "extremely well prepared" for the competition at Stanford.

She could not find the position she wanted after earning the master's degree from Northwestern University in 1994, Sylvia says, so she kind of "fell into freelancing." It was not something she was seeking, but she chose to develop it—"to make it something of my own. I decided to make a way."

She has done work for Black Entertainment Television, America's Black Forum, WFLD-TV, Chicago and other clients—newswriting, commercials, public service announcements.

She is currently enjoying her freelance work, but Sylvia is open about future opportunities in mass communications. Cassandra will soon be practicing medicine, and Hicks would like to advance to at least lieutenant in his police work.

And Spiller will satisfy his interest in college teaching before turning to another aspiration—politics.

Mayor Spiller? Why not? If he were campaigning today, his platform would be "community improvement—to improve the quality of life amongst all the races.

Chicago Principal N a m e d 1993 Reader's D i g e s t American H e r o in Education Pictured with bis students, Brother Paul J. Adams (right), principal of ProvidenceSt. Mel School, was named a 1993 Reader's Digest American Hero in Education. As one of 15 winners, he received an award of $5,000, and his school $10,000, to support the ongoing programs that earned him tiational honors.

24 A The Sphinx T Winter 1995

Special Feature Assistant Principal Says: "IT IS AN ATMOSPHERE WE BUILD... / / Renee Kallok maintains that there is "no secret" to the success of Providence-St. Mel School. Rather, the assistant principal says, "it is a lot of hard work."

The most difficult challenge the faculty and staff face at Providence-St. Mel, Ms. Kallok believes, is "trying to discover new ways to motivate the students"—to motivate them that education is important and to enhance their self-concepts.

Many of the students are very far behind in academic skills when they arrive at Providence-St. Mel, she says, and just as many have been told that they cannot succeed.

And then Paul Adams, Renee Kallok, and the Providence St. Mel team take over. By the time they reach the 12 th grade, more than 90 percent of them go on to college. Why the big change in attitude about education and success?

"A lot of follow through on policy," Kallok says.

"The dedication of Paul Adams and the staff that goes into running this school."

"It is an atmosphere we build in the school... we are family and we are responsible for each other and we help take care of each other."

Although most of the Providence-St. Mel graduates go on to college, some don't make it to graduation.

"Some just don't want the discipline (Providence St. Mel demands) in their lives," Ms. Kallok says.

Providence-St. Mel students have to say "no" to drugs and gangs. Involvement with either means automatic suspension from school. Students have to make a

decision—and some can't—between joining their friends on the streets or following the rules at school.

A graduate of St. Mary of the Woods College in Indiana, Ms. Kallok also holds degrees from Indiana University, DePaul, and Indiana State. "Even though I know I would make much, much more money," she allows, Ms. Kallok would not trade the experience of working at Providence-St. Mel. "I started teaching here out of college," she remembers. During her tenure at St. Mel, Ms. Kallok has

taught mathematics, chemistry, religion, served as the senior guidance counselor, and handled scheduling for the school, among many other duties.

"I am very happy here. The students are delightful to work for. I respect Paul Adams very much." And so apparently do most of the students.

"They (students) know he is fair," Kallok says.

"There is no favoritism played to any student. He makes them toe the line.

"They look upon him as a role model."

Winter 1995 T The Sphinx A 25

College Days

SOUTHERN REGION TAKES 'MISS Editor's Note: This story ran in the previous issue of the Sphinx. The "Miss Black and Gold" national title did go to Nikita, but we had the wrong photograph. We are pleased to present this time the correct photograph together with a rerun of the story.

Congratulations and best wishes to Nikita and the Brothers at Elizabeth City State.

She remembers clearly when she started singing, but she is not as clear as to why odier than she was asked to do so.

Nikita Sutton was 5 years old, she says, when her minister simply asked her to sing in church.

"She saw something we didn't see," Nikita acknowledges. At any rate, Nikita has been singing for 15 years now, and her experience in song was evident during the "Miss Black and Gold" Contest at the General Convention.

The Elizabeth City University junior represented the Southern Region in the competition and won the national honors. The competition was good, but Nikita's victory was predictable— especially after she bellowed out "I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU." Confident and poised in her several presentations—evening wear, swim wear, extemporaneous question, and talent—Nikita was not the same as Whitney Houston, but just about.

She still sings so-called church music, but she also finds joy in songs "that I can relate to."

Indeed, she tells listeners to "take the songs and apply them to your lives."

"Songs mean different things to different people," she says.

Aldiough the Whitney Houston

26 A The Sphinx •

song from the Bodyguard soundtrack, "I Will Always Love You," is considered pop music, Nikita maintains that it is just as appropriate for a funeral.

There could be consolation in the song for one who has lost a dear friend, she notes.

As well as she sings, and as long as she has been singing, Nikita does not have a career interest in music. Instead, she plans to study law after receiving her degree in criminal justice from Elizabeth City State.

Why law? She is not sure, but it could be the influence of her father, who is superintendent of the Department of Corrections in Currituck County, North Carolina. She too wants to launch a career in service to people, the 1994 "Miss Black and Gold" said.

Like many college student leaders nowadays, Nikita is concerned about black-on-black crime, respect among young men and women, and the involvement of college students in community activities.

She believes that black-onblack crime stems in part from "too much jealousy among ourselves," the question of respect is best addressed in the home, and college students are not doing what they should for the communities in which they live.

"They talk about Martin Luther King, Jr., but they know little about SCLC" and its purpose, Nikita says. "They don't teach that in school. We need what we are being taught," she agrees, but "we also need the African American perpective."

Respect starts in the home, Nikita maintains. "It begins with respecting the father and mother.

When children see that their parents have respect for one another,

Winter 1995

that will rub off and it spreads among them."

She called for a "lot more concern and love" in the home.

Nikita wants to see as much concern for the plight of black women as there seems to be public concern about the plight of black men. "We are all in this together," she says. "When the black man goes down, the black woman goes down, too."

The oldest of seven brothers and two sisters, Nikita approaches the future with confidence. "I intend to be the best that I can be, and if I fail, I will use that failure as a stepping stone to better myself," she promises. "If you fail, get up and try it again; don't lay down in sorrow and pity for yourself."

She gives special thanks to Elizabeth City State for supporting her in the "Mss Black and Gold" competition, as well as her family and especially her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest R. Sutton, and her church, Faithway Church of Jesus in die Apostolic Faith.

Meanwhile, the Student Government Association, the Student Leadership Academy, Gospel and Concert Choir keep her busy at Elizabeth City State when she is not addressing her academic assignments.

As predictable as Nikita's victory may have been, it was not assured. Competition was keen.

Adding grace, beauty, and charm to the evening were Pricilla Evans, the Southwestern Region entry. The sophomore University of Houston student wants to develop a Christian Broadcasting System.

A junior organizational communication major at Murray State, Catherine Cushberry represented the Mdwestern Region. If she succeeds, Ms. Cushberry says, her

College Days

BLACK AND GOLD' HONORS family and race will also succeed.

Kimberlee McKee represented the Eastern Region and Brandy Jones was the Western Region entry in the "Miss Black and Gold" competition.

Ms. McKee is a senior speech major at Hampton University, and Ms. Jones is a communications major at San Jose State University.

Ms. McKee promises to orga-

nize and operate a chain of private ethnic schools, and Ms. Jones is also committed to helping others. Success, she says, is without meaning if you have not helped someone else succeed.

Nikita Sutton

Winter 1995 â&#x20AC;˘

The Sphinx A 27

College Days Brother Ledon Lenzly

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28 A The Sphinx •

Winter 1995

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College Days

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Brother Lenzly is president of Theta Tau Chapter, GMI Engineering & Management Institute, Flint, MI

Winter 1995 • The Sphinx A 29

College Days Brother Trevor Thompson

The "Tuskegee Machine" was social in that people wrote Washington for help and advice concerning lynchings and Jim Crow laws.

Many African Americans viewed Dr. Washington as the spokesperson for African American people. Once Washington gained that national recognition and it was shared with his peers, organizations and desegee Machine" was political, ignated people, the nd social. It dealt with issues "Tuskegee Machine" was operational. led Washington and black August Meier note in Negro Thought in America that Washington emerged as a national figure at the concerned Washington and Atlanta Exposition in 1895.1 black America. The machine Meier noted, urged African was economical in that it financed institutions and filtered Americans to remain in the South.2 Meier claimed that money from Hampton and "Washington captured his audiTuskegee to other institutions ence and assured his ascendacy with industrial education proprimarily because his ideas grams. The machine was politiaccorded witri the climate of cal in that Washington had 3 friends in political offices and he opinion at the time." He suggested that Southerners and was able to recommend people Northern philanthropists were for appointments that benefited impressed with Washington's him through both financial conloyalty to the South.4 tributions to Tuskegee and political favors. The machine Louis Harlan has done the

Did the world famous Booker Talieferro Washington orchestrate a "Tuskegee Machine?" What was the character of this so-called "machine?"

The "Tuskegee Machine" was political, economical, and social. It dealt with issues that

most comprehensive research on Booker T Washington. His works include The Making of A Black Leader, Booker T Washington In Perspective, Booker T Washington: the Wizard of Tuskegee: 1901-1915 and The Booker Washington Papers.

Harlan agrees with Meier that Washington became national spokesperson for African Americans as a result of his Atlanta Exposition speech in 1895.5 According to Harlan, whites liked Washington's idea of self-help because it "shifted from whites the responsibility for racial problems.'"' After the Atlanta Exposition speech, Harlan says Washington "threw much of his abundant energy into developing what became known as the Tuskegee Machine."7 dditional works on Booker T Washington include: Arna Bontemps's Young Booker; Hugh Hawkins' Washington and his Critics; Basil Matthew's Booker T Washington: Educator and Interracial Interpreter; Benjamin F. Riley's The Life and Times of Booker T Washington;

A

1 August Meier Negro Thought in America. (Michigan: The University of Michigan Press, 1969) 100.

2 Ibid 100.

3 Ibid 101.

4 Ibid 101.

5 Louis Harlan Booker T Washington: The Making of a Black Leader. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972) 204.

6 Ibid 204.

7 Ibid 254.

30 A The Sphinx â&#x20AC;˘

Winter 1995

College Days Bernard A. Wiesberges' Booker T. Washington: and Joseph Livingston Whiting's Shop and Class at Tuskegee.

Most of the scholarship on Washington concentrates on his ideology of self-help and industrial education. Many scholars have viewed Washington's closeness to fund-raising as his acceptance of capitalism. On die contrary, it could have been, as I believe, that the fundraising was essential to the building of a base of power.

Washington never acknowledged that he controlled the welfare of African Americans.

He saw himself simply as a black leader trying to improve die conditions of his people through industrial education. In 1895, it might not have been Washington's intention to control the destiny of African Americans; however, he eventually accumulated enough resources to attempt to become the leader of blacks in America.

AltJiough Washington had laid the ground work for establishing the "Tuskegee Machine" prior to 1895, it was not until that year that he began to get national recognition. uring its formative years, 1881-1885, Tuskegee Institute, of which Dr. Washington was the founder and first principal, was

D

influenced by the philosophy of General Samuel Chapman Armstrong. By 1895 Armstrong had died and Washington was prepared to carry on his philosophy of personal hygiene, discipline, and industrial training.

According to Frank Sorauf,

Brother Trevor Thompson Party Politics in America, a machine as it relates to politics is an "informal government" which has social and economic mobility.8 The political machine was not the creation of Booker T Washington. The political machine was well established before Washington. The machine was used to control

European immigrants. DuBois suggested that Washington's goal was to control the politics of black America from Tuskegee Institute. DuBois disapproved of white society's assessment of Booker T Washington as the leader of the African American race.

