About the intellectual activist they used to call us the fires sons of fire and brimstone used bringing hell because of that connotation it’s POS like Harlem Hell Fighters right I mean I know I know man look man I Heard come on man this is in I’m ready I Cindy there’s always ready I’m not I’m not are you ready be my 500 Uh What pict oh yeah oh Yeah Yes sir yes sir good morning morning good morning on behalf of the morning sping on Research Center we welcome you all especially our brothers of Sigma my name is John Kennedy I am one of the archists here at Mor spard Research Center and I am also
A fall 2008 ini disate of five Beta Sigma by way of the Epsilon Alpha chapter at Dill University so was with the greatest intentionality that this our team of Brothers put this together because we want to show that five b Sigma is passionate about historic preservation particularly black history
So uh if you will I’m going to go through uh the agenda and then we’ll get our program started okay okay next up we’re going to have brother Nightingale who’s going to come and do an intro about black history month after brother Nale we’ll have myself I’ll go through the the nature of
This program oh and I’m sorry brother Nel will be introducing our director uh brother I’m s our brother Dr Benjamin to after after myself you’ll have brother Eric Gilliam after brother Gilliam I’ll introduce brother Omar Eaton Martinez after that we’ll have brother Willis Hut following Brother Hut we’ll have brother Dr Kevin
Christian and then we will conclude our presentations with our newly appointed International historian brother Dr Kenneth Lewis then we’ll move into our Q&A session and closing remarks and that that would be it and next uh up we’ll have brother uh Brandon Nightingale coming I’m sorry U I’m sorry Dr Benjamin
Tom good morning morning he had a right I’m I’m technically Dr Benjamin Talton but he had a right when he called me brother tton first that’s I’m I’m I’m brother F welcome I’m honored to to welcome you to spon Research Center in Howard University um I’m a historian of of Africa particularly
Ghana and I know that Ghana’s first president kwami and kruma is a sigma man I also know that his mentor namdi eiki first prime minister of Nigeria is a sigma man so that got me wondering you know who else is this I know folks from Howard University but then I got on our
Good friend Wikipedia and I just did a deep dive and I saw there are 700 Sigma chapters around the world every continent except for Antarctica so hugely impressive um and then I looked at Ghana’s i l Googled Ghana and sigma and I saw there two chapters in in Ghana and I said just
It’s makes sense that the sigas began at Howard University a a a a campus a university that is global in its Blackness and the sigmas are a global fraternity and so when I walk by that statue in the valley probably every day and I joke with uh brother Brandon about
You know he walks by just pauses at this at this statue in the valley uh I’m proud of that I’m proud I’m I I’m I’m I’m Sigma adjacent I did not pledge but I’m Sigma adjacent it’s not too late it’s not too late but I’m very proud of
That statue I’m proud of our our history with with the sigas on Howard University’s campus Because I’m a Howard University grad and I’m I’m very proud of the sigas being Global in their not only their Blackness but in their service I when I meet someone who’s an intellectual or an
Activist politician in their sigas I’m never surprised I’m never surprised so on behalf of our Provost Tony wutah who’s our big boss and Dr benon the third our president is my honor to welcome you back back home to Howard University and mor Spenard good morning Brothers good
Morning it is a true honor to be here in front of you all today uh doing Black History Month um representing uh Morland spinar Research Center my name is Brandon Nel I was initiated in Spring 2016 at uh the Iota Road chapter in the University Central Florida um the
Fraternity holds a special place in my heart it truly does my brother’s a a member of the fraternity my father’s a member of the fraternity um and what really drew me into Sigma was the history of the fraternity and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate
History in Black History Month um then with five beta Sig fraternity which is why we’re all here today I do want to acknowledge a couple of people um who were very very instrumental in putting this together um there were a lot of conversation a lot of meetings and so I
Would be remiss if I did not mention um those good brothers so when I call your name if you don’t mind just please standing and we’ll do round of applause at the end I want to first thank and acknowledge brother Dr Kevin Christian uh brother Omar e Martinez brother Dr Daman
Fon brother Eric Gilliam brother willik Hut brother John Kennedy brother Andre Williams and brother Dr kenth Lewis can we all a hand [Applause] please thank you Brothers it it was truly an honor to work with you all um in helping putting this event together um this was not a oneman show me and
John do work here but it took it took a lot of a lot of help to get this get this thing rolling and we are very excited um and and so much that we have in store for you all today um and then two other acknowledgements I do want to
We’ve been having a lot of help here on the Morland sping on Research Center side so I want to ackowledge Rebecca Solomon in the back one of our Morland Scholars so you if you all can give her a hand please so Rebecca is running all communication she did our Flyers um
She’s helping with the live stream and I do want to welcome our our live stream audience from all over the world thank you for for tuning in today um on this very special occasion so the question becomes you know why are we here um and
I’m going to hand it off to my good brother John Kennedy in the second but Black History Month um you know I’ve heard a lot of debates you know was the shortest month February this and that um I love Black History Month myself um
It’s a time for us to be reminded of how important our history is right um and today we get to acknowledge some brothers within the fraternity right um some brothers you may know some brothers you may not know and I think that’s what I love about our fraternity is it’s very
Diverse Black History Month the national theme so every year there’s a theme Chosen and I know uh a lot of brothers here connected to aala and I know brother Omar e Martinez would probably give a shout out there um they choose a theme every year so this year’s
Theme is African-Americans in the arts for 2024 okay um and so just a little bit about black history mon this is a time to recognize and highlight the achievements of black artists creators and the roles they played in US in US history and in shaping our country today
So to to commemorate Black History Month here at Morland Spar Research Center we have put together a dynamic presentation for you today in partnership with five s Fraternity Incorporated founded in 1914 right here on Howard’s historic campus it’s truly an honor to be here before you all today and so without further Ado
Just a little bit about more why we are here I’m going to bring up my good brother John Kennedy again brother it is a pleasure to be um in the midst of you today it’s a high honor Um the the why is the why we all are here um is attached much to why we all pledge and we we take that over to Sigma is it’s substance it’s intentionality it’s meaning uh it’s history so what conversations in history began as a as a as a as a thought about how
The men Sigma can better support Mor sping our Research Center what what can what type of gesture could we offer to show that we’re meaningful in our uh intentionality uh towards s being a key piece and helping uh more this being our Research Center
So we we we we be Brandon and I begin to to look at what could what what could come of of such a relationship ultimately we approached our director Dr toon with the with the idea and then conversation history begin to take form okay maybe a symposium might work but
What should that Symposium should look like it should be centered around history so with that in mind uh and also considering that Mor than sping our Research Center is the largest the largest privately owned black repository in the world then then then the meeting became a little bit more clearer so with
That Brandon and I begin to reach out to the to to men that we consider pillars in the in the realm of historic preservation and when you hear from these men today you’ll see that the overarching theme is historic preservation but particularly black history and hopefully we we hope our
Audience uh the M SP our research that it takes away from this that we are intentional about pres preserving black history but ultimately we want to form symbiotic relationship with M sping our Research Center whereas hopefully it maybe it possibly becomes our official repository in five
Bet Sigma uh and lastly we hope that from these presentations that our audience uh takes away that the men of Sigma are instrumental in lifting up repositories uh such as more than sping our research centers so that’s the why we are here today um and with that I’ll will bring up
Uh uh brother Brandon night Andale again thank you brother John um and again is it’s truly a pleasure working with John I I the first day I met I didn’t realize he was he was a member of the fraternity and um Dr talk always jokes we always joke around about the
Frat and um he said hey you know that’s that’s a sigma man over there and then right after that it was a done deal and he’s right you know I take a specific route to campus every morning and that’s to go by and pass through um the
Monument right and I don’t you know I don’t you know stop too often I just kind of just a daily reminder of why we do it why we’re here um and just kind of kind of pay homage uh to those that came before us and there’s respect all across
The D9 um as far as I’m concerned and again specifically within within the fraternity I do want to read there’s a message here here and I’m hoping you all can see this in the in the live stream um this was released from Dr tton Dr Benjamin tton on February 23rd 2024 it
Says the Morland Spar Research Center is thrilled to announce a momentous event to honor the rich history of fireb De City Fraternity Incorporated on February 27 2024 msrc will host a symposium to launch its partnership with five Beta Sigma unveil the sigma’s inspiring stories of achievement and and highlight
The extraordinary contributions that its members have made at Howard University University institutions of higher education the African-American community and the society as as well as a whole in the US and abroad this year is the 110th anniversary of f Beta Sigma and Morland Spar Research Center uh founded here at
Morland Morland Library uh and so we are excited to witness the fruition of a formal partnership which is a testament to our shared commitment to preserving and sharing five beta sigma’s Rich history and ensuring that it’s recognized as an integral to the or as an integral to the broader African and
African for historical narrative I Sigma 700 chapters spread throughout the world as a testament to his Global reach of significance its countless notable members include George Washington Carver Nam first prime minister of Nigeria Ghana’s first president kwami inuma Al roer Harry bellafante Dr Benjamin Chavis and MSR se’s own Brandon Nightingale and
John Richard Kennedy the Morland Spar Research Center extends a welcome home to five bet Sigma we are thrilled to have you back on the beautiful historic Campus of Howard University where the Story begins so again we thank Dr Toton for opening um the invitation for us to
Come out here and celebrate our our Rich fraternity history so thank you again Dr talk and next we’ll have a good brother um of mine you know I can’t put in the words of the relationship me and brother Gile have I just know that I’m a better man because
Of his guidance his wisdom his words of encouragement um you know he’s always extending his help anything I may need U we run to we run into each other at the grocery store um and it is truly truly an honor to to be around uh brother Eric
Gillman just a little bit about brother gilam he was the alpha chapter president 1984 and a board of directors president of five b Sigma Federal Credit Union so without further Ado brother Eric Jillian thank you uh brother n Andale well the real truth in the matter is you know I
Came into the fraternity in summer of 1982 in the summer of 1982 and that’s a big difference than in the spring or in the fall because in the summer Brothers have nothing to do but to hang around and and here oh there’s a line at Alpha chapter so they come from everywhere so
The summer is a little little bit different than the fall of the spring I just say that so I got used to that that that kind of join the so after 1989 when all of that stuff was said and gone you can’t do those things anymore about but
I do because when I have new brothers or young brothers that come around they don’t know anything better so with John and with Brandon I just ordered them around do this do that do that and they just say yes brother Gill yes brother Gillan so it makes me feel good like you
Know I’m big brother again so I thank you all for for for just doing that but what I wanted to say today is that this is a this is a great occasion and in Alpha Sigma chapter uh local DC chapter we’ve been really emphasizing the importance of history and then
Comes uh Brandon Nightingale and here comes John Kennedy and it just all makes sense so they are my bookends nowadays and so we’re going to do some great things with the history of 5 bet Sigma and the preservation of all of our Sigma artifacts but with that being said I do
Want to acknowledge a couple of special people in the room today and I’ll be remiss in in our organization we have something called the distinguished service chapter which is the highest level that a person can reach within F Beta Sigma and we’ve got you know couple hundred th000 members that have come to
5 Beta Sigma but in this particular chapter I there’s there’s less than 100 that are still alive today and uh this one particular brother is our 30th International president and a member of uh distinguished service chapter and he’s honorable brother Peter M Adams Esquire Adams member of deltaa sorority yes
Indeed oh there we go yes indeed there we go that’s how you do it so um and and and also our International executive director on his way he will be here and our newly appointed uh historian our national historian you you’ve heard his name but I want to introduce him and
That’s Dr Kenneth Lewis and with that uh I’ll I’ll I’ll sit down but I’d like to introduce uh locally here at Alpha chapter the local Brothers here at Alpha chapter would you please stand and and we had with us the president of alpha chapter and that’s Andre Williams
And Andre is gonna come up and bring you greetings morning every morning my name is Andre Williams I am a spring 23 initiate of five sign Fraternity Incorporated Alpha chapter and on behalf of the brothers of alpha chapter we like to thank you all for coming out today and greet you to our
Lusterous campus of our University today is historic not only for our University but for our fraternity as well we have the privilege of sharing the history of five Beta Sigma on the very campus in which it was founded the brothers of alpha chapter would like to acknowledge the Mormon
Spring rech for allowing us to come together for such an event and most importantly we like to thank the wonderful team of Brothers who put this all together uh if you like to stand up again uh like to give you a round of applause for all your hard
Work been long months days hours planning put all this together we like to tell you that we appreciate you thank you I have the honor and pleasure of introducing brother Omar Eden Martinez brother Omar is a senior Vice pres president for historic sites at the National Trust for historic preservation
