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)