In 1881, General Samuel Chapman Armstrong recommended Washington to help establish Tuskegee Normal Industrial Institute. Along with some Tuskegee citizens, Washington built Tuskegee Institute from a small, one room leaky shack into a flourishing industrial education institution.

After the death of Frederick Douglass, there had not been a nationally recognized African American leader. Washington filled that void following the national acclaim of his Atlanta Exposition speech in 1895.

Meanwhile, the "Tuskegee Machine" was well lubricated by America's most powerful and wealthiest men.

Philanthropists, businessmen, journalists, and politicans visited Tuskegee over the years to observe the practice of Washington's philosophy on vocational, industrial, and agricultural education. People came to Tuskegee for advice on racial matters and to secure recom-

8 Frank Sorauf Party Politics in America. (Boston: University of Minnesota, 1984)74.

Winter 1995 T The Sphinx A 31

College Days mendations for state and federal appointments. A recommendation from Booker T. Washington was a key to opportunity. It was in many ways, a stamp of approval.

Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were among trie philanthropist who invested in Washington's leadership at Tuskegee.

Whether Washington wanted power or it was thrust upon him can be debated. However, the power Washington accumulated he used and manueuvered for his own personal ambition. He consistently traveled to raise money for Tuskegee while his lieutenants controlled financial and school matters in his absence.

Washington's most trustworthy lieutenant and personal secretary, Emmett Scott, took care of all Washington's personal matters and sent him daily accounts of school activities. uBois was Booker Washington's chief critic. However, Washington and DuBois corresponded and collaborated on several conferences. DuBois and Washington disagreed on how the black race could (or should) obtain freedom. Washington believed in teaching the masses vocational skills. DuBois believed that African American leaders should be taught academic skills, thereby enabling them to lead a literate race.

There was also a philosophical struggle between William Monroe Trotter and Booker T Washington which appeared to be intensely political. Using The Guardian which he edited as his primary platform, Trotter resented Washington's power and influence in making national decisions for black Americans.

Trotter maintained that one

D

32 A The Sphinx â&#x20AC;˘

skills lead to business ownership, man should not control the desWashington also knew that tiny of a race. He also believed Northern factories would need that Washington was too conskilled labor. Tuskegee Institute servative in his opinions concerning the treatment of African would eventually serve as a Americans.

Trotter and DuBois formed There was also a philosophical struggle the Niagara Movement to William Monroe Trotter and Booker T. Wa< oppose which appeared Washington.

They opposed Washington on almost every issue concerning the black race. Members of the Niagara Movement thought that Washington was leading blacks down a dark narrow path and back into slavery. Although the Niagara Movement was considered to be radical when it dissolved, some of its former members helped form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Trotter realized that Washington was hard to beat because he had white support.

The NAACP was the basis of support Trotter needed to compete with and destroy the "Tuskegee Machine." Before any tactical plan could be set forth, Booker T Washington died in November of 1915.

Clearly, Booker Taliaferro Washington was a statesman.

His agenda was to develop Tuskegee Institute into an institution of national renown.

He was successful in doing so.

Washington used the "Tuskegee Machine" to accomplish what he wanted for Tuskegee Institute and African Americans in general.

His endorsement of industrial education was important at a time when factories were being established in the South.

Washington understood the value of a trade. Not only could

Winter 1995

to be intensely political.

â&#x20AC;˘ placement office for Northern factories.

Washington's vision, however, extended beyond an industrial educational institution. He knew that industrial education would be temporary and academics and industry would necessarily merge.

Some people view Washington as an "Uncle Tom," a person who was content doing whatever white citizens suggested was best for African Americans. Washington was indeed not a radical. However, he did work in behalf of civil rights. Although behind the scenes, Washington was involved in many activities that dealt with civil rights and lynchings. He was careful, nonetheless, not to put himself or Tuskegee in danger of losing its diverse support.

The "Tuskegee Machine?" It was Washington's tool for addressing the competition of the times.

Brother Thompson is a founding member of Pi Sigma Lambda Chapter, Oxford, MS. He earned his bachelor's degree from Xavier University. This article was drawn from his master's thesis at the University of Mississippi.

Alpha Renaissance

General President's Statement Continued from page 6 I became an Alpha here at Tuskegee University because as a student I sought to associate myself with those other students who desired to be something special in this world. It quickly became evident to me that the students progressing on campus with confidence and vision were members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. I can look out in this audience and cite three examples: rother Jock Smith and I were students on this campus together and members of Alpha. We both desired to become lawyers and after graduating from here Jock Smith enrolled at Notre Dame University and I enrolled at the University of Iowa and both of us achieved our dream and returned here to Tuskegee to practice law.

Brother Alexander Robbins and I were also here together and he dreamed of becoming a physician and upon graduating from here entered Howard University and earned his medical degree and returned to Tuskegee to practice as a Board Certified surgeon.

Brother John England, also a Tuskegee graduate, went on to become a noted attorney and is now a Circuit Judge in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Certainly many factors and people played a role in our success but on the campus of Tuskegee away from family and others, Alpha Phi Alpha

B

and stimulating the ambitions of Fraternity with its principles, fellow members. members and example served Alpha Phi Alpha is representme well and indeed served my ed by its members who are at colleagues well. every level of government, eduWhat is Alpha Phi Alpha cation, the corporate world and Fraternity?

It is a brotherhood and a cor- the private sector. Our brothers are men of vision, power, influporation which owns thousands ence, and purpose. of units of housing which it has built over the years decent housAlpha Phi Alpha is an organiing for the elderly, handicapped, zation second to none which has low and middle income individpositive impact in the lives of uals and families. people.

Alpha Phi Alpha is a fraterniAs I seek to complete my ty of men which serves as role models and menI thank you, the brothers and people of tors to our youth throughout the Tuskegee for surrounding me and keeping me country and in several venues from failing in this awesome undertaking. abroad. Our very effective programs involving our youth include the long final term of office, I solicit your standing Go To High School, understanding and continued Go To College Program, The support. I thank you, the brothAlpha Academy and our ers and people of Tuskegee for Regional Leadership surrounding me and keeping me Development Institutes. We from failing in this awesome serve Headstart youngsters and undertaking. Where do we go their parents by the thousands. from here, chaos or community?

We have partnerships with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., our Boy Scouts, Big Brothers of brother, asked this question as America. Alpha Nu Lambda the title of one of his books.

Chapter here in Tuskegee is the Alpha's answer has always been recipient of a Headstart grant â&#x20AC;&#x201D; we move toward community. which funds a partnership with That has been Alpha Phi Alpha the local Headstart Program.

Fraternity's contract with America since 1906. That conlpha Phi Alpha is a worldwide networking tract shall not change. That is the commitment of this adminsystem of brothers in istration. every profession with the common purpose of uplifting others

A

LET THE ALPHA RENAISSANCE CONTINUE!!

LET THE TUSKEGEE EXPERIENCE CONTINUE !!

Winter 1995 â&#x20AC;˘

The Sphinx A 33

International Affairs Brother Ambassador Horace G. Dawson Jr.

ALPHA MEN AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS such injustice as early as the turn of the century. Although the Black Press in general tended to confine itself to domestic issues, DuBois used the columns of Crisis magazine to call attention to the plight of black people in other areas of the world and to demand that the United States play a role in their liberation. DuBois and his followers deplored the closeness of the United States and Britain to France and most especially Belgium, which in his view was the worst example of Colonialism in the world. As usual DuBois was right. From the winds of those warning days of the past century in such countries as the Congo, we have today the tragedy of such situations as Zaire and Rwanda. The so-called Belgium Congo presents today the worst example of Colonialism and neoit African American to become a colonialism.

Fes Ambassador was an Alpha man.

But that is far ahead of the story. I wanted here to point out that it was Brother W.E.B. DuBois at some influence in the process. the very head of the group of men Typically, and without limiting who called the First Pan African their vision in the least, they were Congress in London in 1927. most concerned with the fate of This meeting, like its successors, people of color. Although aware was designed to engage of United States activities in such Americans, Europeans, and such areas as Europe and Asia, for representatives as could come example, Alpha men were more from Africa and the Caribbean, to deeply concerned about matters discuss independence for those affecting our own brothers in areas. It was clear that our brothAfrica and the Caribbean. It is no coincidence that during the period ers were victims abroad of virtual in question, there was no indepen- enslavement in their own homelands, and although we had a dence movement in Africa, and tremendous job of fighting segrethe Caribbean was itself affected gation and discrimination here at almost as much by Colonialism as home, it was incumbent upon us was Africa. also to raise our voices against this It was Brother W.E.B. DuBois victimization of people of color in who sounded the alarm against

W

hen Brother Davis approached me two years ago about an international focus for our Fraternity, I said diis was indeed a Renaissance. After all, since the very earliest days, Alpha men have been—certainly had been—in the forefront of international affairs on behalf of our country. Perhaps a better way to state this is to say that Alpha men were prominent among the first African Americans to sense the involvement of our country in international affairs and, themselves, to become involved. Early on, they knew that United States relations with other nations and peoples around the world would impact us all and therefore, they wished to have

34 A The Sphinx T Winter 1995

other areas of the world.

Early on, DuBois saw the relationship between these problems and people supposedly involved in their solution. He challenged the Department of State to engage people of color in the Foreign Service of the United States. He himself became one of the first African Americans to join an official international delegation when he was appointed to attend the inauguration of C.D.B. King as President of Liberia. Brother Rayford Logan made the study of American policy in Africa and of African Americans in foreign affairs the subjects of his research.

And when in the early days of independence in Africa—in the late fifties and early sixties, there is no wonder that our government had to turn to Alpha men as a source of leadership. They were pioneers in both the U.S. Foreign Service and international affairs.

For some reason, in more recent years, we have failed to keep up. And so, in the late seventies, the eighties, and the nineties, the involvement of Alpha men seemed to be very much on the decline. It has certainly not been at the level of those early days.

Thus, I was most delighted when Brother Milton Davis asked me to serve as an advisor on international affairs.

As I see it, his vision was twofold. He wanted to encourage the interest of our great Fraternity in activities and developments abroad—activities and developments which directly impact us as a country necessarily involved in world affairs.

And secondly, he wanted to open the eyes of our Brothers,

,al Affairs especially of our younger Brothers, to career opportunities in government and the private sector having to do widi foreign affairs.

In so doing, Brodier Davis paid tribute to such pioneering internationalists as DuBois and Logan.

But he also calls attention to practitioners of more recent years. Let me briefly cite some of them.

The first African American to become a United States Ambassador was an Alpha man, Brother Richard Dudley, a Virginia native, but a man who gained prominence in the law in New York City. Dudley was appointed Ambassador Extraordinaire and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Liberia in 1949, becoming the first in what is still a relatively thin line.

When in 1959, Sekou Toure said "Noi" to Charles DeGaulle, and Guinea became an independent nation, Brother John Howard Morrow became the first Ambassador to diat French speaking country. He was appointed by President Eisenhower.

A few years later, Brother Franklin Hall Williams of New York became the first African American Ambassador to Ghana.

This followed an extended period of involvement with the Peace Corps, an organization in which he was a pioneering administrator.

Williams was a Kennedy appointee. rother John E. Reinhardt established any number of "firsts" in foreign affairs as a Career Office in the United States Information Agency.

His career began in the Philippines, shifted to Japan, and then to Iran, all areas in which he was either "the first" or one of the "firsts." In 1968, he did indeed become the first African American to head a geographic area in the USIA when he became Director for Asia. He later headed Africa,

B

and then became the first African American to become U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Africa's largest and arguably its most important country. Brother Reinhardt was Nixon's appointment to Nigeria and a Ford appointee to yet another pioneering post, that of Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs.