Where he leads the overall stewardship of 28 historic sites across the country to tell the full American story during his career he has worked at Maryland national capital parks and Planning Commission smithsonia National M national museum of American History National Park Service the office of the national museum of the American Latino
Commission NASA and he was also a K2 teacher in New York City and uh uh DC he is currently the board president for the association of African-American museums he was he’s also recently appointed the Latino advisor to the Latino advisor board for the office of the county executive for Prince George County and
The trustees of the international trust organization Omar is a former member of the executive Council for the association for the study of African-American life and history he was also initiated into the five Beta Sigma chapter of five Beta Sigma on on December uh 14th 1997 so let us welcome brother more eat
Montin I tell you it’s a pleasure to be here um I get to talk about this type of work every day but this is special being here with my fraternity brothers and we the place we’re founded I mean I’m I’m overwhelmed really right now emotional
Um just to be able to be part of this during Black History Month you know I’ve spoken dozens of times over the last 28 days that’s just what we do in my line of work but today is special today is special and I think we’re going to be
Able to use this as a spring board to hopefully Forge our relationship with the Morland spinard Research Center and I can’t wait for that you know to my fraternity brothers and distinguished guests and fellow citizens what I want to do is talk a little bit about the importance of why we should be
Memorializing our history and our Legacy that we should not anybody else we should have the agency we should have the self-determination in doing that I stand before you to emphasize the vital importance of of this memorializing Sigma notables with statutes monuments and other forms of Art in our community ities and across
Our nation it is a duty we owe not only to the legacy of our great fraternity but more broadly to the descendants of those who have endured immense suffering and contributed significantly to the fabric of our society in the United States and across the world but also to
Ourselves as we strive for a more inclusive and just future statues and monuments have always played a significant role in preserving and celebrating our history culture and values they serve as um they serve as potent symbols and it represents our shared Heritage as well as a reminder of the lessons uh that we
Have learned from our past yet for far too long Mena Sigma and the remarkable contributions to American history have not been fully realized and acknowledged in this regard but memorializing African descendants with statues markers and other forms of art we’re acknowledging the undeniable impacts they have had
Made to our nation and our world from our ancestors who are captured and endured the treacherous journey of the Middle Passage to the courageous leaders of the Civil Rights Movement to movement leaders and culture keep keepers of today black people have played an integral role in shaping the America we
Know their stories are a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity and they Inspire us all to strive for a more Equitable and just Society we know that these these statutes and memorials also serve as Educational Tools they provide a platform for
Learning and discussion allowing us to engage with our history warts and all so the idea is that we want to tell a full and inclusive story not just the good parts but the bad parts because without the bad parts the good parts be nothing nothing sir when we memorialize our stories in particular
Our members of five segment fraternity we not only honor their legacy but also open the door to a more comprehensive understanding of the complexities of our nation’s history this in turn promotes empathy tolerance and a deeper appreciation for the struggles and triends of all Americans furthermore the act of
Memorialization sends a powerful message to Future Generations ations it says we are committed to a more liberated society and encourages young minds to Aspire the greatness regardless of their background and reinforces the idea that anyone regardless of their race or ethnicity can make a lasting impact on
Our nation so the importance of of doing this memorialization work in particular the memorialization work of our fraternity with statues markers and other things can’t be overstated it’s a matter of acknowledging the invaluable contributions they have made to our nation educating ourselves and future generations and sending a resounding
Message of justice and Liberation as we erect these monuments and celebrate their achievements we take a crucial step toward a more unified and enlightened society and so we should embrace this opportunity ensure that our history reflects the full spectrum of the American Experience so this presentation is titled memorialization
Of A Philip Randolph and other sigmas and that is not to diminish other the others of that are part of the sish but this was part of a presentation uh that I took part of with other members of our fraternity at the association for the study of African-American life and history that
Took place last fall in Jacksonville Florida home of our good brother James bin Johnson and so you see here picture uh ASA Philip Randolph you know he’s born in April 158 1889 uh Cent City Florida to a Methodist Minister James Randolph in 1891 the Randolph family strong supporters of equal rights for
African-Americans moved to Jacksonville he was initiated in the iota Sigma chapter R in Virginia of our lustrious fraternity Randol spent most of his youth in Jacksonville and attended the cookman Institute one of the first institutes to provide high education to Black Americans in uh in the same city uh Randolph went through another
Migration when a when after graduating from cookman he settled in New York City in order to pursue his acting career uh during his time in the Harlem neighborhood Randol juggle between college and jobs of being a porter elevator oper operator and waiter which at that time were good jobs for
African-American men our most honorable founder ab ab Langston Taylor was a was a a elevator operator in smithsonia and he had a career there for for decades um and he was doing this again while he’s still developing his rhetorical uh skills and in the 1912 Randolph makes his first move into
Politics by co-founding an employment agency the Brotherhood of Labor in order to assist black workers in 1913 a Randolph started the Shakespearean Society in Harlem soon after he tied a knot with his wife luil green he set the building blocks of his acting career in this group only by taking up the lead
Roles in various Productions of society after the success of the Sixpence Society his co-founder Chandler Owen joined Rand off in another venture called the messenger a magazine set out to increase political awareness concerning the black minority in the magazine the two men talked about an equal blacktowhite ratio in armed forces
And also called for an increase in wages during this period of the first world war Randolph also made efforts to unionize the African-American Shipyard workers of Virginia and elevator operators in New York City after the war ceased Randolph served as a lecturer at the Rand School of social science the
Politician also tried running for office in New York state but did not do that successfully in 1925 uh he founded the first successful black Trade union Brotherhood of sleeping car Porters which we’ll learn a little bit more about about in the presentation uh took his Union into the
American Federation of Labor during a period when the latter had borred blacks from all ad all admission the union won his first major contract with the pman company in 1937 but his president withdrew the membership in the following year due to the Discrimination within that organization Randolph then took his
Union into the federal government being a oneman army the black leader organized a March on Washington movement in 1941 ex succeeded in pressuring the president then Franklin D Roosevelt to put an end to the Discrimination present in certain industries after the fair point and practices committee Randolph brought
Another Victory to his name by convincing President Truman to ban segregation and The Arm Forces Randolph was given the position the vice president um after the AFL and Cil merged and was also the president of the Negro American labor Council from 1960 to 66 which was founded to avoid
Discrimination within the joint venture due to his continuous efforts in gaining equal rights to the black community president Lyndon B Johnson we have PCT it over here uh endowed Randol with a presidential medal of freedom uh this honor was followed by the a phelip randar Institute which set out to study
The cause of the poverty and during his 40-year tenure when once it came to an end after his poor health um push him to resignation um he spent the first few years of his retirement writing an autobiography but his worsening condition didn’t allow him to finish that task uh he transitioned into the
Omega chapter May 16th 1979 at the age of 90 and his ashes lie interred at his Institute at this Institute in Washington DC I Shar that rich history about our brother because he was one of the people that I was researching when I was seeking SI
Right and I was inspired by his activism I was inspired by his tenacity and we’ll talk about a few other uh singer men also who did inspire me as well to seek this great fraternity and you see in the picture here um under the text memorializing ail Randol and other
Sigmas is a a picture taken by Gordon Parks the great African-American photographer um and this was this is uh this picture is located in the collection of the library Congress and it was taken back in 1942 so when we talk about memorials and statues has anybody seen this bus in unan
Station it’s there look for it take your selfie with it next time you see it right uh it’s commissioned by the AFL CIO um done by African-American sculptor Ed Dwight who in preparing for this um presentation that I did last fall found out who’s a sigma man edwi himself the
Sculptor is a sigma um dedicated again this was dedicated the memory of A Philip Randolph um America’s foremost black labor and civil rights leader the founder the sleeping car Porters um he ConEd and initiated uh this uh dur uh did the N 1963 marches on Washington and
Also 41 before that and what it reads at the very bottom which is probably hard to read it says at the banquet table of nature there are no reserve seats you get what you can take and you keep what you can hold if you can’t take anything
You won’t get anything and if you can’t hold anything you won’t keep anything and you T can’t take anything without organization so we talk about Grassroots movements organizing sigma’s always been at the Forefront when it comes to the black community just a little bit about
Uh the um the the sculptor Ed Dwight um he was a graduate engineer former United States Air Force test pilot in America’s first African-American astronaut and Canada I want to talk about these artists because it is number one he’s frat and number two uh this is uh this
Is the theme of this year African-Americans and the Arts um after a successful careers as an Air Force officer pilot and real estate and construction entrepreneur Ed had dedicated the last 33 years soling to his Artistic Endeavors he got his MFA in 1975 from University of Denver he was
Commissioned to do a lot of different Works in Colorado and Centennial commission he created a series of bronzes depicting the contribution of blacks to the American frontier West um in 1979 while the series was on exhibit at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial which is part of the National
Park Service ered was encouraged to create a bronze series for training the history historical roots of jazz series created entitled Jazz an American art form now consists over 70 bronze and characterizing the creation and evolution of jazz from its African and European roots to the fusion of
Contemporary music in 78 he had his first large scale commission to work on the Abolitionist Frederick Douglas who is not only the most photographed man American in history but he’s probably one of the most memorialized to statues as well the lifesize monument was commissioned by the National Park
Service and is display on display in the Douglas Museum in the Frederick Douglas home in anasia Maryland since this commission um Ed Dwight has completed over 12 uh 128 public art and large scale Memorial inst installations through the United States and he has his work over 18,000 Gallery sculptures and is
Represented in several galleries in 2009 he was honored with the commission to create an historical lifestyle sculpture presentation at President Barack Obama’s first inauguration scene the scene included the president the first lady to Obama girls and Chief Justice John Roberts administering the oath the exhibit is on tour throughout the us
Right now um and so he’s done a lot of great work and just wanted to to to give him his flowers now he is still with us I believe the next one is uh another statue of Asa Randolph and Back Bay train station in Boston and this was done by an African-American woman
Sculptor so again we don’t talk enough about our black women who are artists who are putting out this public art that are really conserving um our Legacy uh Tina Allen uh was born in 1949 and passed away to Young in uh September 9th of 08 uh she uh did works on uh Fred
Douglas to join the truth and also George Washington Carver again you see this in the Back Bay train station so it has a permanent uh it has a really prominent uh position in that station and of course this is this is uh rand’s connection to all the the labor work he
Did for people who work in the train industry uh Allan herself um who is pictured here below the text uh was born in Hemstead New York in 1949 to a father uh who was a jazz drummer and uh she was a Grenada born so we always have this
West Indian connection and his diaspora Connections in our fraternity that i’ love to highlight as a man who’s my family from Puerto Rico um her mother was a writer and a nurse and one of Allen’s uncles was a sculptor she began as young as five um by the time she was
10 she was setting up her easel to paint the Seascape of Grenada where she lived until she was a teenager um she was mentored by the Lithuanian American sculpture William zorak who declared her a prodigy she earned her ba or BFA from the UN University of South Alabama in 78
Also studied at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and received a mass the Pratt Institute people described the art as a history in bronze because she always focused on important black figures like our brother AA Philip Randolph and George Washington Carver uh she also portrayed did a lot of work to
To uplift different harl Renaissance uh actors uh she also had periods of her work focused specifically on black men and then she started to turn her interest to black women after she volunteered for americore for several years she hosted a local television store on Arts uh in Mobile
Alabama so how many people knew that we had have a museum named after our good brother a philando there is a museum in Chicago right this is Chicago so is the n National acea Philip Randol pman Porter Museum it is a museum that has been doing the work to uplift his legacy and
His legacy specifically to um have representation for Pullman Porters for many many years um the people that you see me picture with Dr Lyn Hughes um and her Protege uh David whose last name escapes him right now um I I I implore all all of you to go see that
