Alpha Phi Alpha is an American intercollegiate fraternity that is generally recognized as the first established by African Americans. Founded on December 4, 1906 on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, the fraternity has initiated over 175,000 men into the organization. Beginning in 1908, the Howard chapter became the prototype for six of the remaining eight National Pan-Hellenic Council members, a predominantly African-American fraternal council. It has been open to men of all races since 1945. Today, there are over 700 Alpha chapters in the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the West Indies. The national organization has established a number of community programs and combined its resources with other organizations on philanthropic projects. The fraternity jointly leads programming initiatives with March of Dimes, Head Start, Boy Scouts of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, which Congress authorized in 1996 with Public Law 104-333, is a project of Alpha Phi Alpha. Members of Alpha Phi Alpha include former Jamaican Prime Minister and Rhodes Scholar Norman Manley, Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King, Jr., former U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Olympian Jesse Owens, and Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Phi_Alpha

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

306: Constantine I was proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I)

1261: The Latin Empire ended when Michael VIII Palaeologus and his Nicaean forces captured Constantinople to re-establish the Byzantine Empire. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Empire)

1909: French aviator Louis Blériot (pictured) made the first crossing of the English Channel in a heavier-than-air flying machine. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Bl%C3%A9riot)

1978: Louise Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, was born in Oldham, England. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_fertilisation)

2000: Air France Concorde Flight 4590 crashed after takeoff in Paris, killing 113 people. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_4590)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"There seem to be magic days once in a while, with some rare quality of light that hold a body spellbound... Then comes the hard part: how to plan a picture so as to give to others what has happened to you. To render in paint an experience, to suggest the sense of light and color, air and space..." -- Maxfield Parrish (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maxfield_Parrish)