President Carter then appointed him Director of the United States Information Agency, the second African American. Carl Rowan was first to head this agency. Incidentally, or not so incidentally, the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria today is Brother Walter Carrington of Massachusetts.

Brother O. Rudolph Aggrey of North Carolina was the U.S. Ambassador to Senegal and later served as Ambassador to Romania.

And Brother Terence Todman of the Virgin Islands is the only American in history to have held six ambassadorial posts—Chad, Guinea, Costa Rica, Spain, Denmark, and Argentina.

And, then of course, there is Brother Andrew Young of Georgia—the first African American to head the United States Mission to the United Nations. As we all know Ambassador Young did this with particular distinction under President Jimmy Carter.

The most recent example of the call to Alpha of a U.S. President for assistance in foreign affairs was President Clinton's appointment of former Congressman Wdliam Gray HI to be his Special Envoy on Haiti.

Brother Gray served with distinction in that post I have mentioned the State Department, USIA, where I served, and the Peace Corps. I should not complete any discussion of Foreign Affairs Agencies without mentioning the Agency for International Development. And there—in this agency which is

responsible for managing U.S. economic development assistance around the world, I must mention Brother Frank Pinder, one of the pioneers with the Point Four Program under President Truman.

Pinder served in Liberia and Ghana with USATD and also with the UNDP in Ethiopia. I am very pleased to mention a more recent AID official, Brother Elmer Moore. bu may righdy say that is an impressive list, and I would agree with you. I would be forced to agree. No other fraternity or sorority can come near this record of accomplishment. However, my fear is that we are not today producing the same quality, calibre, and certainly not the quantity of young men that we did in the past. The pipeline is drying up. When in the sixties and seventies, there was a great need expressed for talented African Americans in diplomacy, there was a rich pool, principally of Alpha men, who stepped forward.

I do not see that talent pool today.

In fact, that is why Brother Davis asked me to join his team.

If the Renaissance is to continue, it must do so in foreign affairs as well as domestically. For the past two years, I am pleased to say that my article in the Sphinx on this subject elicited a great response.

Even today, more than a year later, I am receiving inquiries from college Brothers throughout the country. I would hope to have many more such inquiries and— beside that—-more and more Alpha men choosing diplomacy as a career. The country needs the kind of wisdom and skill which Alphas have in plentiful supply.

Y

Brother Dawson is Special Advisor to General President Milton Davis on International Affairs and former U.S. Ambassador to Botswana

Winter 1995 •

The Sphinx A 35

Alpha On The Move

Astronaut Winston E. Scott First he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Florida State University. After four years in the Navy, he earned a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School.

Winston E. Scott...Brother Winston E. Scott...Commander Winston E. Scott was O N T H E MOVE. Why music before engineering?

"That was pretty much all I knew. I didn't know what engineering was wrhile going through (public) school. You can't pursue something if you don't know about it...if you are not exposed to it," Brother Scott says.

But after enrolling at Flordia State and learning about engineering, Brother Scott was O N T H E MOVE. He was too far along with his music program at Florida State to switch to engineering, and there was also a need to get on with making a living. Thus the music degree and a four-year tour of duty with the Navy before graduate school in engineering.

Two years after he entered Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School in 1972, Commander Scott was designated a Naval Aviator in 1974. A four-year tour of duty with Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Light Thirty Three (HSL33) followed at North Island, California.

His aviation and engineering experience also includes: jet training in the TA-4J Skyhawk; production test pilot at the Naval Aviation Depot, NAS Jacksonville, FL, flying the F/A-18 Hornet and the A-7 Corsair aircraft and also, director of the Product Support (engineering) Department which consisted of 242 engineers, technicians, logistics managers and administrative personnel.

Always O N T H E MOVE, Brother Scott has

36 A The Sphinx T Winter 1995

also been Deputy Director of the Tactical Aircraft Systems Department, Naval Air Development Center, Warminster, PA. Born in Miami and a graduate of Coral Gables (FL) High School, Commander Scott has accumulated more than 2,300 hours of flight time in 16 different military and civilian aircraft, and more than 200 shipboard landings.

As a NASA Astronaut, Commander Scott is scheduled for his first space flight in November 1995. Today, he is assigned to the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. As the "lead astronaut" with SAIL, Commander Scott coordinates the duties of other astronauts testing the software and hardware that will be used in the next space launch.

Brother Scott's interests, in addition to engineering and aviation where the lion's share of his time is devoted, include: martial arts (he holds a 2nd degree black belt in Shotokan karate), music, electronics, and basketball. He is in touch with the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics; Naval Officers Association; Naval Helicopter Association; Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity; Skotokan Karate Association; Association of International Tohgi Karate-Do; and of course, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Scott calls his work "exciting. Even before you get assigned to a mission, it is exciting," he says.

And that excitement includes public appearances which "is a big part of the job for NASA Astronauts." What does he tell the young people during public appearances?

"The same old message that everybody is putting out," Scott says. "There are a host of exciting activities for those who prepare themselves," he tells young people. "Stay in school and get an education."

No, he does not encourage them to become an astronaut. Rather, he tells young people to "decide what you want to do and prepare for it. Prepare yourselves and do the best you can."

Brother Commander Winston E. Scott...An Alpha O N T H E MOVE.

Alpha On The Move

Winter 1995 T The Sphinx A 37

Historical Moment Brother Thomas P. Pawley

THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL RESTRICTIONS TO MEMBERSHIP Although founded by African Americans as a Fraternity for men of African decent because they were barred from membership in the established college Fraternities, there were no racial qualifications for initiation into Alpha Phi Alpha for nearly a quarter of a century. Dr. Charles Wesley records in The History ofAlpha Phi Alpha that in its first charter in New York, January 28, 1908, the Fraternity made no ethnic limitations on membership using only the word male. (409) The word Negro was added by the 1929 General Convention in Atlanta, GA, 21 years later. Although only African Americans held membership, there was no constitutional prohibition against initiating men of other races.

This is understandable in view of the fact that Alpha Phi Alpha was dedicated to eliminating every vestige of racial discrimination in American life.

It is not clear why two decades later the brotherhood felt it necessary to formalize what tradition and custom dictated. Given the racial climate of the times which was exacerbated by the beginning of the Great Depression two months before the limitation was added, there was little or no chance of

38 A The Sphinx â&#x20AC;˘

white males seeking membership or of chapters initiating them. Perhaps indeed the limitation was engendered by the increasing racial tensions and race consciousness created during a period when blacks became "the last hired and the first fired."

The restriction was shortlived. During the 1940's the Fraternity removed all racial barriers to membership from its constitution and by-laws. Prior to the entrance of the United States into World War II, General President Rayford W Logan recommended that the restrictive racial clause which limited membership to "any Negro male student" be changed to read "any male student." Knowing that racial discrimination by educated black men was antithetical to the purpose of Alpha Phi Alpha, the recommendation was adopted unanimously by the General Convention, December 27-31, 1940. Dr. Wesley comments, "This was the first official action by a fraternity established by black college men for the admission of men of all colors and races." (244) Thus Alpha Phi Alpha opened its doors to all mankind 14 years before Brown vs Board of Education and the

Winter 1995

nationwide movement to eliminate discrimination based upon race.

Following World War II in 1945, the General Convention voted again unanimously to eliminate racial restrictions.

Seven years later, in December 1952, in Cleveland, Ohio, the Constitution was amended a third time to delete the word Negro. For some reason the Committee on Constitution had continued to permit the word to remain although it had been twice ordered deleted by unanimous actions of the General Conventions of 1940 and 1945.

Since the actions were unanimous, I do not believe the oversight was a deliberate one.

The attitude towards racial qualifications for membership in Greek-letter college fraternities had begun to change following the end of the war. Influenced no doubt by the horrendous racist actions and philosophy of Nazi Germany, exclusion based upon race was declining. The decision of the United States Supreme Court in Webb vs State University gave public universities the right to establish policies controlling fraternal organizations on their campuses.

Thus universities began to take actions against fraternities which

Historical Moment limited membership to "whites of full Aryan blood" and those excluding persons of "the Black, Malay, Mongolian, or Semitic races." (407) As a result African Americans, Jews and foreigners were being accepted by several fraternities. T h e National Committee on Fraternities in Education was organized to oppose membership restrictions based upon race. In 1957, the Big Ten universities issued a declaration against fraternity discrimination. All of these factors convinced the Fraternity that "it could not exist behind a veil of color. "(409) Actually Alpha Phi Alpha's actions had antedated and anticipated much that happened subsequently.

Chapters began almost immediately following the 1952 General Convention to initiate young white men. In 1954, Brother Roger Youmans of Upsilon Chapter at the University of Kansas delivered the undergraduate address at the Miami General Convention, "the first time in Alpha history that a white Brother had addressed a convention at which he was a delegate." (349) In 1965 at the General Convention in Chicago, the Vice President of the United States, H u b e r t Horatio Humphrey, was inducted as an honorary life member.

While it remains true to its original purpose, Alpha Phi Alpha continues to welcome all men who believe in the brotherhood of man.

N . B . Page references are from The History of Alpha Phi Alpha, A Development in College Life by Charles H . Wesley.

Brother Pawley is National Historian, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

TEA LEA OF B INVES Former General President Charles C. Teamer is Chairman of the Board of Dryades Savings Bank, a former New Orleans, LA, savings and loan recently purchased from the Resolution Trust Corporation.

Vice President for Fiscal Affairs at Dillard University, Brother Teamer led the investor group which purchased Dryades Savings and Loan Association and renamed it Dryades Savings Bank.

The investor group led by Teamer bought $71.5 million in deposits and $31.7 million in assets including cash, cash equivalents, consumer loans, and cash collateralized loans.

About 55 percent of the new bank is reported to be held by New Orleans-area investors. Dryades expects a growth rate of no more

than 5 percent to 8 percent per year, according to the Bank President Virgil Robinson, Jr. Brother Teamer, Dryades' chairman of the board, was Alpha's 27th General President and the Fraternity Comptroller for ten yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;1973-1983.

In addition to being vice president for fiscal affairs at Dillard University since 1965, Brother Teamer serves as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Urban League, chairman of The Greater New Orleans Foundation, and a member of the Board of Directors of the First National Bank of Commerce, New Orleans, The World Trade Center, Board of Governors, Ochsner Medical Center, and the Board of Administrators, Tulane University.

Winter 1995 â&#x20AC;˘

The Sphinx A 39

Leisure A Review by Brother George E. Allen

Wynton Marsalis and Frank Stewart W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, NY 1994

Sweet Swing Blues on the Road is a collaboration between award winning photographer Frank Stewart and Grammy Award winner, musician Wynton Marsalis. Through pictures and words, they give impressions of what it is like for a group of young musicians on the road swinging the blues as they tour the country and the world. Mr. Marsalis has given the reader another insight into his creative powers as a writer. Many are aware of his creativity in European Classical Music and African American Classical Music Qazz) but his writing is of the highest communicative level. I think his association with Stanley Crouch and Ralph Ellison has paid off in a beautiful writing style. Every educated American should have this book.

As Wynton compares the twelve measures of the blues with the book's twelve chapters, he makes a strong case for serious relationships with the blues and swing and the spiritual aspects of life. This writer is aware that the concept of "serious swing" is almost religious with the septet. T h e group prays for listening and swing before each performance. This book might have the ability to change some of the mis-conception and mis-education about jazz musicians and their music.