Mam um one of the things I do as I think was stated or earlier is on the board president of the association of African-American museam and we have so many great Muse big and small that are doing great work and this certainly uh is is is one of
Them and it’s also connected to to the to the Pullman uh National monument and historic site which is W by the National Park Service and that was put forth by uh an executive order so these portraits here um were commissioned uh one uh one by Ernest Hamlin
Baker and uh you’ll see here in 1978 the Time Magazine donated approximately 800 works of original cover art to the National Portrait Gallery the museum is dedicated to telling the stories of individuals who shaped the United States in the time collection featuring prominent International figures and events enriches our understanding of of
The United States in its Global context and the other one was done by Laura wheeler bring Betsy Graves Rena um who has uh the Harmon Foundation was the one who was a philanthropic organization based in New York City included this portrait in their exhibition portraits of outstanding Americans of negro origin
Which opened in the Smithsonian way back in 1944 so this proceeds having the anos museum it precedes obviously the nas Museum of African-American history and culture and so when this Smithsonian was making efforts to uh tell the story of of of black Americans they used our good
Brother AA Philip Rand off lifted up his work um I also wanted to remind you all also about uh the pulman porter Museum that it was founded in 95 and they are looking for support so I’m always trying to make sure that we are out there supporting with
Monetary dollars and awareness and other Inon Services as we can do that so the next one is Dr huie P Newton now if I loved asop Rand I don’t know what I can call I love this brother I love this brother I mean so inspired by his
Legacy um I’m a big fan and Scholar of the 60s particular the original Rainbow Coalition not the co-opted Jesse Jackson version um but the original one that was started by Fred Hampton from the Panthers and included the young Lord’s party which was the Puerto uh political party that was found in
Chicago and had chapters in New York and other spaces it had young Patriots which involved uh you know young poor poor poor white folks from the Appalachia and and eventually expanded to the ior Q which involved a native uh excuse me asian-americans and the American Indian movement for the Native Americans so
This was the original Rainbow Coalition but with huie P Newton uh what I wanted to share with you in these pictures is um you know they started the foundation um a while back with fedric Newton his widow um and what I want to share about this experience is this is in
Oakland um in in in in the city in in where our people are or or were because gentrification’s alive and well in Oak as well um but that brother that you see me down there with uh is our frat Dr Xavier bck and he is the executive
Director of this Museum so Sigma is Laden through this Legacy as well uh that bust was done by Dana King who is pictured next to it that’s the African-American woman in the sort of purplish um hat right there um and so she she worked on this and we were able
To go see this uh last December it is captivating they opened the black Panem mam officially in January that is me in the gallery with uh our brother Dr Buck and they were just they were still sort of um doing the installation it wasn’t quite open yet when we were there but
That was back in December and January they had the official opening to to critical a claim so another space another black institution another black Museum that lifts up um a notable member of f Beta Sigma uh and is run by a sigma and so I think we should really uh look
Into that work um a little bit about Dana King uh she is a classical figurative Sculptor creates public monuments of black bodies and bronze she studies the strength resilience of African descendants and creates pieces made of clay with her hands that are then cast in bronze one of her famous
Works is guilded by Justice which is actually in Montgomery Alabama and it’s part of the Legacy Museum and the memorial of peace and Justice that Brian Stevenson started a few years ago and it represents the woman of the bus boycott so this is what you have here um
With h p mtin and U just a great work and Legacy that that he did uh for our people so this is George Washington Carver um George Washington Carver we know was born in 1864 in di Missouri uh died in Tuskegee Alabama he was initiated in Gamma Sigma chapter um he
Um I’m sorry I just realized I didn’t attended Simpson College Simpson College 1890 1893 I didn’t mention that that that uh brother Dr Newton was initia beta tow chapter mer college and that back then beta to was the former Oakland City Wide chapter uh George Washington Carver we
Know the young child was known as The Plant Doctor attending the secret garden observing the day-to-day operations of the 19th century George Washington Carver is the first africanamerican to be acknowledged by the National Park Service have a National Monument dedicated to him right that’s big right
A lot of great notables in our history that you would think Fred Douglas maybe would have been the first one people might think is King but it was our good brat brother George Washington Carver um the monument um was um was created and established by legislation in 1943 and public law 148
Uh Franklin D Roosevelt was the president at the time it is in Newton County in Southwest Missouri and it’s composed of land with 240 Acres Farm uh where Moses Carver George Washington Carver and slaver owned and lived the farm was the place where George Washington car was born into slavery a
Distinguished African-American scientist educator humanitarian who became known for his work at the SK Institute and so I share that with you because sometimes when we look at that that space in that historic site it’s not talked about as a plantation because it wasn’t a plantation with all the checks and marks
But it it was where he labored in t right this is where he was treated less than nothing and he still overcame and did all those wonderful things as a scientist and as as a humanitarian um you’ll you’ll see uh that on the upper left hand side you’ll
See a building that is a muse named after our good brother in Austin Texas George Washington Carver museam and cultural and genealogy center this uh Community Management Museum uh which uh was is there to promote black history and achievement in Austin Texas and October 24th 1980 it became a reality
That was one of Austin’s uh first libraries and later became Austin’s first Branch library opened his doors as the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center uh the first afcan American neighborhood museam in Texas uh they are members of our association of AF American exams then you see him um in
The Statue uh with the big picture is uh him at the Missouri Botanical Garden so this uh this is a live- size bronze of Carver claimed uh by uh the after American sculptor Tina Allen who I mentioned earlier and um it shows him about she was about 65 years of age um
With a gentle expression holding the small plants the sunlight um and so he really uh he’s really front and center in this important piece of Missouri in uh in the Botanical Garden I believe it’s located somewhere near um St Louis um the sculptures um are really really important and really just tell a
Powerful story and then the bust on the lower left-and side is part of the George Washington um Carver Park in in in Missouri so here are um a marker for a lay lock uh in Philadelphia to date I have not been able to find any type of memorialization of a lane lock outside
Of some portraits I think there’s a portra in the National Portrait Gallery that shows it them but you know he’s he Alpha chapter taught here with one probably the first thing you could call an African-American curator was a lane lock these are the things that we need to
Know and in the public needs to know that notable sigas have done and been a part of this particular um this particular marker was commissioned by the Pensylvania historical commission and it’s not it’s not like it’s been there for years this is pretty new um
And but it it shows a little bit about him you know he was we know the lot believe that people should not conform to the standards dictated by white culture instead both forms of expression portray American Life realistically without sentiment um he was he was a
Great um he was a great patron of Art and he basically um he he basically refer referred to himself as a philosophical Midwife to black artists throughout this I thought you was I thought you would appreciate that um he put struggling black talents in touch with another but he also introduced
Wealthy patrons who would support them financially um again in this marker it says born in Philadelphia lock was the first African-American Ro scholar and was considered a dean of the Harlem Renaissance a Central High School and Harvard graduate he was celebrated Howard University Professor writer philosopher Arts Patron you know he was
The first road scholar um and uh and so the next one right there is celebrating a bust done by our good brother James Wen Johnson uh who was uh born in 1871 and uh died in 1938 was made the sigma um and believe I believe inide
Chapter at Clark Atlanta I need to check on that to confirm he was an American writer and civil rights activist he was married to civil rights activist Grace nil Johnson and he was a leader in NAACP uh where he started working in 1917 but we all know what he’s best
Known for which is the composer of lift every voice and sing which all of a sudden the NFL got a hold of and now everybody wants to sing the song uh so we’ll see how that continues on with the with these these other associations in 1920 uh he was chosen to be the
Executive secretary of NAACP and he showed in that position for 10 years um we also know that he wrote the autobiography of ex- color man and his poetry collection 50 years and gods trombones seven e sermons and verse were also critically paying pieces of work this sculpture that you see here was
Actually done by the famous African-American woman artist Augusta Savage and it is um was uh done in 1939 and is part of the collection of the shamberg research center for re U Black Culture in um Harlem New York then we have this new bronze uh art of brother Jose Williams in Atlanta’s
Mosley Park Corridor you know he was born in 1926 in adap pogus Georgia and died in Atlanta in Georgia um in uh 2000 he was made into Sigma at Morris Brown Zeta chapter uh he was a civil rights leader dained Minister businessman philanthropist scientist you see do we
See a trend here this is who we are this is who we are he is best known as trusted member of a fellow famed civil rights activist that we all wonderfully know is Dr Martin King Jr um uh I always bring this up because I think it’s a
Matter of note but there wasn’t white sculptor uh I think who did these some of these commissions and I’m always employing that we use black sculptors and black artists to depict our work uh so that’s my little too cents on that uh but this is part of a a a series of
Sculptures that are done in downtown Atlanta um and this was this was the first one in 2019 I think they’re all now down since 2021 then we have our African heads of state um uh our our good uh good friend earlier made mention of these some of
These men on the left hand side on the coin you have brother William tobert president Liberia was a Liberian politician who served as a 20th president of Liberia from 1971 until his assassination in 1980 uh he was made a sigma through beta Epsilon Sigma chapter of 58 fraternity
Which is the the the chapter um I believe one of the chapters in Africa uh this is the commemorative medal issued in 1976 which our government marked as the as the bicentennial uh made out of silver this out firste side is an image of a bust brother President William
Tobert you’ll see three symbols a palm tree a plow and of course a dove um and so we understand uh what what that means to us um it was produced by the Franklin Min the medal was a part of a series of 13 medals commemorating official visits of State during this
Bicentennial year in the middle you have Dr Benjamin Nami zika president of Nigeria born in 1904 and zonguru uh Nigeria died 96 in utuku Nigeria first president of Nigeria during the first Nigerian Republic which existed between 63 to 66 he was made a sigma through Mo chapter Lincoln University considered a
Driving force behind the nations in tenis and became known as the father of Nigerian nationalism his um statute was unveiled um December 17 2018 at the emo Hall of Fame and then lastly we have our good brother Dr uh o Yu quami and Kuma o Yu is a title which means Redeemer
Someone who won a battle victoriously and it comes from the aan language of Ghana um he was born in 1909 and died in April 1972 he was also made in new chapter Lincoln University there was a connection me um between him and brother zika mentioned earlier he was a Ganan politician political
Theorist revolutionary he was a prominent panafrican organizer I think sigma’s always been at the helm of Pana africanism and a bold leadership help lead Ghana to Independence in 1957 and Kuma was an inspiration to King who often looked to and Kuma’s lead ership as an activist and this statue is
Located what they called in quam and Kuma Memorial Park also has the quami kuma Museum in mum which is the national park in theh dedicated to the memory of this first president the maum also houses the remains of enuma and his wife um the park is located at the exact place where
In kruma declared independence from British rule in 1957 if you could imagine that powerful space the area which was once housed the colonial era of the old po grounds have been transformed into a beautiful Park filled with a variety of plants and trees that symbolize the dawn of a new era the
State of En kruma stands the statue of enuma stands at the park highlighting his leadership role interestingly the statue position changes depending on in the political climate for those for those of us who follow African African politics we know what that’s about um but his fluctuation symbolizes the
Changing perceptions of his legacy and what I what I love about that thought is that it allows us to interpret human beings with Nuance sometimes we throw up statues of people and they just become deity and I think that’s a problematic thing that we need to be pay attention
To even when it comes to Legacy of our good notable Sigma Brothers um so we know that this uh project was uh realized in ‘ 82 by Anan architect Don AR Don Arthur and uh it really stands as a testament to to who he was and I believe the statue is um
About 20 to 30 feet tall there is another statue that you may have read about so if you do some research you’ll see a second statue that was commissioned much earlier right after he actually took the helm and became the first president which was beheaded and they removed the hands and
Uh so that statute is actually still in that Park too because they’re not afraid to tell that story in that complexity as well so I can’t wait to go see this part when I go make my visit one day to the beautiful land of Don here we have our good brother John
Lewis um he uh he did so many great things in our world I won’t bother us with all these great things but you know he was born in 1940 in pipe County died in 2020 very recently in Atlanta Georgia made the sigma through Lambda Sigma um
You’ll see that this statue was at on the left is at Rodney cook senior Park in Vine City and it was unveiled on June 7 2021 it did travel a bit I think we spent some time in South Carolina it’s also uh coincidentally U I mentioned it
Was done by a white sculptor by the name of Gregory Johnson um the statue number two was done by an African-American artist it is not complete yet the African-American artist name is basil Watson he has been selected by John Lewis commemorative task force to create this 16 foot tall Monument for the cada
Square which will be in Atlanta the C County the statue is replacing a Confederate oist so this is part of that movement in from the historic to Cal Country courthouse so thank you for your time I really wanted to get through this there’s so much to share if you all have
Any questions of me later on if you want to meet later I’m happy to uh to talk to you all those are my socials there if you want to grab those and my website is Museum jedi.com it was a pleasure and honor to be here with you all today thank you very
Much thank you brother Omar um again I I it’s really an honor to just be around so many brothers well versed in history um not only here in Morland but just around when I first uh came to DC I’m originally from Jacksonville Florida but when I move
When I interned uh in the summer of 2017 in DC um I was here for the association African-American museums conference and um I quickly noticed the pen the sigma pen of Omar’s uh jacket and ever since then it’s been a great relationship so uh we’re definitely honored to have you
Present for us can we give him another hand [Applause] brother and so before I introduce brother Willer Hut um I do want to point out we do have some food that was catered by sedexo so how it’ll work is after brother Hut comes up and gives a
Presentation we’ll do a slight 15 minute pause so everybody can go get some food and then we’ll return back to the program so again thank you all for those that came in person and also thank you for those that are joining in live I think uh John was saying we had about 40
Members or 40 viewers on the live stream so and this will also be um on morland’s YouTube page once it’s over anybody can access from across the world so without further Ado I’ll bring up brother will Hut just a little bit about brother Hut Willet Hut was born in darar synal
Returning to the United States as an infant Prince George County is where he was raised and attended the public school system there he graduated from pic Senior High School later Willard Hut attended Simpson College and uh Indianola Iowa Indianola y excuse me Indianola it was at 7 College where
Willard Hut joined five Fraternity Incorporated on March 29th 1980 over decades Willard Hut has commit concentrated his service to Sigma primarily in the field of History service serving on various committees and task force so without further Ado brother will Hut good afternoon everyone afternoon going take a point of personal
Privilege um as I said I went to Simpson College Inola Iowa that’s where George Washington Carver went to school so when Omar was lost for words I had to jump in there and throw in that hello Ed for slips in college go Iowa okay um I’ve been to all of George
Wast Harver Parks memorials and monuments he has a family connection to us uh my great aunt who was the dean of women here at Howard uh knew George Washington Carver back in the day when she was working on her master’s degree um while I’m on the state of Iowa I want to
Introduce uh Sheila please stand please um I was in Iowa to hear this woman speak when I fractured my ankle I was not supposed to go hear her speak they said stay in the bed because I fractured my ankle in two places and I was barely holding my foot on my calf so
If you do too much it’s gonna come off and we’re G have to do a lot of surgery but um I had to hear her speak her father was um here at Howard one of the first uh 50 sigmas he was one of the first honorary sigas yes no her father her father
Father yes yeah her father so um the reason why she excited me was because I did a research project in World War I and her father’s name came up I don’t know how many times and he worked with the founders of Omega sci-fi Cooper and love and they wrote down all the black
People from Washington DC from how from Morgan State and we have a list of people based on what her father did so thank you for that okay name team Thomas Thomas Greg yes Gregory yes Gregory yes Thomas Montgomery Gregory yes and he taught here Howard
And uh fought in World War I and I did a large project on that which you will be hearing about hopefully soon so on to me um do I move this slide okay all right I wanted to make sure that you go back that you saw the name of my trail
It’s called Journey on the trail of African-American history and I did that when I was a senior in high school at the age of 17 I was working on my Eagle Scout i’ become a life Scout I was approved to become an eagle scout so what happened was I had to come up
With a project to work on I had to demonstrate leadership I had to do physical exercise and I had to present something for the community so what I decided to do was do a walking trail of History I wanted to do American history because the bicentennial had
Just passed and I found that everything had already been done so I said well I need a thing and I said there are no black trails that federal government look Department of interior National Park service there were no black them Trails so I said that’s what I’m going to
Do so let me explain how this works in the center you see the national trail system that was created in 1968 by Morris Udall who was a congressman from Arizona who became Secretary of the Interior his family were Outdoorsman so he said this is something we need to do
And as you look around you’ll see all the different Trails you have National Scenic Trails which are over 700 miles long you have National histor Trails which over 500 miles long in the very Corner you’ll see the American Discovery Trail which is 6,000 miles long it Loops the entire United States includes all
The lower 48 so um and then of course the Appalachian Trail which is the most used trail and most known Trail and also the most dangerous so um and those are the Appalachian Trail is 2300 miles long goes from Maine to Georgia so very few people have done it
They’ve tried it but it’s still the most popular Trail in America um you have water Trails which is strictly River Trails you take your boat or whatever you’re going to do put it in the water and you go from sight to site along the water the last trail that
Was created was called the national Recreation Trail you’ll see it there in in the rear white and blue so the national Recreation Trail was simple it was designed for city was designed for urban use and it was designed to be less than 50 miles long so that was the one I used so
I was going to create a national recreational trail on black history based on Washington DC I was going to use Prince George’s County but let’s just say we weren’t as enlightened on African-American history PR this County as we are now and brother Martinez can definitely fill in the blanks on that
Um the official name once it was dedicated which is a long story and I’m not g go through all of it it’s called the Washington DC black history National recreational trail it was um established February 13 1987 it was signed into law by Secretary of the Interior Donald hell and RD Ra
Was president at the time they had to sign it and prove it for me to get money to run the trail and that didn’t last long because there are the next president President Bush got rid of the funding for Trails so as I was telling uh Omar I’ve had to fund the trail
Myself this has been for 45 years so I created a nonprofit to create money to buy brochures and do other things put up signage around the city okay the trail is 7.5 miles long starts in southeast at U Frederick Douglas’s house which you’ll see you’ll see all the s
And it winds through the city all through all four quadrants of the city and it ends up in Georgetown and all black Cemetery called M Union I I’ll explain all that later but that that’s essentially it so before I could get this far I had to do research to put each site together
Explain why it was significant and why why we needed to include it the other thing is that because they passed the adaa act all the sites had to be ADA Compliant except for those that are exempt that were way over 100 years old I can safely say Frederick Douglas’s
Home and Council house have elevators so disabled people can get in that didn’t mean anything to me at first I was kind of like why we need all that now I’m the poster child for elevators and AB at so all right now I was explaining earlier these are my partners the
National Park Service that’s where I get most of the material and some money the department of interior has another department called trails and rivers they used to provide money that’s where I got a bulk of my money from from trails and rivers the district government is my oldest part partner and the
Weakest they have not done what they’re supposed to do I’m going just say that so I’m not being political correct I’m telling the truth and then the um other organization you see there is the association for the education and preservation of African-American history that is the nonprofit I started to fund
And Trail I got money from private sources um very rich people in Georgetown who actually like the part that I I included that Cemetery in Georgetown so for 45 years I have funded this myself well through the nonprofit but the last three years I’m not gonna
Lie has been very dry very so I’m going to make a more consorted effort through the park service to bring the trail back to its normal stand okay Washington DC black history National recreational Trails the biggest award you see there is called the Millennium Trail this was
Done for the Millennium in 2000 it’s signed by Hillary Clinton there I have another one from the uh secretary the interior and if you notice on the bottom it says this Trail has been voted voted as one of the best managed marketed and used trails in America for
25 consecutive years so for 25 consecutive years I’ve been in the top 50 the trails been in the top 50 of all trails in America now let me break that down for you if you put the six categories of trails together there are 13,000 trails that are recognized by the
Federal government that’s over half a million miles of trails and this little Trail 7.5 miles was considered one of the best in the country for 25 consecutive years so um it was total it was 32 years but 25 consecutive so this is this is the monument that I built and I’m going to
Continue to build on but you’ll see the uh picture next to that is myself as a Boy Scout at 11 years old my first year going to H Boy Scout camp Goan uh I’m squinting there because my father took my picture directly into the
Sun and yes I Was A Boy Scout and I did become an eagle scout later so uh the other picture on the end is uh from Jet magazine for those of you who don’t know it’s a African-American history magazine it came out every week so yeah
It came out every week it’s a little little magazine but it it covered a lot um that’s myself receiving a proclamation from Marian Barry I received one from the city council and I got another one from um the Secretary of the Interior I still have the two from
The city the one from the Secretary of interior was damaged by FL but unfortunately now these are only three citations of all the awards AR TRS won which would probably be over 60 and in 45 years this is the uh cover to the left of the first brochure and yes it is that
Dark it was uh made on a printing press you ran the paper through and the ink would stamp onto the paper so yeah it’s that dark so uh for those of you who live here in Washington DC or know the area if you see that church spy in the
Background and think about it that’s where the southeast Southwest Freeway runs now this was emancipation day this is when all the African-American slaves were freed in Washington DC in 1862 this uh particular illustration is called Jubilee of emancipation now we’ve upgraded the brochure the one on the right um it
Started in 2001 got full funding for it we printed over 100,000 of these since 2001 and I have 10,000 my parents garage and that’s all there’s left so um we will be seeking funds and to expand and the trail first I is Frederick Douglas’s house um one of the fanciest houses in
Washington in the 19th century had central heating before the White House did um he has underground Wells so he had fresh water at all times it doesn’t have in well it didn’t have indoor plumbing they did fix that but this is one of the nicest properties in in Washington
So um that was Frederick Douglas’s house which has been closed for three years it just opened this year and I did take the tour you got to see what they’ve done to it if you haven’t been there before it doesn’t really make a lot of sense but trust me they did
Some work it looks incredible so the next um site is the Lincoln Park and Lincoln Statue this is used to be called emancipation Park but for some reason people didn’t like that name so they change it to Lincoln Park if you look at the Statue Lincoln is standing over a
Slave who has broken his chains and is about to stand up this statue is going to be moved probably destroyed because people think it’s racist among other things but it was designed by a slave it was built by slaves it was paid for by slaves and this is what they
Wanted you have to understand Maybe by our standards this isn’t right but by their standards this is what they wanted so I say saving and conversations been going on we’ll see what happens in time other part of this is uh the park is Mary mcau B statue the first
African-American woman to be portrayed in a national park and a proud member down the same with man M Adams just so you know so Mary McLoud Bon started B college she later merged with cookman college and and made uh badun cookman uh she also started National Council negro
Women and it’s still in existence today and still very relevant uh Mary mcla Bon and Dorothy Height lived on uh Vermont Avenue in Washington DC and they used to open their houses to prominent people were passing through especially Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders so She very eloquently and often she was in a organization called the black cabinet not official cabinet members but they advised Franklin Roosevelt metop pran am church is the oldest black congregation in Washington DC it was founded in 1802 and this particular building was built in 1882
And it still exists is uh very prominent black people have been funeralized there the last important person I can think of was Ros of parks and this is Council house this is where the National Council negro women was founded and she ran it out of her house they have a separate building and
They um have a building on Pennsylvania Avenue the only black organization to have to own property on Pennsylvania Avenue and you can see uh in the picture there at tusi where Booker T Washington is lifting the cloak of ignorance off of a forly enslaved person you can see
Um Mary MCL badun to the right and the other two women who escaped whose names escaped me they were deltas and they were also past presence and Delta s dat but this is for a conference on how to move the race forward this was done right after the
Depression and right before World War I I mean World War Two excuse me so she was a very prominent person she was very proud she had a personal relationship with Elanor Roosevelt so that’s how she got got to be so prominent and Powerful oh I passed it how do I go
Back okay okay okay this was added from um not on the original Trail because it didn’t exist this is this African-American civil war memorial uh on U Street and you can see the M the um the uh statue if you look in the back in the very back on the
Picture on the right you’ll see cver panels they have 200 and 52,000 names on those panels those are people who fought in the Civil War that were africanamerican now I didn’t know how trustworthy this was it was done and lo and behold I looked at it and found my great great-grandfather