When Wynton speaks of Marcus Roberts he

vj~Mii

II

writes: "he was like a sponge, he soaked up all kinds of information: musical, intellectual, spiritual." This is analogous to Wynton himself who demonstrates that he also absorbs the gems of great literature, and internalizes them from his own reading and interactions with people. The product is a sensitive musicianâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;one with a deep seated sense of the spiritual, but Wynton is not caught up with the self-aggrandizement of the many so-called intellectuals. He just tells it "like it is."

The book is a beautiful balance of text and photos. Mr. Stewart spent about two years with the group and has captured the purpose of the existence of one of the most important groups in all of music today since the 50s and the 60s.

Wynton has put a coda to a 15-year void in African American Classical Music.

Wynton is perspicacious to say the least. His humor and wit are evidenced in this book i.e., when he describes Wycliff he writes: "he has his spiritual side, he reads his Bible. But he will put his foot in someone's boodie if he is disrespected. And that is a large foot."

Who has thought of describing the

Leisure

saxophone as a "thinking man's instrument?"

Wynton writes: "It has all those keys and can be played continuously much longer than brass instruments. That reed is more forgiving than cold brass. This gives saxophonists more time to think."

Mr. Marsalis' septet has been on the road for the past five years and they are taking a welldeserved sabbatical. Wynton is also the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. During the past five years, the septet has included the following talented young musicians: Reginald Veal, Chernette Moffet, and presently Den Wolfe, unright brass; Marcus Roberts, Farid Baron, and presently, Eric Reed, piano; Wycliff Gordon, trombone; Wes Anderson, sopranino, soprano, and alto saxophones; Todd Williams, Herb Harris, and presently, Victor Goins, clarinet, soprano and tenor saxophone. Herlin Riley rounds out the rhythm section on percussion.

Wynton gives wonderful incites about these musicians. He has a symbolic relationship with his musicians, even to the point where he tells about sending some of them back home to practice. David Robinson is also given proper accolades because he is the person who makes the group so acoustic, live as well as recorded.

On tour, a basketball court, or even a back-

yard, becomes a "necessary" outlet for these musicians. Road manager Mat Dillon keeps the septet on time after a late afternoon basketball game which Wynton's team manages to win most of the time.

I would recommend a paperback reprint of Sweet Swing Blues on the Road so that students of music and any educated American can purchase this informative book.

For all Alpha Brothers, please read the book and pass its wisdom on to your peers and students, as Wynton has done for his audiences and students across the country and the world.

Happy reading.

Brother Allen is a member of Rho Chapter, Philadelphia, Jazz Band Director at Community College of Philadelphia, Director of Education, Trane Stop Resource Institute, Inc., Vice President of the National Black Music Caucus, and a DMA Candidate, Temple University.

(V)

Winter 1995 â&#x20AC;˘

The Sphinx â&#x20AC;˘ 41

Leisure Brother James T. Jackson

Servant Undone A Review of / /

Servant of the People

by Robert Alexander Presented by: St. Louis Black Repertory Theatre St. Louis, MO

Did the United States government's infiltration of the Black Panther Party create its destruction? Was Eldridge Cleaver really an actively violent man who wanted to kill two white men for every black person killed? Did the failure of the Black Panther Party create the horror of violence that impacts the lives of today's African American community? These are some of the questions the

January 11,1995

and how he transformed a group of individuals from an organization carrying guns without a "real" purpose into building schools and feeding hungry children, to one that was infiltrated by negative forces, and eventual death and destruction of the Panther organization.

The play, directed by Ron Himes, is compared to a collage of impressions rather than a docudrama or an attempt at historical revisionism by playwright Robert Alexander. Through his d the United States government's use of characters—both real and invented—the ration of the Black Panther Party audience is allowed to view lives of Panther create its destruction?

Party members, their passions, and the commitment they shared for the organization. However, Mr. audience is left to ponder at the Alexander seemed to have lost end of "Servant of the People," the essence of his plot amongst the St. Louis Black Repertory's the tremendous verbiage. The latest offering to the theatre excessive dialogue made the play community of St. Louis. very "talky" and sometimes hard "Servant" is approximately to endure. three hours long. It depicts the struggle of the Black Panther Director Himes rises to the Party to survive during a period challenge of directing the in America's history when it lengthy play. He keeps it moving seemed fashionable to suppress with action at various levels — and assassinate the voices of allowing the audience to experisocial change. The play centers ence a visual cornucopia. He is on the life of Huey P. Newton especially good with crowd

42 A The Sphinx • Winter 1995

scenes. His decision to use David Medley's sound design talents gave the audience a "real musical feel" for the time period.

Scene designer John Roselevich contributed to Mr. Himes' directorial feats by providing a set that was useful and workable for the large cast. The steel scaffolding and colorful banners made the acting space appear real, surreal, and phantasmic all at once. This awesome working space was enhanced even more by the lighting designs of Christian Epps. Both the set and lighting designs seemed to have embodied Mr. Himes' thrust for action.

The cast, headed by David Allan Anderson as Huey P. Newton was generally not as effective as some of the more seasoned performers usually seen at the Black Rep. They possessed a fair amount of skill in "coming together" and dissolving around J. Samuel Davis as Bobby Seale, and Erik Kilpatrick as the opportunistic, violent, and abusive Eldridge Cleaver. There was often a failure to make emotional connections to characters—making them unbelievable at times.

Dialogue was sometimes delivered without interpretation.

Leisure Diction was often problematic— which made it difficult for his reviewer to understand some of the dialogue. Delivery of lines was often quick and racey.

Notable exceptions to the problems of the actors were A. C. Smith as Lumphead, Fannie Bell as Sister Worker, and Tyrone Robinson. These performers were the highlight of the cast. They seemed to have acquired a "true-to-life" understanding of their characters' emotions and energy needed to convince the audience of their performing abilities. Smith was exceptional as a "sometimes pimp" who is given an awareness of the Panther's mission by Newton. Bell was believable and convinced the audience of her devotion to the Panther Party's original goal. Her final mono-

logue showcased her range and wise—to connect believably to depth of emotions. Robinson as characters, the play was somethe oppressor of the African how undone. It is the opinion of American race brought a terrible this reviewer that a rewrite of the realness to die death and play, focusing on making it less destruction that each African American man, woman, and child experiences daily.

"Servant of the People", in this Other convincing reviewer's opinion, has some very goc performers came from the supporting cast. moments.

They included Amy Pomeroy as the wealthy lady, Brian Stemmler as several characters, and Phillip Anthony Taylor as severwordy, would contribute to a al characters. much more enjoyable evening at the theatre.

"Servant of the People", in this reviewer's opinion, has some Brother Jackson is on the very good moments. However, because of the wordiness of the faculty at Southern Illinois play and the failure of some cast University, Edwardsville. members—both lead and other-

Scene from "Servant of the People" with David Alan Anderson as Huey P. Newton, and Erik Kilpatrick as Eldridge Cleaver.

Winter 1995 • The Sphinx A 43

Leisure Brother Carl Millender

DISCLOSURE: C+ OVERALL EFFORT, A+ MARKETING Tom Sanders (Michael Douglas) is up for a big promotion that would make him vice president of DigiCom. igiCom is a large high-tech corporation that's about to merge with an even larger company. If Tom gets this promotion, he won't just be wealthy, he'll be the most powerful person in his division.

Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore) has her sights on the promotion, too, but she also has her sights on Tom who is an ex-lover from her younger years. Since they last met the movie infers that Tom has worked his way to the top, while Meredith has slept her way to the top and right past Tom for the promotion.

When Tom finds out that Meredith got the promotion, he goes to make amends, but Meredith wants to amend something else. Although the relationship

let's the opportunity for this fantastic ending slip by with an ending that lacks the excitement of a snail.

The movie does give some interesting information to the viewing audience on the procedures for handling sexual harassment on the job as well as shows viewers what they should and should not do if they find themselves in a sexual harassment situation. But this is the only credible part of the movie with due respect to some of the actors and actresses who make terrific performances.

Demi Moore, of course, does a brilliant job in "Disclosure." As she does in many of her other movies, she makes the audience feel her energy. Only in this movie, she also makes you feel her ruthlessness.

She takes the show in the private hearing scene when she described her version of the sexual harassment incident. The anger from the audience was as present as the anger that arose in "Fatal Attraction", when Glen Close appeared at the home of Michael Douglas as a home buyer.

Although the movie does dance around the subject of Dennis Miller makes a believable performance as sexual harassment which is a problem that plagues the a high tech design whiz who midway through the movie betrays Tom. In fact, it seems that he wants work place, the subject gets lost in some kind of strange to give the movie the depth that is badly needed until he mysteriously disappears or is edited out. corporate take over effort that is poorly presented.

George Sutherland is the perfect type cast to play the role of the high class villain which he has so often played in the past. was a thing of the past in the mind of Tom, Meredith wants it to start again and tries to use her newly found Roma Maffia did the best overall job as supporting power to do so. Tom and Meredith become involved actress. She plays Tom's attorney and really has the in an intimate moment, but Tom stops short of intermost important role in the movie. If she had not percourse, which leaves Meredith short of satisfaction and formed to her fullest ability, the entire movie could sends her into a mad corporate-style rage which truths have fallen apart. and contents will come out in the final "Disclosure."

All and all, "Disclosure" gets a C+ for overall effort "Disclosure" is not all it's cracked up to be. and A+ for marketing.

Although the movie does dance around the subject of The marketing for "Disclosure" was obviously very sexual harassment which is a problem that plagues the well done because it was the number one movie in the workplace, the subject gets lost in some kind of country in the second week of its showing. That it did strange corporate takeover effort that is poorly prenot hold this treasured position very long could sugsented. The movie is not totally to blame. Michael gest that "Disclosure" was not worth seeing twice or it Crichton's novel, from which the movie is drawn, was not worth recommending to anyone else. should bear the bulk of the blame for the movie's Brother Millender was initiated in Rho Epsilon shortcomings. The credibility of the story is questionChapter, Loyola University and graduated from able and while the book made way for a "superhighSouthern University. He is currently Feature tech" ending in the world of virtual reality, the movie Editor for the Atlanta Bulletin.

D

44 A The Sphinx â&#x20AC;˘ Winter 1995

Alpha Renaissance

ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC. SUPPORTS SURGEON GENERAL NOMINEE DR. HENRY W. FOSTER, JR. General President Milton C. Davis issued the following statement in support of the nomination of Dr. Henry W. Foster, Jr. to the position of United States Surgeon General.

The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, acknowledges the long and distinguished medical career of Dr. Henry W. Foster, Jr., a practicing physician, scholar and academic administrator of national stature.

Alpha Phi Alpha, as a national organization of more than 150,000 men, supports President Clinton's noimination of Dr. Foster to the position of Surgeon General of the United States and we support Dr. Foster in the confirmation process.

Someone with the level of accomplishment that Dr. Foster has demonostrated in his lifetime of integrity and professionalism should be afforded the opportunity to present his record before the United States Senate and the people of the United States in an atmosphere devoid of passion, emotion, and character assassination.

Fairness has become a central issue in the nomination of Dr. Foster. It has become an issue as to whether or not this confirmation hearing is heard in the streets and in the media, or whether it is heard in the halls of Congress.

We believe that Dr. Foster's record and reputation have been subject to a smear campaign by extremist groups who are advocates of points of view that differ from that of Dr. Foster.

We call for a confirmation process that will allow Dr. Foster's views and professional opinions to be analyzed in a just and fair fashion.

We believe that, given the chance for a fair hearing, Dr Foster will be shown as one of the nation's leading experts and advocates on the side of health. His accomplishments have been acknowledged at every level. His respect and reputation cross international and political allegiances.