Fought in the Civil War and I have his um draft papers or sign up papers and and he couldn’t he could read but he couldn’t write and he just put a big ax on it but I I knew it was his because he put a on some other things and the way
He did his a is the same so this is this is my great great great grandfather who fought in the Civil War so this is another reason why when things like this come up even if they’re just symbols of things we have to live through what our ancestors live through
And we have to understand that they gave of themselves more than they gave of themselves so we would have more and I think we’re dropping the ball as parents as Citizens um we just go outside and wait a few minutes for Crime to be heal here some
Gunshots um where’s John you know we used to come here every Founders Day for 36 years minus Co and we used to um have Founders Day Celebrations how many times do we hear gunshots off in the background you know we just you know but I’m saying we have to do better as a
People this is lroy Park most people pass by this every day every single day but this is the first black community for upper middle class people ever built ever built in the United States so these were professors and teachers here at Howard these were doctors were at
Freeman’s hospital I think most of us old enough know Freeman’s hospital and if you look at the picture on the left that’s uh Griffith Stadium and it’s the hospital to the right yeah that’s where the Senators used to play and the black Senators used to play now
I don’t know why this tur into a Delta show but if you look in the center picture there’s half a house there’s half a house that’s Robert Terrell who was a sigma one of first 50 sigmas he was a lawyer he was our first black municipal judge in America and he was a
Sigma there also marry Church Terrell’s house that was his wife and she was a proud member one of the first members of Delta Sigman B so and that’s not that far from here it’s walking distance so the National Park Service bought the house from Howard and they’re going to turn it into
A Museum and they’re going to feature Robert Terrell and they’re going to feature Mary Church Terrell I’ve been asked to participate to add this to the trail and to help guide them on long-term use of the space so I know the Deltas always do things in a big way so I’m
Hoping that I Beta Sigma will help step up and bring um honor to Robert Terell as a lawyer and a first black judge municipal judge in America this is Howard University that’s Founders Hall that’s where we are right now so that’s self-explanatory now when I put Howard on the on the
Trail I did not include a biography of Oliver Otis Howard but I am going to put one on there and I’m going to add that he was the first Commander of the Buffalo Soldiers the ninth and 10th Cavalry and later the 24th and 25th Infantry the Howard is called the Bison
Because of General Howard being out in the west so everything is involved with everything else so this is part of Howard’s history is part of our history too okay now this is the cemetery I was talking about in um Georgetown this is Mount Union Cemetery if you notice all the
Tombstones are knocked over and some of them had been set on fire and all these people were enslaved that were intered in the cemetery now for those of you didn’t know Georgetown was not always a part of Washington DC Georgetown was a separate City Rock Creek car park was the
Dividing line and for those of you who didn’t know there were more people five times five as many black people in Georgetown as there were white people Georgetown was a black Enclave they were working class some of them were maids and servants were some of the
Really rich people we know to live in in Georgetown but we outnumbered them we own property because in DC black people couldn’t own property until till the 50s so these people actually owned land and they had jobs I mean they had zero unemployment so where the Kennedy Center
Is now used to be a bunch of breweries and distilleries and black people worked there they either made wood for The Cask selled the boats or worked in the in uh Distillery or or Brewery so in 1905 this went bankrupt because the co CNO Canal wasn’t making money they kept pouring money
Into it so they signed an agreement to be um enacted by Washington DC all right I’m almost done I have another presentation after this one it’s going to be real brief this is uh proposed new sites um for the last two years we’ve been talking in the National Park
Service uh there’s been some turnover a positive turnover for me um so a lot of things are going to be taken off really really really soon so um I put the Supreme Court on here because a lot of decisions affected black people’s lives from the Supreme Court but because it’s
Become a center of problems uh we were asked to take it off the list because you can’t go in all the time and you know we don’t want to put people in Harm’s Way US capital is a little different because you can go underground and get in and they screen
You so I kept the US capital on there uh the statue of A Philip Randolph in the train station I wanted to add that it’s open all the time it’s no problem um Carter G Woodson’s house was on the original Trail but it wasn’t open
So we’re going to add it back and his statue not too far away and of course Martin Luther King his statue wasn’t around when I created this 45 years ago so I would like to add the Martin Luther King’s statue now the building in the
Center none of you know what that is but everyone in this room knows what it is it’s the 12th Street y That’s where five Beta Sigma was founded for those of you don’t know at that building it’s still a historic building and it still has a a
Big prominence in the community so I would like to add it to the trail and then I didn’t mention the elephant on the page because this is a problem that’s the African-American history museum sponsored by Smithsonian um for 45 years I’ve asked that patrons on my trail be able to go
Go into the African-American history museum and for 45 years I’ve been told no so I’ve been told that people are more respectful of what I’m trying to do and I think we’ll actually be able to add this to the trail so there’s a supreme court that’s how it
Normally looks not gated up and guarded by armed guards that’s the backside of the capital and it looks a little different because there aren’t a lot of trumpers running around with flags and there ail brandol uh somebody asked where it was if you uh been in the train station lately there’s a level
Where there’s stores and then there’s a eery bunch of eateries it’s between the two of those Starbucks yeah Starbucks there you go thank you pet this is um car G Woodson he’s an omeg I go that against him he he made everything that I’ve done for black history possible his indexing his
Research him Paving the way um he did that and he started the uh Association for the study of African-American life and history which is still around and still doing good work uh the the site is run by the park Service uh it turned into a crack house at some point and the
City boarded it up they want to tear it down but the National Park Service bought it and fixed it up it’s being renovated again it’ll open soon and I will be there to add this to the to the trail so that’s that’s that and this is
The statue uh at the beginning of the Shaw neighborhood so um this is about Carter G Woodson now does anybody know where the name Shaw came from go ahead go ahead Daman I believe it was Char junior high school well that’s who yes yes and no yes but it’s named after Robert gold
Shaw who if you saw Lori Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington he was the white commander of the black troops the 54th Massachusetts he was killed in the battle but to commemorate his willingness to work with black people and lead us into successful battles not that first one but the rest of them they
Called the area Shaw just somebody call it Shaw so and there’s Martin Luther King’s statue the Park Service owns that so that’s that’s how in the conversation that’s a done deal and here’s my problem child so I desperately want that on the trail it’s my hope and dream that they
Will acques and put this on the triail so I got one more slide hold on but I wasn’t going to introduce this today I was goingon to wait to the Regional Conference okay that’s the 12 Street y this one I’m going to create a walking tour
And driving tour at Washington DC for 58 s Now Kevin Dr Kevin Christian knows I’ve been pushing for this I stopped working on it for health reasons I’m better I’m healthier I look through all the sites that we have and I decided on these I know International headquarters
Is about to be torn down but we can start with the new one we will keep Howard University and now that we have the memorial we can draw attention to that and the tree I took pictures of trees today the 12 Street Y which is less than
A mile from here where we were started and Anthony bour room will be on the trail Robert and Mary Church Terrell’s house which is being renovated right now by the National Park Service will be on the trail then we will go to Dr Lock’s house
Which is not open to the public but for this kind of Trail it doesn’t have to be but there’s a huge plaque on the outside that says this is where Dr Lo lived right across the street from Dr lock is where the old Alpha Sigma house was and
We will recognize that house as well so further down the street from the Alpha Sigma house is AAS and Taylor’s home which is owned by somebody private and I’ve been pushing the city to put up a plaque to recognize that that was his house so the city doesn’t have a problem
With it some of thec uh Commissioners and the person that own the house has been resistant so but we are going to have it on the trail we we may not had a Placer but you will know that that’s where alen and Taylor was and then the first Sigma headquarters
Not Dr um I mean Bill D’s house it was on T stre it’s not there anymore but we can get a marker there to to Mark where it was so we can say 58 Sigma existed on this property at this time for these years okay so based on that I’m gonna
Create a trail I’m have to do some research we G have to wait for some of these places to be renovated but we will have a walking or driving tour to Brothers to to see Washington DC and and learn Sigma history history now in the back I would like to recognize darl
Anderson our 11th executive director and proud member of the DSC the distinguished service chapter the highest honor in Sigma I brought him up because I would like well he won’t be here his last day will be in May but I would like to have the brochur a headquarters so that when brothers and
Zetas and other greates of div I Who Care can come and walk the tour and learn Sigma history so that concludes my trail okay I have one more presentation won’t take me long I want I want you to see this this is a secondary presentation on a historical preservation and the needs
Of 58 Sigma fraternity Incorporated for those of you who didn’t know our C fees on its way was founded when our fraternity was founded January 9th 1914 that is it’s concrete and it’s old as the organization itself underneath is putting history and tradition first through knowledge and understanding as the eastern regional
Historian that has been my principle for the last eight years my my goal is to go back to the traditions of our Founders I would like to see us on Founders Day celebrate the founders and not each other we have 364 days a year to look at each other let’s
Look at the founders on Founders Day we did this ceremony the rededication ceremony and zakai sigma Georges county and brothers were weeping we had to stop at one point because they realized either I’m not putting in all I can do for Sigma or I didn’t know all this when we went
Through the ritual so my goal as eastern regional storian is to make sure that we honor the founders okay and that’s on this one particular day but every day as well I say this day because we always go down and sing the hymn I remember I was
Talking to John we’ve had as little as nine members out there in the cold singing A Hymn and then right before Co hit we had 500 and 100 Zas in the center when we sang the himym in fact it was so loud the policemen up here went
Down there to see what we were doing because it was that loud that’s Founders Day founders day is about the founders why we were here if you reflect on how your on your birthday you know I was born I’m here what am I gonna do with my life then we should be
Doing that with the fraternity now this is self-explanatory this is what an archive should look like and I’m sure when we take our tour that’s what we’re going to see right okay and through nobody’s fault our our history does not look like this and it’s not being kept like this
This is why we need to have our stuff here so be properly cared for acid free boxes cotton gloves special lighting and air conditioning our immediate needs all our Sigma history that everywhere it’s all over the country people’s basement uh boxed up we need to get in
Those boxes and find out what we have categorize it index it so that when we put it in these assd free boxes and go back then that’s what we’ll do okay now we need to decide the condition of what we have how good is it how bad is
It is it going to fall apart do we we need to put it in glass do we need to put on special cardboard so it won’t fall apart till we can scan it that kind of thing okay to find the information once we get it here we’re GNA have to index
It associate it with something and that’s going to take a lot of time and effort okay um we have videos we have recordings we have books we have papers and I have photo s do you realize on my Facebook page I have 25,000 pictures posted just of five Beta Sigma events and another
12,000 of just zi Beta And since our president of National penal council is here I have 6,000 pictures of the national pan atantic Council Prince George’s County over the last 10 years so it takes up very little space on a hard trve but if we want to
Look at it we’re going to have to index it or you’ll just have a bunch of pictures don’t mean anything so um we’ve been written up in the papers positively I don’t know where all those articles are we should share that so that everybody knows five bet Sigma isn’t just laying around we’re
Doing stuff okay secondary needs um identify biographies of key people um I’m gonna pick on Peter since he’s here um I know a lot about Peter we’ve known each other what 30 years at least okay but there things about him I didn’t know but unfortunately when his brother died
I found out things I didn’t know about Peter and I bet n of you know these things either so at some point we need to sit down with Peter and other presidents and other regional directors and put all this information together tell us what you want to be
Remembered as how you want to be viewed you know what are your outstanding qualities so um I’m G show you another slide which will emphasize what I’m getting ready to say we know a lot or we don’t know a lot we know when certain things happen but
We can’t prove it and as these young men will tell you in history it’s what you can prove I can say anything I can say aing and Taylor was a mg no he was 6’4 but and I we have proof that he was 6’4 but I can’t say that and I provide
You any proof everything we say has to be proven and Omar knows that better than anybody because he worked on the lynching project for Marland and you can’t just say this guy was killed you have to go into great detail so I understand and I want y’all
To understand it’s not as simple as you think it’s going to be so we may sign an agreement but it’s going to take three or four or five years before we can actually use it on a regular basis okay um we need to identify all the meetings State meetings Regional conferences
National conclave special events leadership Summits and I looked when I was doing the eastern regional history do you know how many special meetings leadership meetings we’ve had in eastern region just in the last 50 years it’s more than 25 so I can’t imagine what’s going on in the other
Regions I know we were just in Philadelphia in 2022 I know we were in Charlotte in 2012 but other than that think about it what else did we do we have to catalog it prove it you know I have programs and people say oh yeah yeah okay we really did do that so
That’s part of this now I came back to the 12th Street YMCA the picture in the middle the picture in the middle is a reenactment of the founding of f Beta Sigma in the Anthony Bowen room this was taken by Addison Scurlock if you look in the Smithsonian it’ll say reenactment of the
Founding of fibat Sigma I don’t know who those people are but obviously they knew that’s where we were founded now that room as you see it there does not exist anymore it has been subdivided the only room that is still there is lon Hughes used to live in the 12 Street
Wi and Paul Lawrence Dunbar Liv in the 12 Street wide for a while those only two rooms that have not been changed everything else has been changed so if we want to document where we were founded we’re going to need a mountain of papers okay
Now the man on the left is Anthony Bowen does anybody know anything about Anthony bour okay he was a slave he was born in princees County he lived in the Riverdale Mansion of old bu the founder of old and the founder of buy the city of buy his grandfather was the founder of
The University of Maryland and he expanded Maryland from just the agricultural school to other things so Anthony Bowen served them so when Anthony Bowen found out we were about to have emancipation for slaves in DC he left his Riverdale home and went to Washington now for those of you who are at the
Centennial there was a bridge you had to cross on Connecticut Avenue his house was like two football fields away from that bridge so he left Riverdale came in DC he was a Catholic he was raised Catholic by the by the people uh Odin buy who great great great great great great
Great great great grandfather was the founder of the state of Maryland so it was a c Maryland was founder was a Catholic Colony so he was Catholic so he became a Protestant and he liked the service and he joined the young man’s Christians organization and he was very big in the
YMCA so when he died they wouldn’t let him name the 12th Street wide Anthony Bowen why there isn’t Anthony Bowen y MCA and Washington DC now but they they said we’ll give him a room and there you have it anthy boring room that’s how we got there now just like it
Took me a while to explain all that to you it’s G to take a lot of paper to explain all that and prove it now I’m almost done I want you to look at this picture this for the sigas there’s two people in there I couldn’t identify for the life of
Me the gentleman to the far far left and the gentleman between Ang L Taylor and Leonard F Morris I knew he had to be prominent to be sitting there so he didn’t look like he did when he was young that’s why I didn’t know who he was but since we have a
Representative of yes yeah yeah that is John Dr John Woodhouse the found Zeta Sigma so um next to him on either side is Aenon Taylor the primary founder 58 Sigma next to him is Leonard F Morris who gave us our name on the other side of Aenon
Taylor is Jessie W Lewis Alpha chapter Member First D first DSC Member so um there you have it you know there’s Dr lock we’ve been talking about Dr lock all day and the last guy is James billboard Jackson now I’m G ask a question who was James Bill boort Jackson okay how many of y’all know what the green book
Is how many of y’all seen the movie okay the only reason why the green book exists is because of advertising because blacke people didn’t have enough money okay didn’t have enough money to buy the book so what he did is he went out and got advertising X on mobile well Exon ESO
Back then then Exon then X Exon Mobile you know golf oil which doesn’t exist anymore sowo you know certain places that didn’t discriminate against black people advertising the green book so everybody who’s ever had a green book and gone from the north to the South or somewhere could do it
Because of James bport Jackson he was so prolific at getting advertising that he was hired by some of the best magazines in the world and one of them was Bill board you know the top 50 top 100 he he got advertising for them and whatever he wanted to do on his own they
Let him do it and paid for it so these men sitting at this table are poops there’re some of the most magnanimous men at five bet Sigma all of them are DSC members so I just wanted y’all to to see that now Kevin and I I don’t know about him I
Got about 50 pictures I don’t know who’s in the picture I don’t know anything about it I know what city it’s in um I Clarence Johnson former uh Great Lakes Regional director he’s a great Le Regional director when I came in he looked at the picture and said this is Chicago I can
Tell you exactly where it is and he broke everything down but he’s 92 he couldn’t remember everybody so while we got certain people here we need to get out and get them looking at pictures you know give them take them time they have to do it in one
Day we can make copies and let them stare at it till they’re they’re blue in the face blue and white by the way but they won’t know all right short term identify people who have photographs and then find other people have photographs put them together certain events certain people whatever
You want to do we can digitize it and you can have multiple copies of the same person at the same event representing different things so um I well Kevin and I had identify the oldest sigmas in the Eastern region then Co hit and we’re gonna have to start over
Because everybody on the list we had has died so at some point we’re going to have to go back out and find the oldest members to interview them get some pictures in front of them do some things to find some information long term what is our goal our goal is a history
Book that’s always our goal so part of a history book is deciding what do you want it to say so I’m G skip to the next page the two people in the center William Sherman Savage on the right Paul Lawrence rid on the left those two men wrote our first history
Book William Sherman Savage became a sigma in 1915 he helped find several chapters gamma chapter a a chapter he founded six undergraduate chapters and two graduate chapters so if he wrote the history book he knew what he was talking about and even he had problems filling in the blanks because he couldn’t find
Enough written information to back up what he remembered um Dr ridy uh he he was everywhere he was at morous he was at Temple he was at Alabama A&M but what he’s most noted for he he is the second director of the shamberg center in New York and he was
The one who went through this process of organizing everything and that’s where I got some of my information from from his notes on what’s important and how to find it okay and then if we’re going to do a history book and I’m not putting the time on it this is our 110th
Year the next natural time frame would be 125 years so we have 15 years but if we’re going to do it right we’re g to have to put everything together first in one place then a book we came out with anony shamad the guy on the right
Wrote he had a lot of resources and because he’s a college professor he got even more but we may not be as gifted to have somebody like him so our goal is to get everything in one spot put it together and have scholarly people knowledgeable people people who
Can write which I can and put our history together so I’m done thank you thank You waiting for you to start walk to the SE first uh two things to consider I didn’t see wood cemetery is please consider the new Sigma house as a part of the sigmaa idea so is I the house that I SC uh identified in 1950 I believe um is
That on your Trail yes yes that’s the last the last where all the stuff came in now a lot of that stuff was sent to build door and to to match everything up yes sir there um we place the in the book um his street is Bren down now but
Um it was up for a while um that’s a good place also to all right thank you again brother Hut so we’re gonna take about 15 minutes everybody grab some refreshments we going come back at 1:30 okay thank you You little bit I to Can they zoom in or oh okay okay hey you got you myself Is his all right br uh was Do Q yeah Don’t worry about know we got you we got you cuz we GNA read off your bio all right if we all can get back to our seats please we’re getting ready to get back started here Brothers can we all make our way back our seats Please Okay we about to go we about to go and get started about to go and get started if everybody can make their way back to their seats please we about to go and get started for the second half of our of our presentations we just want to say again
Thank you brother for for coming out today uh thank you to all of those that are tuning in via the live stream we’re going to keep the ball rolling okay we’re gonna keep the ball rolling we’re gonna hear momentarily from uh brother Dr Kevin Christian as he’ll be giving us
A presentation on historical artifacts okay and then we’ll hear from our International historian brother Dr Kenneth Lewis and then we’ll have a few closing remarks from some distinguished Brothers of five Beta Sigma and then we’ll open it up for a quick Q&A and then we’re going to end off with the tour of
Morland spinar Research Center given by me and John okay so we’re gonna go right into the next piece so I’ll bring up brother John Kennedy thank you settles um I’ve been an archist for 10 years and it’s very seldom within this field that you meet other black artists or just uh
People black men and women within the libraries that are that as passionate about black history as you might be um when I was the University AR at Dill University I had the honor and pleasure of meeting a brother who was just as passionate about black history as I was
But also the preservation of the same and there that brother is brother Christian so I hope by do this introduction is due diligence since 1999 brother Dr Kevin Christian has been blessed with collecting the history of f Beta Sigma fraternity incorporated as one of the co-founding members of the
Sigma historical society and the sigma Museum brother Christian has collaborated very closely with the immediate pastor historian brother Mark passage we all call the Mallet in the preservation and restoration of our vast history he has met and worked with some Legends in our fraternity he continues to enjoy learning more about
The fraternity and his progression over the years during his administration as the 22nd eastern regional director The Honorable brother William E pow Jr appointed brother Christian as the eastern regional historian brother Christian was selected as an atlarge member of the Centennial history committee under the administration of
The Honorable Jonathan Mason sen he has served on staff of both the crescent and our and our cause Magazine from 2017 to 2017 and authored today in sigment history on the blue.net Block he has presented and displayed numerous historical items at various conclaves Regional conferences chapter events and at several colleges and
University he Prides himself on learning from older season brothers and in collaborating with younger brothers to keep our fraternity history alive and vibrant he is a graduate of Hampton University and earned a doctorate in higher education Administration from George Mason University in 2018 his dream for the fraternity and
For the history that he has collected is to have it stored and properly cared for in one place so that 50 years from now sigas will be able to touch see feel and treasure the history in which they come from he thanks the ancestors daily for their guidance and wisdom on his journey
And all he wants all signs to know now I like to bring up brother Kevin Chris good afternoon everybody was brother Kennedy talking about me I I tell you it it has been a very interesting Journey for me and my walk back in 1999 I received an email from
Brother malet brother pacage and he was looking for Sigma items from 1914 to 1970 and I was very blessed being a member of Alpha Sigma chapter to sit at the feet of Francis Hall the author of the sigma life to sit at the feet of brother George Owens who pledged trial
For chapter in 1933 to sit at the feet of my dear Uncle George George Nelson who pledge at Tennessee state in 1939 and I said I wasn’t gonna weep up but I feel the ancestors in this room today I can feel it when I see these
Pictures when I see my brothers here as a young Sigma brother John Jackson used to take me under his wing and guide me and take me to interview some of these brothers brother Hall was one of them brother Eric Gilliam would say yeah you need to talk to this brother you need to
Talk to this brother and he connected me with brother Clarence PE who at the time was 101 years old and brother PE wrote me a letter about his early days he had signal and in in one of the letters that we have he talked about the founding of
Zeta beta because he was on the committee that did it so you can imagine like I said standing here being before you and why this is important and I say the ancestors guide me every day because if you would have told me 30 years ago that I would be someone who had
Collected my fraternity’s history I probably would have laughed at you or told you no not me but I owe so many people for my journey today I just want to talk real quickly I’m not I realize we in essence of time about some of the artifacts that I have collected with
Relation to Howard University one of the earliest is 1918 certificate of brother Madison TIG who pled the fraternity was four years old when he pledged um it it is housed at the Alpha Sigma house because he was a after he left Alpha chap he was a prominent member of alpha
Signal so you can take a look at that there it’s it’s not one of the one of the earliest brother malet has one of the earliest but it’s one of the earliest that I I’ve collected so I want you to know that another thing that we
Had that I have and we were just myself brother Kennedy and Dr Fri brother Dr F were up here we’re looking at pictures that I have been able to get a hold of of Howard and you can see the backgrounds in a lot of these pictures
Where they are this one is a 1919 picture of the graduating class I went through the 19 19 year book and I found two brothers who are Sigma in there and this you said this is like right out here on campus okay they said they said
It’s right in the back here on campus another one is our 1949 conclave our 35th Anniversary picture which is right out here in front of fountains okay the oldest yearbook that I have is from 1925 this is a Hilltop from 1938 that announces the death of Dr Edward Porter
Davis who was one of our earliest um was one of the earliest inma one our charter members who was also a dean of arts and sciences and Latin here at Howard University and I have a letter a letter that he wrote with his um original signature on it right behind me
Everybody kind of knows what this is you can see it’s our 20th anniversary conclave and uh taken right down here the the right where the statue is and um just highlighting all of the work and uh what fire beta signal was in the early years just want to just grab this real
Quick because this is very how many of you still have your your your brain when you pledge your brain okay I still kept it in the bag that he gave it to me this is Brother Hall’s brain from 1935 he even says in here brother Francis El Hall class of 38 Howard University
1935 he has signatures and names of so many great sers in his his and one other thing he was the author of the sigma light and that’s so very dear to so many of us and one day his daughters called me up to his home and they said Daddy left you something up