In a special letter, President Davis asked the Brotherhood to: **Write or call their U. S. Senator or Congressman requesting that Dr. Foster receive a fair hearing before the U. S. Senate. **Write letters to the editor of local newspapers demanding a fair process for Dr. Foster and defending his qualifications. **Respond to media and extremist criticism by calling radio talk shows and other media expressing positive points about Dr. Foster.

SEARCH COMMITTEE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS A Search Committee is accepting applications from Brothers interested in the position of Executive Director of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. The successful applicant will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fraternity's corporate staff as well as coordinating the implementation of Fraternity programs and activities in accordance with objectives and directives established by the General Convention and the Board of Directors.

Applicants should have a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration or a comparable field and a minimum five years experience in a supervisory or managerial capacity. Candidates should also have a working knowledge of accounting principles and computer systems. Advanced

management training or a Master of Business Administration is preferred. Applicants are also expected to be active and financial with the Fraternity.

Salary for the Executive Director's position is negotiable between $50,000 and $70,000 depending on credentials and experience. Benefits, including medical and life insurance, retirement, and vacation are also available.

Applications should be mailed to the Chairman of the Search Committee: Brother Robert A. Willis 130 Old Fairburn Close Atlanta, GA 30331 Application deadline is April 1, 1995. All information provided the Search Committee will be held in confidence.

Winter 1995 â&#x20AC;˘

The Sphinx A 45

Chapter News EASTERN Nu Lambda PETERSBURG, VA

Virginians celebrated "Pro Hayes Day" declared by the Mayor of Hopewell, VA, in honor of Brother Robertnett J. Hayes.

Brother Hayes was honored for his distinguished career in coaching basketball at Carter G. Woodson High School. A twoday celebration sponsored by former Woodson athletes ended with a banquet in Fort Lee, VA. Brother Hayes was also honored with an award from the local president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. T h e SCLC Award acknowledged Brother Hayes as a Role Model for Black Athletes.

Kappa Phi Lambda COLUMBIA, MD

Twenty years since it was chartered, Kappa Phi Lambda is reporting the largest membership in the chapter's history. Chapter President Harry Evans, III, is credited with reclaiming "a great number of Brothers who were missing in Alpha."

Traditional activities also continue in Kappa Phi Lambda: "Go To High School, Go To College" and the Chapter's step team, among them.

A group of Brothers also made the annual trek to Beckley, WV, to raft the violent Upper Gauley, reported to be the seventh most dangerous river in the world. The daring activity also included the traditional step off "Jumper's Rock," a two-story plunge into the Upper Gauley.

Brother Ken Jennings' 60 years of age didn't stop him from participating.

And best wishes to Brother Alexander Leake who was seriously injured in the adventure but vows to try it again.

46 A The Sphinx â&#x20AC;˘

BROTHER H U T T NAMED T O WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY BOARD A Managing Partner of Bennett, Hutt & Company, Certified Public Accounts and Management Services, Brother Louis G. H u t t is completing the first of a four-year term on the Washington University (St. Louis, MO) Board of Trustees.

A member of Kappa Phi Lambda Chapter, Columbia, MD, Brother Hutt is a graduate of Washington University and holds the juris doctorate degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. After graduating from Washington University in 1976, Brother Hutt joined the international public accounting firm of Ernst and Whinney in St. Louis, MO, and later joined the Rouse Corporation as a group comptroller.

The partnership of Bennett, Hutt & Company operates an office in Albuquerque, NM, in addition to the Columbia, MD, office. Brother Hurt's law practice focuses on business planning and tax law.

Brother Hutt has served as chairperson of the Washington University Alumni Club of Baltimore, chairperson of the Baltimore-Washington Chapter of the Black Alumni Council of Washington University, and is a member of the National Advisory Board on the Recruitment of African American students.

A native of St. Louis, MO, Brother Hutt is a member of the National Association of Black Accountants; T h e American Institute of Certified PubHc Accountants; The Maryland Society of Certified Public Accountants; T h e Michigan Society of Certified Public Accountants; and the Waring-Mitchell Law Society of Howard (Maryland) County. ter and has attracted some 50 male participants.

WlLLINGBORO, NJ Kappa Iota Lambda is also Local and state fraternal comcontinuing to offer its "On the munities are applauding the leadJob with the Alphas" project, a ership of Brother Theodore program started in 1992. The Nixon in administering an "Africhapter made food donations to Male Institute." the poor and homeless during the The Kappa Iota Lambda project Thanksgiving and Christmas holiis funded by private, corporate and days; participated in the government resources. The Institute Grambling Classic trip to the is in its third year of operation.

Meadowlands in New Jersey; conParticipants are offered social tinues a partnership with Scout activities, educational trips, study Troop 111 in Willingboro (Ken, skills workshops, mentoring, son of Brother Wade Simmons, career counseling, and among earned Eagle Scout status in many other experiences, personal Troop 111); and made annual development seminars. T h e scholarship awards.

Institute is targeting black adolesKappa Iota Lambda's 1992 cent males. scholarship recipient is now Project Safe Haven, a compoBrother Gary Stewart who is nent of the Afri-Male Institute, is enrolled at Cornell University. a library/resource counseling cenKappa Iota Lambda

Winter 1995

Chapter News Zeta Zeta Lambda Chapter, Cambria Heights, NY, sponsors a Youth Into Manhood Training Rite of Passage Program for black males 13 to 16 years old, a program designed to develop positive self-image and selfesteem and to learn the meaning of manhood. Topics covered in the program include psychic autonomy, and economic and political sovereignty.

Mentoring is combined with the program workshops. A dinner-dance for youth and their families culminates the six weeks of intense training. Brother Davis Dinkins and Brother Grafton Gilchrist are shown here with youth who completed the program and participated in a Rite of Passage Ceremony.

Pi Upsilon Lambda BRANDYWINE,

MD

Less than two years since it was chartered in December 1993, t h e B r o t h e r s of Pi U p s i l o n Lambda have increased their ranks from 61 to 70 active m e m b e r s .

And they have wasted no time in launching community programs.

After adopting two local high schools, Pi Upsilon Lambda members conducted a series of state mathematics examination tutoring sessions, a black male achievement program, two financial aid seminars, a series of Career Day presentations, and an Honors Breakfast.

Influenced by the challenge to "Work Smarter, N o t Harder," Pi Upsilon Lambda also held a midnight boat cruise which provided the initial investment for the Chapter's Scholarship Endowment Fund.

The Chapter's service projects i n c l u d e d T h a n k s g i v i n g and C h r i s t m a s d o n a t i o n s to needy families, homeless shelter donations, and participation in the Adopt-a-Highway road cleanup program.

Highlights of the Chapter's first annual Black and Gold Ball: a display of impressionist art, a pre-

BLANTON HONORED: The recently retired Executive Director of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., James B. Blanton has been honored for his many years of service to the Fraternity. Brother Eddie R. Hill, president of Zeta Zeta Lambda Chapter, presented Brother Blanton an Alpha Award of Merit on behalf of the 17 Chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha in the New York City area. The Award was presented during the December 1994 Founder's Day observance. In addition to his service to the Fraternity, Brother Blanton was lauded for "exemplary service to his community and mankind overall."

s e n t a t i o n by t h e N a t i o n a l C h a i r m a n of t h e F r a t e r n i t y ' s Strategic Planning C o m m i t t e e , Brother Adrian Wallace; the talent of a Suitland Senior H i g h School student, Kevin Southall; and the Kalibos Band.

Wallace emphasized the value of education as a "vehicle through which survival in the ever-changing dynamics of a global market must be navigated."

Southhall, an 11th grader at Suitland Senior High School, is a p a r t i c i p a n t in Pi Upsilon Lambda's Manhood Training Program.

Alpha Chapter ITHACA,

NY

"Black Leadership" got special attention during Alpha Chapter's 15th Annual R o u n d u p W e e k .

Brother Dr. Robert Harris' lecture specifically a d d r e s s e d "Black L e a d e r s h i p " ; Dr. J a m e s T u r n e r talked about the need for student political activism"; Brother Akira Bryson conducted a women's selfdefense w o r k s h o p ; and B r o t h e r Anthony Browder was die banquet speaker.

F u n d s from t h e A n n u a l R o u n d u p support the Dr. G. A. Galvin College Tour which provides Continued on next page

Winter 1995 T The Sphinx A 47

Chapter News an opportunity for 30 to 50 Ithaca High School students to visit colleges and universities in the Washington, D C , metropolitan area.

A Bottle Drive helped generate resources to support a trip for Ithaca youth to New York City d u r i n g the C h r i s t m a s holiday season; Alpha Chapter members also distributed Thanksgiving food baskets to low income Ithaca residents; provided games and other entertainment to a local nursing home; made Christmas baskets for local convalescent homes; and was listed among the participants in "Into die Streets," a program dedicated to citywide community service.

And as t h e step show c o m p e t i t i o n date approached last spring, Alpha Chapter was optimistic about repeating as Cornell University's Champion Step Team.

MIDWESTERN Sigma Phi I N D I A N A - P U R D U E , INDIANAPOLIS BUTLER UNIVERSITY DEPAUW, GREENCASTLE

T h e Brothers of Sigma Phi put a special emphasis on "service" in this report. A local resident they now call " N A N A " is living a bit more comfortably after Sigma Phi members collected some $4,000 in materials that was used in die insulation, painting and otherwise "sprucing up" of her home.

T h e Brothers also mingled and played with some 100 kids during a Martin Luther King Center Youth Halloween Party they co-sponsored.

SOUTHERN Kappa Kappa

Beta N u

U N I V E R S I T Y O F ARKANSAS, FAYETTEVILLE

K E N T U C K Y STATE FRANKFORT, KY

T h e Brothers of Kappa Kappa Chapter will celebrate 20 years of "service to the c o m m u n i t y and the university" during their Scholarship Ball this spring.

Meanwhile, the Kappa Kappa step team took first place honors in the Black Students Association Homecoming Step Show; implemented a mandatory study hall which is attracting students from across the campus; conducted a campus voter registration drive; and d i s t r i b u t e d T h a n k s g i v i n g food baskets to the needy.

T h e Brothers treated youth to the e x c i t e m e n t of a " H a u n t e d H o u s e " at a local e l e m e n t a r y s c h o o l , a d o p t e d a Boy S c o u t t r o o p at an elementary school, and supported the annual Special Olympics.

T h e F r a t e r n i t y can also be proud of the leadership roles of several Kappa Kappa B r o t h e r s who are president of the Black Students Association; president, treasurer, and assistant secretary of the National Society of Black E n g i n e e r s ; and vice p r e s i d e n t of t h e Associated Student Government.

W i l k e r s o n School s t u d e n t s and students attending Rosenwald D a y C a r e have t h e b e n e f i t of tutoring by the Brothers of Beta N u . Brothers of Beta N u also conducted Alpha Week seminars on "The Role of Fraternities and Sororities," "Drugs and Violence in Society," "Black Students Role in the Black C o m m u n i t y , " and "Male-Female Relationships."

A "Pay Your Credit Card Bill Raffle," car washes, and variety shows were also part of Beta Nu's service program.

Beta Delta Lambda DAYTONA BEACH,

FL

P r o c e e d s from Beta D e l t a Lambda's 12th Annual Black and Gold Ball provided scholarships for three African American male high school graduates from the t h r e e counties where B r o t h e r s resideâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Volusia, Flager, and St. John. Special guests at the Spring Ball w e r e wives of d e c e a s e d Brothers.

Students from Stetson University, Deland, F L , joined Brothers of Delta Beta and Beta Delta Lambda in conducting a Go

48 A The Sphinx T Winter 1995

to H i g h School, G o to College program which focused on "Intergenerational Communication and Cooperation."