Here said okay get in my car drive up there having no idea what it is his original lights with all I have his notes his manuscript everything so very dear so you see why this is important one other thing I’d like to tell you is please brother Hut mentioned
It please connect with families please follow your leads Brother Francis Hall one day told us that brother Taylor retired from the Smithsonian as an elevator operator a lot of us didn’t believe it what what you kidding me right no so we had brother Houston who’s a outstanding brother Dr Houston who’s
Outstanding researcher do some research on it and he couldn’t come up with anything I go to the conclave in 2013 and I meet brother Omar Eaton Martinez you see how this is lining up see how is and brother Martinez and I are talking and at the time brother Martinez worked at the
Smitha I call him up one day and I say brother Hall told us that brother Taylor worked at the smithon can you do some research for me so he said give me some more information I give him some more information he contacted his staff and
His team they gave me like a folder on Founder tayor with information and and and things so I asked Omar I said can I release this can I share this and his colleague and him shared with me they said this is public information you can come off the street and find this information
So it’sing the research and making that you are connected but another thing I want to share with you about following leads staying in contact with families and even when someone tells you something that you may not believe still go the extra mile Dr Keith King brother Dr Keith King out of out of
Iowa was doing research on sigmas in World War I and he told me me one day he called me up at work and he’s like you’re not going to believe this he said do you know who brother Thomas mcgomery Gregory is I said yes he was one of our
Honorary members he said he has a daughter living in DC and I did the same thing that brother Adams did I said ain’t no way a sigma made in 1914 has a daughter here in Washington DC and lo and behold he does I called up his daughter Miss Sheila Gregory Thomas and
She provided me with some great information on her father and the Legacy that he is we we don’t even know the half of it Brothers we don’t know the half of it he was very instrumental in integrating the armed services for men of color in 1917
And Mrs Thomas went to Iowa we invited her to come to Iowa to do a presentation on her father she’s here today and I just wanted to bring her up to talk a little bit about her dad but to also talk about her relationship and the collection she has
Here at Morland spone M Thomas you do me the [Applause] honors thank you you very hello everyone I am just delighted to be here as a guest of bi beta sign for the second time this is wonderful thank you for inviting me you know this is the 157th birthday of Howard University you
Do know that but what you may find astounding and not know is that this is the 150 sixth year of my connection to Howard University and that started in 1868 when my grandfather James Monroe Gregory was the first student to be enrolled in what was then called the Collegiate Department of Howard
University in 1868 and something else interesting was that he wrote the first B biography that I could ever find out about of Frederick Douglas that was published in 1893 and in that book and the introduction no one in my family had seen it I came across it my grandfather
Made this statement I first met Douglas at the home of my father in New Bedford Massachusetts wow now I figured it out after looking through records and so that he was only 13 years old then but he became close to Douglas for the rest of his life in many
Ways so James Monroe Gregory stayed here after he graduated in 1872 with two other uh young men who came and joined him he was the valedictorian of the class and then he stayed on as a faculty member and so so many many years later did my
Father my father came to Howard uh as a faculty member on the faculty I think teaching English initially around 1912 so he was here when the three students who founded bya sigment were anxiously trying to get established EMP powered University to be recognized and so they approached my
Father momary Gregory and elain lock and I think there were two others as well who decided that they were going to support them in that effort and so it was that in 198 1914 Howard University officially recognized by Beta Sigman my father was inducted as a member
I believe Al M was as well and perhaps the other two people who were with him so also found it which is really interesting in 1914 as someone just mentioned earlier was the Morland Library not then the Morland spin Garden but what a coincidence well you know but
It was the Morland library then and eventually it became the Morland spinard Research Center my father gave his sizable collection of books letters documents and other papers to the Morland spinard and you know it’s such a significant place to have a collection there are all kinds of repositories where uh maybe preserving
African American history but the Morland spinar is significant not just because it’s may be the largest of its kingom but also where it’s located here in the nation’s Cavo how significant is that this is a Crossroads of the world so people coming to Washington DC for whatever other reason if they have
Any interest in black history and there are so many people now who do this is a place place to come to the Morland spinard Research Center I can’t think of anything else to add to that thank you thank you except to say my father did so much
More here but I couldn’t go into it thank you oh I’ve got to say this one thing is that the headquarters of the Central Committee of negro college men which was pushing to get the first black Officers Training Camp my father set up the headquarters of that in ranking Chapel’s basement
That’s where stuff happened a sigma man um again I just want to thank all of you who have supported me throughout my time and collecting this like I said I never thought it would be me but I have been been chosen to do so as I said I feel
The ancestors in this in this space a number of you um knew brother Gerald Smith very well he was one of my greatest teachers in this and I feel his spirit in this room today I feel him it’s he’s like one of the sigmas that I talk to every day I’m sure
We have our own we have that where I just say continue to bless me continue to guide continue to Watch Over Me because like I told you 25 years ago when we got malet’s email I never thought it would end it up like this and as brother Hut indicated in his
Presentation there is so much more out here we just have to find it with that thank you very much please feel free afterwards to come up and see it if you have any questions I’ll be around to ask answer thank you thank you brother Christian um again
So much I can’t put in the words um just how good it feels to be around a bunch of brothers that know their history number one um in general right because this is you know African-American history this is Black History Month and then you get even deeper into
The history of the fraternity it just like brother Christian said the ancestors are definitely with us we’re going to move right along here I got a update one thing on the slides here get brother Lewis I’m gonna introduce our International historian brother Dr Kenneth Lewis here
Um brother Dr Kenneth W Lewis is an associate professor of statistics and data analytics and psychology at Virginia State University he attended Hampton Institute now University as he’ll point out as I’m sure he’ll point out uh now University where he joined beta gamma chapter in 1979 as he has been an active brother
For these past 44 year 44 years serving as chapter president of the alpha Capa Sigma chapter uh Petersburg delegate to Regional and CL meetings and now he serves as the chaplain for the sigma life members executive committee in addition to his recent appointment as the international historian he served two terms as an
Elected School Board School Board member for the Petersburg City public school board and he currently serves as the president of the Petersburg Symphony Orchestra board of directors brother Lewis will talk about the trials and tribulations that black Americans faced in their educational Journey from slavery time to today he will also talk
About the accomplishments of the first initiative Beta Sigma brother Abram McCartney Walker who served as principal of the historic PE body High School located in Petersburg he has had a stellar career as a as a a statistician operations research analyst and public servant in Petersburg Virginia um now
Please welcome brother Dr k w l three two one inhale hold release exhale glory be to God in the highest and peace to his people on Earth and peace be with all of you who are here today all of my Sigma brothers and Friends peace be with all of my Sigma
Brothers and Zeta sisters especially my Beta gamma brothers of the real Hampton Institute and Ro Alpha chapter of Zeta F beta sority Incorporated uh located at the real Hampton Institute I I am so smart let me tell you why I am so smart because I know
What I am good at and I don’t pretend to be good at anything else because because I truly believe in this bit of Passage that says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to
Him and he will make your paths straight from Proverbs chapter 3 verses five and six what makes a smart man smart is that he knows what he knows and he also knows what he doesn’t know and doesn’t try to do the latter he leaves that to all of you
And so my job as the international office the the international historian not the international statistici of f Beta Sigma fraternity Incorporated is going to be so easy because all that I plan to do is to be the best facilitator and collaborator and let everybody else who knows what they know
Do what they do so that we will accomplish all the things that have been laid out here for f Beta Sigma today uh I have learned so much but I’m also excited to tell you about some things that I know about Petersburg Virginia and F Beta Sigma fraternity I have to share with
You seven ironies about me and F Beta Sigma fraternity number one I belong to St Stevens’s Episcopal church located in Petersburg Virginia I’m a fifth generation episcop helan my great great grandfather served on the vest of St James Episcopal Church which was uh presided over by James Solomon Russell
Arch Deacon and also founder of St Paul’s College which no longer exist exists and I was confirmed on January the 9th 1972 I found my little prayer book that I got and of course you know you just had you were excited about can you remember the words of the Apostle Creed
And not mess it up you know otherwise you won’t get confirmed all right and so I you know I made it through that and I got my little prayer book and kept it all these years and I was just happened to come across it and I just happened to
Look at it and in the inset it was a a congratulatory comment made by the priest and the date is January the 9th 1972 And all I could think was maybe you were part part of divine intervention before you even knew that you would be part of divine intervention because who
Would think that I would be confirmed on January the 9th another one is I I have become more interested in history because in Petersburg Virginia now I’m working with a group called the Peabody academic Learning and Development Center and the pebody High School National Alumni Association and
They grabbed me I I live in an old house in an old part of town and I can go to my backyard and I can see the Peabody building and I’m going to talk about that more but I will say this um Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School
Here in Washington DC you are a wonderful school you have a great website but you’re not the oldest public black high school in the United States and I have the records to demonstrate it and the records came from the Charles suar uh school and Museum itself
Uh Paul the school that is Paul L Dunbar High School here in Washington DC was established in November of 1870 Peabody High the school that would become pebody High School in Petersburg Virginia was already up and operating in January of 1870 and I know that we live in a world of disinformation and
Misinformation and alternative Theory but unless in 1870 there was an alternative calendar where a month preceded January also inside of the Year 1870 then that’s the only way that Paul Lawrence Dunbar could be the oldest public black high school and their distinctions because in Richmond Virginia uh there’s Armstrong High
School which opened in 1865 but it was a fredman’s bureau school and it became part of the public school system in 1909 when the fredman’s bureau stopped funding a lot of the black uh schools and high schools in the South so uh I’m a statistician not a
Historian and uh for those of you who’ve ever taken a stats course and you talked about sampling well it just goes like this does the doctor suck every bit of blood out of you to see if you have some illness no they just take a random
Sample do you need to drink a whole quart of milk to know if it’s spoiled no you just pour a little bit in hot water if it curdles you know you shouldn’t ingest it and if you see a tuna fish sandwich and it’s green and it’s not
Lettuce should you take a bite out of it probably not right having said that I tell my students you were not there at the Genesis when the first Behavior occurred you won’t be there at the Revelation when the last Behavior occurs right now you don’t have time to act on
All of the behaviors and so you simply take a random sample and you hope that that group is represented of the larger population so that you can infer back to the larger body and that takes care of that um James Welden Johnson in the National Portrait Gallery you mentioned Lara wheeler
Wearing I have an original Laura wheeler wearing in my protective custody from Peabody High School it was tossed like trash and you’ll see a picture of it and the a puncture wound in the canvas but guess what it’s a tear and it can be sewn back up none of the canvas is gone
All right and it is of Abraham McCartney Walker okay and now I have it in my protective custody did I say that I had it in my protective custody yes uh brother brother yes sir your Trails it’s just so ironic in Petersburg of my many duties I’m am also the
President of an an entity called the uh wox Watershed conservancy and the wox Watershed Conservancy takes care of what was the former Lee Park in Petersburg Virginia it was sensory named Petersburg Legends park because of course Lee Park the only thing that I didn’t like about it is so
Easy to say Lee Park one word to you know one one word one syllable period but now it’s this long drawn out name sometimes you get what you ask for all right yes sir but in that Park in 1935 the uh President Roosevelt sent monies all across America for as part of
His works progress administration to help rebuild the economies of locations and he sent money to Petersburg Virginia and all of these black women were hired to dig trails to create walking trails and so I am now in charge of that uh I actually got a grant for $76,000 from Virginia State University
To uh re uh to to to to uh rebuild one of the trails the that women’s Trail and it needs to be recognized it needs to be recognized properly I know what I know and I know what I don’t know and I’ve heard all of you talk about what
You know and so there has to be a signage there has to be a national landmark type sign and we actually need some more money to do some more things and so I just see collaboration just like chaing chaing cha-ching collaboration in this room like crazy
Um this is a very special year because this is the year 2024 as it’s been mentioned this is the 110th anniversary year of five Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated this is what this is February the 20s what is today the 27th all right May the 4th will soon be