And Rev. B r o t h e r Calvin J. McFadden delivered the Fraternity's Founders' Day program address at the church he p a s t o r s , St. J o s e p h U n i t e d Methodist in Deland.

D u r i n g the luncheon which followed the Founders' Day prog r a m , B r o t h e r Dr. P a t r i c k Coggins was h o n o r e d as Alpha M a n of t h e Year.

Brother Coggins is professor of multicult u r a l e d u c a t i o n at S t e t s o n University w h e r e he holds the Jessie D u p o n t C h a i r in Social Science.

Brother Dr. Coggins was cited for his service to Alpha Phi Alpha and the community with special recognition for the workshops he conducts for public school history teachers and his lectures on "The Black Presence in the Bible."

T h e Beta D e l t a L a m b d a report also includes recognition for Rev. Brother Calvin McFadden for his participation in the Fraternity's regional oratorical contest. Brother McFadden received the William M . Pierce Oratorical Contest Award.

Chapter News M u Alpha EMORY UNIVERSITY ATLANTA, GA

O n t h e c a m p u s at E m o r y U n i v e r s i t y and in t h e C i t y of Atlanta, the Brothers of Mu Alpha are m a k i n g t h e i r p r e s e n c e knownâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and felt.

Mu Alpha's Eddie L. Irions is president of t h e Student Government Association, only the s e c o n d African A m e r i c a n in Emory University's history to be elected to this position of considerable responsibility.

Other Mu Alpha campus leaders i n c l u d e : B r o t h e r G o r d o n Brown, Student G o v e r n m e n t treasurer; Brother Joseph Quash, chairman of the M i n o r i t y P r e Med Society; Brother Reginald W a r r e n , vice p r e s i d e n t of the Voices of Inner Strength Gospel C h o i r ; and a n u m b e r of Alpha Brothers are resident advisors.

M u Alpha has also b e e n ranked the "number one service organization" in the Interfraternity and Intersorority Council.

A t l a n t a P r o j e c t , H a b i t a t for H u m a n i t y , t h e J e r r y Lewis Telethon, AIDS Walk, H u n g e r Walk, and a food drive for the Atlanta Food Bank are among Mu Alpha's service activities.

T h e Chapter made a $3,500 contribution to the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia with proceeds from its "Step for Sickle Cell" step show. Mu Alpha also had g o o d p a r t i c i p a t i o n in its annual Pre-professional Symposia and t h e C h a p t e r ' s F r e s h m a n Orientation program, "A Different World."

Alpha N u Lambda TUSKEGEE, AL Alpha B r o t h e r s , p a r e n t s of Head Start students, and H e a d Start administrators have taken u n d e r advisement a suggestion that their N e w Year's Resolution include a commitment to citizenship and civility. If they include

citizenship and civility in their New Year's Resolution, they will become more involved in public discussion of issues that affect their lives and r e - e x a m i n e the manner in which they treat people.

T h e suggestion was made during the first session of the AlphaH e a d S t a r t Academy, a major component of Alpha Nu Lambda's partnership with Head Start.

Head Start parents, administrators, and Brothers also engaged in a discussion about "spanking" as a tool in parenting. There was no agreement but the discussion was "lively" thanks largely to the l e a d e r s h i p of B r o t h e r District Judge Aubrey Ford. Brother Ford is coordinating the Academy sessions w h i c h are held twice monthly.

Alpha N u Lambda Brothers are alternating with presentations on such topics as: "Leadership," "Managing Personal Resources," "Spiritual Growth and Development," "Involvement in School Activities," and "Drug and Alcohol Abuse."

In addition to the Academy, t h e Alpha N u L a m b d a - H e a d Start Partnership program i n c l u d e s : a H e a d S t a r t Book Exchange, field trips, including n e a r b y M o n t g o m e r y , AL, and Calloway (GA) G a r d e n s , and a fishing outing.

Brother Dr. Ben A. Outland conducted a workshop for Head Start teachers before the teachers and 140 H e a d S t a r t s t u d e n t s t o u r e d h i s t o r i c facilities at Tuskegee University. B r o t h e r O u t l a n d is c o o r d i n a t i n g t h e Alpha-Head Start Partnership for Alpha N u Lambda.

Alpha N u Lambda Brothers were also pleased to have assisted in hosting the National Board of Directors, Corporate Staff, and some program directors during their meeting here in January.

General President Milton C. D a v i s , w h o p l e d g e d Alpha at Gamma Phi and maintains membership in Alpha N u Lambda, led the visiting Brothers on a minit o u r of t h e h i s t o r i c T u s k e g e e University campus; the Board and visiting Brothers were entertained at a r e c e p t i o n at t h e h o m e of Brother Dr. Benjamin F Payton, president of Tuskegee University; and the reception was followed by m o r e e n t e r t a i n m e n t at M a c o n County, Alabama's famous "Victoryland."

DEADLINE SPHINX Please forward story ideas and chapter news for consideration at this time. We would like to have materials on hand for consideration by May 1, 1995.

However, don't wait for the deadline. Mail material for consideration NOW. If you miss the the May 1 deadline, or any deadline for that matter, mail the material anyway.

The next issue of The Sphinx will be published in June/July 1995.

We expect the Legacy Feature of die magazine to run again in the issue following the General Convention. This issue should be published not later than October 1995. Black and white photos preferred. Photos for Legacy Feature should be received by July 1, 1995.

We also have a special interest in receiving photos that depict "chapter program activities." However, avoid snapshots.

Photos showing involvement in national programs of the Fraternity are of particular interest.

Send material to: The SPHINX, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. 2313 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 212185234.

Winter 1995 T The Sphinx A 49

Chapter News B R O T H E R GRAY K E Y N O T E S F O U N D E R ' S DAY/AWARDS A C T I V I T Y

Upsilon Lambda Chapter President George Maxwell presents "Alpha Man of the Year Award" to Wendell Holmes, Banquet Committee Chairman and Master of Ceremonies for the affair.

Brother William H . Gray, president and C E O of the U N C F , was the keynote speaker for the 69th Annual Founders' Day/Awards Celebration of Upsilon Lambda Chapter, Jacksonville, FL. T h e black-tie gala was attended by more than 75 Alpha Brothers and a considerable number of dignitaries.

Special honorees during Upsilon Lambda's Founders' Day/Awards Celebration included: Dr. Ezekiel W B r y a n t , p r e s i d e n t of Florida C o m m u n i t y College, Jacksonville, Educational Service Award; Attorney Burney Bivens was honored for service in business; N a t h a n i e l Davis, retired educator, Community Service Award; Dr. Orrin Mitchell, an ortho-

Brother William H. Gray, HI, President and CEO of UNCF, delivers an inspiring keynote address as Rev. A. B. Coleman looks on.

50 A The Sphinx â&#x20AC;˘

Winter 1995

dontist, was recognized for social activism; and Dr. Adam H e r b e r t , president of the University of North Florida, was recognized for his work with t h e J a c k s o n v i l l e C h a m b e r of C o m m e r c e & Jacksonville Jaguars.

Brother Wendell Holmes, a funeral director and former school board chairman, was named Alpha Man of the Year.

Upsilon Lambda Chapter also recognized the 100 Black Men of Jacksonville for their service to young people.

Brother Gray challenged the Brotherhood to "prepare record numbers of African Americans for successful careers in every imaginable field." As Brother G r a y saw it: " H a r v a r d , Florida State University and the University of Florida are not g o i n g to e d u c a t e all the black s t u d e n t s w h o deserve a college education because they are looking for diamonds. We need schools like Florida M e m o r i a l , B e t h u n e - C o o k m a n , and E d w a r d Waters College that know how to take lumps of coal and turn them into diamonds."

The Bethune-Cookman College Jazz Ensemble and Florida Memorial College's Vocal Ensemble provided music for the F o u n d e r s ' Day/Awards Celebration.

D u r i n g the local telecast of the Lou Rawls P a r a d e of Stars T e l e t h o n this year, U p s i l o n L a m b d a P r e s i d e n t Dr. G e o r g e Maxwell and Banquet Committee chairman Wendell Holmes presented $16,500 to the UNCF. T h e presentation included a $5,000 gift from the Alfred I DuPont Foundation represented by Benjamin M. Mack.

Chapter News

SOUTHWESTERN Pi Lambda

Law Practice is Third Career for Brother McCann After 24 years in various management positions with the Kerr-McGee Corporation, Brother Frederick W. McCann retired from the Fortune 200 company some three years ago. But retirement from Kerr-McGee only meant more time for his law practice.

I m m e d i a t e past p r e s i d e n t of Beta Eta L a m b d a Chapter and twice that chapter's Alpha Man of the Year, Brother McCann practices civil law in Oklahoma City, OK. H e is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, Delta Theta Phi professional law fraternity, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a professional music fraternity. H e is also on the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma County East C o m m u n i t y D e v e l o p m e n t C o r p o r a t i o n and a member of the NAACP-Oklahoma City branch.

Before t u r n i n g to c o r p o r a t e America and law, Brother McCann taught music in the Chicago Public School system where he was also a human relations coordinator and counselor. H e has a music degree from the University of Kansas, the juris doctorate from Oklahoma City University School of Law, and completed c o u r s e w o r k for t h e master's d e g r e e from t h e University of Kansas.

Since being appointed to a nine-year term on the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Board, Brother McCann has been elected vice chairman of the Board, chairman of the Social Justice Committee, and a member of the Academic Affairs Committee.

L I T T L E R O C K , AR

Thirty-nine young ladies were introduced to society during Pi Lambda's 44th Annual Debutante Ball. T h e Debutante Ball honors African American females for their o u t s t a n d i n g academic a c h i e v e m e n t s , c o m m u n i t y service, and civic involvement.

Activities prior to the Debutante Ball expose the young ladies to motivational speakers and career guidance and planning information. All of the debutantes had just completed their first semester of college study.

In addition to the Debutante Ball Pi Lambda sponsors each year, the Chapter is also participating in a P a r t n e r - I n Education Program with the Little Rock School District, Boy Scouts of America, the A d o p t - A - H i g h w a y p r o g r a m , and makes a n n u a l c o n t r i b u t i o n s to t h e United N e g r o College Fund and area educational institutions.

Alphabettes, wives and friends of Pi L a m b d a B r o t h e r s , provided valuable assistance in preparing for the Debutante Ball.

WESTERN Brother Sullivan: A Distinghished Career Brother Richard A. Sullivan has achieved an enviable record of professional and public service in San Francisco, CA, where he has resided for more than 40 years.

A product of San Francisco State and Golden Gate Universities, Brother Sullivan began his professional career as an accountant in the City of San Francisco's controller's office 31 years ago. During his long and distinguished career in public accounting, Brother Sullivan has served as: chief auditor in the San Francisco Tax Collector's office; head accountant at the San Francisco Municipal Railway; field auditor in the San Francisco Tax Assessor and Collector's office; and for more than 20 years, he was

deputy tax administrator for the City and County of San Francisco.

In 1984, Brother Sullivan was recipent of the prestigious "Public Managers Efficiency Award" given by the City and County of San Francisco and the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR).

Brother Sullivan has to his credit certificates of programs completed in Management Planning and C o n t r o l ; D e v e l o p i n g O r g a n i z a t i o n a l Structure; D e l e g a t i n g and L e a d i n g ; D e c i s i o n M a k i n g ; Communicating; and among many others, Managing Motivation.

A member of G a m m a Chi Lambda, Brother Sullivan has served that chapter as vice president.

Winter 1995 T The Sphinx A 51

Chapter News YMCA Named in H o n o r Of Omega Chapter Brother T h e East Madison YMCA in Seattle, WA, has been renamed in h o n o r of t h e late B r o t h e r Meredith Mathews. Brother Mathews had been a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity for 59 years when he e n t e r e d O m e g a Chapter in 1992.

A g r a d u a t e of W i l b e r f o r c e U n i v e r s i t y in 1 9 3 5 , B r o t h e r M a t h e w s later studied at O h i o State before starting his career with the YMCA—in C o l u m b u s and Youngston, O h i o ; Lawton, McAlester, and Oklahoma City, OK; and Seattle. H e was named Executive D i r e c t o r of the East Madison YMCA Branch, Seattle, in 1957.

The Meredith Mathews YMCA offers swimming, weight training, aerobics, various sports programs, computer classes, and

the Black Achievers m e n t o r i n g program for youth.

Among those present for the event celebrating the legacy of Brother Mathews and renaming the Y M C A in his h o n o r were:

Aloha from M u Beta Lambda PEARL CITY, HAWAII W h e n Brother Phillip Cochran participated in Mu Beta Lambda's Founders' Day program, it was the first time a national officer had visited Hawaii for this celebration. And the B r o t h e r s in the Rainbow State were pleased—very pleased.

T h e Brothers worshipped at Trinity Baptist Church before Brother Cochran's presentation during a brunch at Hickam Air Force Officer's Club.

In addition to the welcomed participation of the Western Region Vice President, Mu Beta Lambda also considered their Founders' Day program special because of the return of Brother Floyd Crouch who had been recovering from major surgery.

Brother Colonel (Ret) Crouch is a charter member of Mu Beta Lambda and a Life Member.

Mu Beta Lambda's membership roster also includes Brother Colonel (Ret.) Travis Stephens who holds the doctorate degree from Harvard University. Harvard r e c e n t l y h o n o r e d B r o t h e r S t e p h e n s for 17 years of archaeological research in Thailand. Brother Stephens' research, in recovering artifacts from five burial mounds in Thailand, could launch a rewriting of the origin of mankind.

A decorated veteran of World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam, Brother Stephens' work as been feat u r e d in National Geographic and on the D i s c o v e r y Channel.

52 A The Sphinx •

Winter 1995

(left to right): Brother Dr. Charlie Walker, III, president of Zeta Pi Lambda Chapter; Brother Donne Young, Brother Tyrone Sheffey, and Brother William Jones.

Sigma Psi UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS

After the Chapter was charted in December 1993, "we d e c i d e d to make Alpha b i g in Nevada, especially since we are the first and only college chapter in the state," says Brother Kimanthi A. Thompson, community services coordinator.

And the B r o t h e r s of Sigma Psi o u t did themselves in their first year program which included: $3,500 in fundraising; $1,500 in merit-based scholarships awarded; ten successfully completed National Program projects; fifteen community service projects; seven television, radio and newpaper interviews; and two congressional awards for community service.

"We want to walk in the pathway they have established," Chapter Treasurer Ricki Y Barlow said about the example set by the Fraternity's Founders and early record keepers. Sigma Psi has preserved the Chapter's first year activities in a video.

Sigma Psi P r e s i d e n t D e m e t r a s Byrd has promised to continue community service projects and expand membership. "These are my aims because we have so much to do in Nevada.

T h e r e are so many who are less fortunate, homeless, and hungry.

"Sigma Psi will be a Chapter of mission and a change agent for the betterment of humanity," Byrd promises.

Chapter News

Interim Executive Director Darryl R. Matthews was keynote speaker for Iota Epsilon Lambdas 1th Annual Honors Day Convocation.

Alpha Renaissance Alive in the Bahamas The top two graduating male students from each of the high schools in The Bahamas were special honorees during Iota Epsilon Lambda Chapter's eighth Annual Honors Day Convocation.

The Annual Convocation applauds academic achievement among young men in the community and encourges them to pursue alternatives to drugs and gang violence.

Interim Executive Director Darryl Matthews, the Convocation speaker, characterized the honorees as "Men of Tomorrow..." He was alarmed and frightened, Brother Matthews allowed, by the number of children born out of wedlock, families with incomes below the poverty line, the unemployment rate, the high school drop out rate, and gang violence.

His solution? Like the Brothers of Iota Epsilon Lambda, Brother Matthews encouraged the high school scholars to continue their pursuit of excellence.

The 37 honorees at the Convocation included scholarship winners: Leander Monmcur, a 1994 graduate of Bahamas Academy and a freshman biology major at Atlantic Union College; Gowon Bowe, a 1994 graduate of St. Anne's High School and a freshman at The College of The Bahamas; Lavar Watson, a resident at the Boys Industrial School.

Iota Epsilon Lambda's program calendar also included the Chapter's first Miss Black and Gold Pageantâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;"Dancing to the Caribbean Beat." The Pageant winner, Juliette Williams, has since earned first runner up titles in the "Miss Talented Teen Bahamas 1993-94," "Miss High School Bahamas 199394," "Miss Bahamas 1994" and winner, "Miss Paradise Island 1993-94."

Iota Epsilon Lambda's "Miss Black and Gold" received a chapter scholarship to attend The College of The Bahamas.

ÂŤa ^

Iota Epsilon Lambda Honors Day Convocation Honorees.

PHI 4 ^

KIR Winter 1995 T The Sphinx A 53

Omega Chapter BROTHER CORNIE LORENZE EVANS, SR. was a Life Member

of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and a charter member of Kappa Epsilon Lambda where he held numerous offices. He was born in Jersey City, NT, and graduated from West Virginia State College and the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, AL. Brother Evans retired from federal government service after a career as a geophysicist with the Defense Mapping Agency. After retirement from government service, Brotfrer Evans started a career as a realtor in the suburban Washington, D C , area. H e attended all regional and general conventions for tiie past 10 years.

JAMES W. W R I G H T , J R .

was

an active member of Beta Delta Lambda Chapter. A native of Florida, Brother Wright taught school in Pinellas and Polk (FL) Counties for more dian 35 years.

He retired from public school teaching in 1975, and in 1986 moved to his place of birth, Deland, FL. Brother Wright was a graduate of the University of Michigan where he studied matfr and science.

BROTHER LOGAN D. DELANY, SR. was the first African

American administrator for the City of Asheville, N C . A native of Raleigh, NC, Brother Delany was for more than 30 years a teacher, social service director and public administrator. He held a bachelor's degree from St. Augustine's College, tfre master's degree from N o r t h Carolina Central University, and studied law and public administration at New York University, Western Carolina University, and North Carolina University-Chapel Hill's Institute of Government.

A Life Member of Alpha Phi Alpha, Brotfrer Delany was also a

54 A The Sphinx â&#x20AC;˘

member of the NAACP, Asheville H u m a n Relations Council, Board of Directors of the National Community Development Association and President of Region IV of NCDA, the Governor's Technical Advisory Committee on Community Development, Asheville Victoria Health Care Facility, the N o r t h Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Community Development Board of Directors, and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity.

BROTHER

TURNER

W.

GOODLOW was a native of Bryan, TX. He was an elementary and secondary public school teacher, consultant, and supervisor in tfre Houston Independent School District.

Brother Goodlow also held various positions with the U.S. State Department, tfre U.S. Army, and tfre U.S. Office of Education. He was a product of Wiley College, the University of Houston, and Texas Southern University.

Brother Goodlow was for four years a team leader with the Texas Southern University/HISD Teacher Corps project. He was active with the South Central Branch YMCA, Houston Association of Black School Administrators, Retired Teachers Association, Council of Exceptional Children, and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Riverside General Hospital, H o u s t o n Proud, March of Dimes, and the United Negro College Fund all recognized Brother Goodlow's community service with special awards.

BROTHER B A G G E T T was

LARRY

E.

a graduate of Jackson State University and studied law at the T h u r g o o d Marshall School of Law in

Winter 1995

Houston. He was employed with the Fulton County Marshall Department at the time of his passing. A native of Brookhaven, MS, Brother Baggett was a member of Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, Sontag, MS, until he relocated and joined tfre New Birth Baptist Church, Decatur, GA. He was last affiliated with Delta Phi Chapter.

BROTHER JAMES WESLEY S M I T H was a graduate A & T

State University in Greensboro, N C . Following service in the Korean Conflict, Brother Smith earned a master's degree from Virginia State University and a Ph.D. from Indiana University.

He pursued postdoctoral studies at the University of Ghana in West Africa, Carnegie-Mellon University, and West Point Military Academy. In addition to teaching in high schools, Brother Smith chaired the Department of History and International Studies at Virginia State University. His publications included eight books and numerous articles in professional journals.

H e was conducting research for publication of the Centennial History of Zion Baptist Church at the time of his death. Brother Smith was a member and past president of Nu Lambda, Petersburg, VA. BROTHER EMANUEL PALMER

worked as a Boy Scout executive in Tulsa, OK, before being named Executive Director of tfre Hutcherson Branch YMCA, a position he held for 15 years. He was Executive Director of the San Francisco Buchanon YMCA at the time of his deatfr. In addition to being active with Alpha Tau Lambda Chapter, Brother Palmer was president of the Brotherhood of Antioch Baptist Church, Executive Director of the Sickle Cell Anemia Drive, a

Omega Chapter member of Rotary International and Pyramid Lodge #69â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Prince Hall Masons. He was a graduate of Texas Southern University, Houston.

BROTHER RODERICK LAMEL

EPPERSON was a Cum Laude graduate of Jackson State University. He was employed with Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, where he was a Regulatory Representative Chemist. He is reported to have had a "major impact" on Brothers in Iota Lambda where he was a member and corresponding secretary. He held membership in the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, Indianapolis Black Alumni Council, and the Pan Hellenic Council. Brother Epperson was a native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

B R O T H E R SAMUEL JACKIE DAVIS was a campus policeman

for the University of N o r t h Carolina at Charlotte for more than 20 years. He also served a tour of duty with the U. S. Army in Vietnam.

A native of Warrenton, N C , Brother Davis was a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University and the North Carolina Police Academy. He was a member of Beta Delta Lambda Chapter and regularly attended St. Stephen's AME Zion Church in Gastonia, NC. BROTHER FERDINAND BENJAMIN CLARKE was a native

of Urbana, Ohio, and a graduate of Lincoln University, Jefferson City, M O . He was founder of Zeta Delta Lambda Chapter in Springfield, O h i o . Brother Clarke was a retired auditor for the International Union, UAW and Ohio Steel Foundry. He was an active member of the Second Missionary Baptist Church,

Springfield, Ohio, Boy Scout Troop #52, Lincolnite Alumni Association, the Springfield Urban League, and the UAW Local #926 and #402, and a C o m m i t t e e m a n of the Ohio Democratic Committee.

BROTHER MARVIN RICARDO L I G H T B O U R N E was a Magna

Cum Laude graduate of Benedict College, SC, where he was active in the International Student Association, The Gordon Jenkins Religious Awareness Association, Student Representative to the Board of Trustees, and Alpha Chi and Alpha Kappa Mu H o n o r Societies. He also studied at the Assemblies of God Bible School.

I n t e r m e n t was in Nassau, Bahamas.

BROTHER

ALLEN

H.

VESSELLS was a product of Virginia Union University. He was a civilian employee with the U. S. Army, an insurance agent with N o r t h Carolina Mutual, and a U. S. Postal Service employee. Brother Vessells was one of the first minority supervisors and among the first African American Substation Managers with the U. S. Postal Service in East Baltimore.

Following retirement, he was associated with the Joseph L. Russ Funeral Home. In addition to his membership in Delta Lambda Chapter, Brother Vessells was also an active member of Trinity Baptist Church where he was at one time chairperson of the Trustees Ministry, president of the Progressive Men's Ministry, and chairperson of the Building Fund. He contributed significant service to the Boy Friends, a civic and social group; the Robert W. C o l e m a n Community Organization; and the Miles W. C o n n e r (Baltimore Chapter) Alumni Association of Virginia Union University.

B R O T H E R G R O G A N JOYNER

retired in 1987 after 32 years of teaching in the Baltimore, MD, Public School System. He attended Knoxville College in Tennessee before earning a music degree from Florida A&M University and a master's degree from Boston University. Brother Joyner taught school in Brookville, FL, and worked briefly in government service before joining the Baltimore Public School System. An active member of Delta Lambda Chapter, Brother Joyner participated in the Knoxville College Quartet, the Handel Choir, and the Jewish Community Choir.

BROTHER DR. JESSEE T R O T T E R HOLMES was a native

of Gulfport, MS. He attended Clark Atlanta University before serving as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Following his discharge from the military, Brother Holmes earned bachelor's, master's, and Doctor of Medicine degrees from Howard University. His medical practice spanned 34 years. A talented musician, Brother Holmes taught piano and played the church organ. He was a member of Delta Lambda Chapter.

BROTHER FREEMAN was

HENRY

NEAL

a Life Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and a retired music professor. H e earned his bachelor's degree at West Virginia State College and the master's degree from Columbia University. During his 26 years as chairman of music at Coppin State College, he organized the first college choir which subsequently gained statewide recognition for outstanding performances. He is said to have enjoyed the great Symphonic Halls and Opera Houses t h r o u g h o u t Europe.

T h e Baltimore Symphonic

Winter 1995 â&#x20AC;˘

The Sphinx A 55

Omega Chapter Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Washington Opera Company enjoyed his support. Brother Freeman was a member of Delta Lambda Chapter.

BROTHER

WILLIAM

MlLBOURNE T O A D V I N E practiced law in Baltimore, MD, for almost half a century. He was a native of Salisbury, M D , and earned degrees from Morgan State University and the University of Maryland School of Law. In addition to membership in Delta Lambda Chapter, Brother Toadvine was active with the National Bar Association, the Maryland State Bar Association, the Monumental City Bar Association, the NAACP, and the Urban League. He provided "pro bono" legal advice to several churches and organizations in the Baltimore area.

BROTHER DR. WILLIE HENRY W I D E M O N was a native

of Dallas, TX. He was both a minister and medical doctor.

Brother Widemon earned his bachelor's and Master of Divinity degrees from Howard University and the D o c t o r of Medicine degree from the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center in Oklahoma City, OK. He served as interim pastor of Northeast Missionary Baptist Church, Oklahoma City and associate minister of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church in Memphis, TN. H e taught in the Alexandria, VA, Public School System and was a resident physician at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, T N , at the time of his death. A scholarship in Dr. Widemon's honor is established at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church in Memphis.

BROTHER BROWN was

THADDEUS

a

native

56 A The Sphinx â&#x20AC;˘

of

Vicksburg, MS, but resided in San Francisco, CA, for over 40 years. He received the bachelor's degree from San Francisco State University and the master's degree from Golden Gate University. Brother Brown recendy retired as Tax Collector of the City and County of San Francisco after 25 years in that position. Before serving as Tax Collector, Brother Brown was the Administrative Analyst to the Chief Administrative Officer and Administrative Assistant in the C o m m u n i t y Mental Health Program in San Francisco. He also served as a Field Auditor in the Tax Assessor's Office.

Extensively involved in community service, Brother Brown was on the Board of the National Federation of Settlements and N e i g h b o r h o o d Centers, past president of the Visitacion Valley Community Center, board member of the Golden Gate Neighborhood Centers Association, and chairman of the Trustees of the United Way of the Bay Area. A Life Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the NAACP, and a Fellow and Life Member of the California Academy of Sciences, Brother Brown was recipient of the M o r t i m e r Fleischhacker, Jr. Award, the United N e g r o College Fund's Frederick D. Patterson Award, the Meritorious Award from the National Forum for Black Public Administrators, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Francisco Business and Professional Women, Inc. The Third Baptist Church also honored him for his dedication to the advancement of the AfroAmerican community. Brother Brown was San Francisco's longest serving department head when he retired in May.

Winter 1995

BROTHER D R . L U T H E R H. F O S T E R , J R . retired from

Tuskegee University in 1981 after 40 years of serviceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;12 years as Business Manager and 28 years as President. He was a native of Lawrenceville, VA, and held degrees from Virginia State University, H a m p t o n University, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago.

Elected to the Alabama Academy of H o n o r , Brother Foster received many honors during his professional career, including Distinguished Alumnus awards from H a m p t o n , Harvard and Chicago Universities. T h e numerous boards and commissions on which he served included Sears Roebuck, N o r t o n Simon, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, March of Dimes, the American Association of Colleges, Academy for Educational Development, Joint Committee for Political and Economic Studies, the United N e g r o College Fund, and the Institute for Church Administration Management. He was a member of Sigma Pi Boule, Phi Delta Kappa, Society for Values in Higher Education, and Tuskegee Airmen.

Omega Chapter Listings Hemmons, Luther Alpha Nu Lambda Brown, Samuel J. II Rho Elliot, Henry Tarmel RhoMu Whal, Derick Iota Chi Owens, Dr. Theodore Wilis Jr. Epsilon Nu Lambda Joyner, Larry R. Rho Lambda

THE SEVEN JEWELS

Henry A. Callis, M.D.

Charles H. Chapman

Eugene ECindbfc Jones

George IS. Kelley

Nathaniel A. Murniv

Robert H. Ogle

Vertner W. Tandy

GENERAL OFFICERS G E N E R A L P R E S I D E N T - M i l t o n C. Davis, P.O. Box 509, Tuskegee, AL 36083 I M M E D I A T E PAST G E N E R A L PRESIDENT—Henry Ponder, President's Office, Fisk University, Nashville, TN 37208 I N T E R I M E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R - D a i r y 1 R. Matthews, Sr., 2313 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-5234 G E N E R A L TREASURER—George N. Reaves, 2933 Balmoral Crescent, Flossmoor, IL 60422 C O M P T R O L L E R — F r a n k Jenkins, 529 South Perry Street, Montgomery, AL 36104 G E N E R A L C O U N S E L - T y r o n e C. Means, P.O. Drawer 5058, Montgomery, AL 36103-5058 N A T I O N A L H I S T O R I A N - T h o m a s D. Pawley, III, 1014 Lafayette Street, Jefferson City, MO 65101 D I R E C T O R - G E N E R A L C O N V E N T I O N — A l Rutherford, 8585 Stemmons Freeway, Suite 730N, Dallas, TX 75247

VICE PRESIDENTS EASTERN—John A. (Tony) Mann, 9525 Heathwood Court, Burke, VA 22015 M I D W E S T E R N - R o y L. Manley, Sr., 2631 Coventry Road, Shaker Heights, OH 44120 SOUTHERN—Robert A. Willis, 130 Old Fairburn Close, Atlanta, GA 30331 S O U T H W E S T E R N - H a r r y E. Johnson, 8606 Running Bird Lane, Missouri City,TX 77489 W E S T E R N —Phillip Cochran, 1165 Drexel Avenue, Boulder, CO 80303

ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENTS E A S T E R N - M i c h a e l Upchurch, Temple Hills, Maryland M I D W E S T E R N - S o l o m o n Davis, Chicago, Illinois SOUTHERN—Maurice Spence, Miami, Florida S O U T H W E S T E R N - R i c h a r d Lee Scott, Jr., Little Rock, Arkansas W E S T E R N — A a r o n Brumfield, Los Angles, California Administrative Assistants to the General President Charlie E. Hardy, Tuskegee, AL Joseph E. Heywood. Florence, SC Warren W. Sherwood, Montclair, NJ

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Alpha Phi Alpha Building Foundation, Inc. Donald Lee. Chairman 8916 Tennessee Kansas City, MO 64138 George N. Reaves, Treasurer Clinton C. Jones, Assoc. Gen. Counsel Samuel L. Guillory Robert E. Simmons J.W. Vaughn Felix Goodwin Milton C. Davis, Ex Officio

Corporate Office 2313 St. Paul Street Baltimore, MD 21218-5234 Telephone: (410) 554-0040 Darryl R. Matthews, Sr., Interim Executive Director

Alpha Phi Alpha Education Foundation, Inc. Christopher Womack, Chairman P.O. Box 2641 Birmingham, AL 35291 George N. Reaves, Treasurer Cecil Howard, Assoc. Gen. Counsel Jim Dave Wilson Keener A. Tippin Clarence Christian Raymond E. Carreathers John W. German Milton C. Davis, Ex Officio

NATIONAL COMMITTEE/COMMISSION CHAIRMEN Alpha Scholarship Bowl Roland Wesley 1159 Quail Run Avenue Bolingbrook.tL 60439

College Brothers Affairs Myles Newborn 421033 Desert Hill Drive Lancaster. CA 93536

Job Fair Wilbur E. Jackson 6716 Indian Spring Court San Jose. CA 95120

JJ. Johnson. Ill P.O. Box 512 Tuskegee, AL 36087

Archivist Herman "Skip" Mason 564 Blake Avenue, S £ .

Atlanta. Georgia

Constitution David Pryor 30316 Gunstock Court Reynoldsburg, OH 43068

Life Membership John C. Rawls 5808 S.W. 49th Street Gainesville. FL 32608

Public Relations Edward L. Marshall 100 Cypress Grove Court Condo #77 New Orleans. LA 70131

Awards Chairman Joseph Byrd Xavier University P.O.Box I01-C New Orleans, LA 70125

Elections Johnson E. Pennywell 15613 Singapore Houston, TX 77040

Membership Standards & Extension Ronald L. Mangum 306 Euclid Avenue Pittsburgh. PA 15206

Racial Justice Joe C. Thomas 787 Carsten Circle Benicia.CA 94510

Budget & Finance Roger A. McLean P.O. Box 921 E.C.S.U. Elizabeth City, NC 27909

Endowment & Capital Formation Robert L. Davis 102 W. Northside Street Tuskegee. AL 36083

National Programs Ronnie Jenkins 3507 Dale Lane, S.W. Atlanta, GA 30331

Recommendations Chester E. Jordan 9105 Rex Court El Paso. TX 79925

Business & I ton.. Development Malthew H. Dawson 43 Garthe Court Vallejo.CA 94591

Grievances & Discipline Harry E. Johnson, Sr. 86066 Running Bird Lane Missouri City. TX 77489

Personnel Iva B. Williams 237 Eleventh Avenue, S.W. Birmingham, AL 35211

Rules & Credentials Ronald T. James 1717 Northeast 66th Oklahoma City. OK 73111

Publications

Senior Alpha Affairs Rufus B. Dewitt 4937 Dafter Drive San Diego, CA 92102 Special Projects Leroy Lowery, III 1724 Portal Drive. N.W. Washington. DC 20012 Time & Place Michael C. Rogers 466 West 142nd Street New York. NY 10031 Historical Commission Thomas D. Pawley, III 1014 Lafayette Street Jefferson City. MO 65101

THE LIVING PAST GENERAL PRESIDENTS T. Winston Cole, Sr. 124 SW Twenty-Third Gainesville, FL 32607

Henry Ponder

Fisk University Nashville. TN 37208

Walter Washington Alcorn State University Lorman, MS 39096

Charles C. Teamer Sr. 4619 Owens Boulevard New Orleans, LA 70122

James R. Williams 1733 Brookwood Drive Akron, OH 44313

Ozell Sutton 1640 Loch Lomond Trail S.W. Atlanta, GA 30331

sphinx Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. 2313 St. Paul Street Baltimore, MD 21218 Second Class Postage Paid POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Sphinx, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. 2313 St. Paul Street Baltimore, MD 21218