Here and May the 4th 1914 was the day that brother Abraham McCartney Walker crossed over into F Beta Sigma fraternity Incorporated and so we will celebrate his Sigma his 110 year Sigma versary on May the 4th 2024 and did I say that his portrait is under protective custody
Right um when you mentioned the green book there is a former is it no longer stands but there’s a former hotel in Chester phille County just Chesterville count is just between Petersburg and Richmond and that Hotel was known as the coldbrook hotel right on Route One there
Uh they’ve renamed it it used to be called uh Jefferson Davis Highway and I didn’t even realize that they had had renamed it like in the last year or so because Co did many things and one of the wonderful things that Co did was for for
Me was that it just Justified that it’s okay to be an introvert and I don’t have to be around people and so I had a wonderful time with that but this particular Hotel was owned by the Coulson family and the Brooks family and they were both members of my
St Stevens Episcopal church and Mr Brooks used to talk about that and uh number eight George Owens George owens’s sister Anna Elora Owens and her father uh attended St Stevens’s Episcopal church and George Owens the father studied at Kansas State University and then then he went no no that that that’s
The the father not not the sigma son yeah yeah yeah so then when he finished Kansas State he went to tusi and he was put under the wing of George Washington Carver and everything that George Washington Owens learned he learned from George Washington Carver and then he got
An opportunity to come to Petersburg and he came to Petersburg he came to the Virginia normal by the time he got there it was a Virginia normal and Collegiate Institute and he started what has now become the agriculture program at Virginia state and there is a building
At Virginia State University Owens uh uh Owens H and so the the the Owens that you speak of that that he’s the father of of brother George Owens I I met him in my lifetime but his sister she his sister taught home economics at Virginia State
University and uh she was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority Incorporated so the connections just they just never end all right so but I will be on with what I wanted to talk about your presentations have just been so wonderful and I didn’t want to talk
About any one Sigma in particular I just wanted to talk about the concept that we of the world that we live in for a few minutes and that is with misinformation and disinformation just outright lies your outfit is as green as the grass growing and if I say that enough times I
Can even make this Delta believe that she’s wearing green today all right and everybody just look at her and just spread look your outfit is green your outfit is green your outfit is green you know fight would break out of course but that’s what’s going on
On and so I entitled uh my presentation it’s actually going to it was videotaped for tomorrow there’s gonna be another Presentation tomorrow all right and I just felt that I needed to talk about our historic and our historic perspective of the trials and tribulations of black education in America because educated lives matter
Right so with that that’s me of course and again a shout out to any of my Beta gamma brothers of the real Hampton Institute if you’re watching I hope you’re proud of what I what I’m trying to do I hope that the technology will work I want there a
Couple of Clips in here and I want you to listen to them let me see is it So Now let me see if I can get back to my clip good what’s one of the scariest side effects of type two losing a foot anyone who’s been on Metformin for more than 60 days needs to see this well what if I told you that there don’t think
So all right so here we go back to this George Washington Owens so this is sort of my theme when you talk about politically correct and culturally correct and all that sort of thing I may be able to offend you with my opinion but I certainly can’t offend you with my facts
Because facts are facts you may not want to accept them but that’s what they are if I say I think this is the best and that’s not that’s an opinion but if I say we’re in the nation’s capital right now that’s a fact and so uh I wish more
Folk would say and learn to say that I cannot I may offend you with my opinion but I can’t offend you with my fact and at least that lets you know that a person knows the difference between an opinion and a fact so how do I begin this conversation
Um when it comes to reporting our story ladies and gentlemen live in Virtual we can allow others as as has already been set for the stage for this conversation we can allow others to do the deed to us and what is the deed to us to defame our story delay delete
Denigrate deny destroy dictate diffuse delute diminish discredit dismiss disorient disparage dissolve divert or we can allow ourselves to direct document and deliver our own story and that’s all that I’ve heard here today is that we have been delivering our own story and not letting others deliver our
Story right yes uh and then I ask when it comes to the concept of what I’m talking about trials and tribulations of Education issues for Black Folk in America well I ask you to remember these four words and they are petition permission law and theory and again they
Are petition permission law and theory and why is that well because we had to petition for the right to receive a public education we had to ask permission for the right to receive a public education or an education period we had to abide by laws that denied us from receiving a
High quality education and we were impacted by theories that limited us from receiving a full public education my grandmother was one of eight children actually nine the first child born died as an infant which is why my great-grandfather never had a living son named Abram J Coleman Jr I always
Wondered why his oldest son was named Junius Leon Coleman and not Abram J but lat it was later on when I learned that well there was a first child and these eight that you grew up with as your great uncle your your great uncles and aunts they’re children two through nine
And so my grandmother fell right at number five if number one had lived and so she would have been that that middle child all right but I offer you this word petition where we had to petition to City governments to ask permission to have the right to public uh to provide
Public access to many things including education to the color school age children of those cities other people didn’t have to petition we had to ask permission to become educated from persons who held Authority or who could Grant permission or allowance to folk who look like us to become educated other folk didn’t have
To they were given the the the the inalienable right to be educated but we had to ask I mentioned my grandmother in Brunswick County Virginia in the early 1900s 198 17 that time period school only went to the eighth grade for Black Folk in rural areas and so I always
Wondered why grandmommy only got an eighth grade education well my her my great-grandfather had eight children and 68 Acres of farmland and we still we this is real wood we still have that land in our family after 100 years and nobody’s gonna get it all right over my
Cold dead shovel and plow nobody will get our little six eight Acres because all the other black families that lived along that road they left and came up here and got good government jobs and they didn’t pay the taxes on their land and their land got taken away from them
And when they retired with their nice 401ks or pensions they had to buy back an acre of the land that was theirs and we don’t have to do that because we still have ours but um and then there’s law a rule defining correct procedure or Behavior and the sport or activity or
You know it was a violation of Black Folk to become educated in America when when when slavery was in place the one one the one time that it really slap me in the face to realize that was when I was in the what 11th or 12th grade when
Roots came out all right and I happened to be watching that particular episode when KY was with Sandy Duncan’s character and they were just the best of friends growing up and and Sandy Duncan’s character taught KY to read and one day KY and Sandy Duncan’s uh uh were
Were in the Sandy Duncan’s character were in the room together and the master came in and caught KY reading and he asked her where did you learn to read like that and she said your daughter taught me and and Sandy Duncan go no I didn’t next scene K’s on the back of a
Wagon being taken miles away from her parents and I hated Sandy Duncan ever since then and I don’t eat those crackers that she used to advertise ever since then and I know it may be ugly but it just of all the things that happened in that movie series the feet getting
Cut off versus the testicles everything that that just you see that was like 46 years ago and it still it still haunts me that they were close like that Sandy Duncan’s character and and KY but when it came time to support somebody what happened she on the back of the back of
The wagon screaming daddy daddy where they taking me you know and then there’s Theory and let’s not forget what a theory is ladies and gentlemen conjecture presumption contention it’s just an idea used to account for a situation or justification for Behavior that’s what it is so here
Are some questions that may require a theory and when you talk about we I’ll get there in a minute but don’t con don’t don’t confuse Theory with fact again so why did black people have to ask permission to be educated why were black people treated as three-fifths of
A human being why were black people not allowed to enter a building through the front door why were black people not allowed to vote why were black people forced to sit in the balcony of a movie theater and I’m going to pause right there because I got a lesson in the
Significance of that when movie theaters were segregated and black folk had to sit in the audience a gentlemen for not of turn a church member who’s uh sort of transitioning now at the age of 98 and six Lots um grew up in Jacksonville Florida and used to go to the segregated
Movie theaters and he did a documentary and he shared when we were in the movie theater and the black people were sitting in the balcony and the white people were sitting down on the main floor you could not laugh if something funny happened to the person on the
Screen right if something happened that was you you couldn’t applaud if you felt uh uh emboldened to applaud if the white audience wasn’t doing it otherwise there’s only two two you know two sets of stairs to go up and go down and that stuck with me and so when you
Hear about movie theaters and black folk being in the balconies and white folk being downstairs that his commentary I said it makes perfectly good sense giving that situation of culture why have there never been successive black presidents in the white house we can screw up as badly as
Anybody else give us an opportunity but you know Barack Hussein Obama had to be absolutely perfect except that time he wore that tan suit okay he should have been impeached all right and if that’s all it takes to impeach somebody then God help us all you know and so those answers to those
Questions might require a theory or a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something especially one based on general principles and in this case I guess one would propose a theory about race in America and in this case I guess that proposed theory about race would be critical and
I guess that would amount to critical race Theory all right but remember here’s one of my opinions a supposition a theory does not describe what happens a theory explains why it happens and that’s what critical race theory is about because you can’t deny what I’m
Going to show you in a minute you can’t deny uh that we live in a racist America that we that America has always been racist and sometimes I go to my I have good Alpha friends in Petersburg and every I was even recognized for the Martin Luther King breakfast for educator and I
Uh I said you know the next time I go I’m gonna take a knee when we saying we shall overcome because at the end of every Martin Luther King breakfast we always stand up at the end and we sing We Shall Overcome and sometimes S I just
Look at the state of nature of things and it depresses me because i’ honestly this is my opinion I honestly don’t know if we’ll ever overcome and I’ve stopped worrying about it I just try to do the best that I can and leave the rest to
God so uh that’s what a theory is and if you’re going to talk about a theory then the Constitution of the United States is you’re you’re an attorney I mean anything that’s always argued and challenged you can’t argue against the fact can you no but isn’t the Constitution always where over there you
Know in the Supreme Court is over there right now so that’s a theory if you can’t talk about race Theory then you don’t need to talk about geriatric Theory or child Theory or marital Theory or constitutional Theory or religious Theory or anybody else’s Theory and so we will always be
Inculcated with these four words of petition permission law theory period and this one I say to my colleague to to to my American C citizens Tim and Nikki when they try to sell you that America has never been uh a racist country I want you to listen to them this takes
About three minutes and then I’ve got two but this is just so good and let me see if I can do it nicely all right oh man do I have to do that no okay here we go now you know what they said right give me a minute okay here we go
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley says we’ve never been a racist country let me take off a lot of politicians make the ridiculous argument that America is not a racist country but Nikki hay goes One Step farther in 1776 41 of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence were slave
Owners never been a racist country in 1788 the US Constitution counted black slaves as only three fths of a person we’ve never been a racist country in 1857 the US Supreme Court ruled that Dread Scott and all other black people were not citizens of the United States
We’ve never been a racist in 1861 Nicki Hy’s own state of South Carolina declared war on the union to defend slavery we’ve never been a racist in 1865 Abraham Lincoln was assassinated after pushing Congress to pass the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery never been a racist country in 19155 the popular
Racist film The Birth of a Nation portrayed the KKK as Heroes trying to defend white people from black oppression we’ve never been a racist in 1921 white people in Oklahoma killed dozens of black people and destroyed a thriving black community and then Tulsa Race Massacre we’ve never been a racist
In 1955 14-year-old emit till was lynched in Mississippi and 42-year-old Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus in Alabama we’ve never been a racist country in 1961 civil rights activist John Lewis was beaten at the
Edmond Pettis bridge in Selma just for demanding the right to vote we’ve never been a racist country in 1963 four black girls were killed in the racist church bombing in Birmingham Alabama we’ve never been a racist country in 1968 Dr King was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee we’ve never been a racist
Country in 1976 Ronald Reagan ran for president blaming welfare Queens for white people’s problems we’ve never been a racist country in 1986 Reagan vetoed a bill to impose sanctions on the racist apthe government in South Africa we’ve never been a racist country in 1988 George Bush ran for president with a
Racist campaign scaring white voters about a black inmate he dubbed Willie Horton we’ve never been a racist in 1989 Donald Trump called for the execution of five black and Latino teenagers wrongly accused of raping a white woman in New York Central Park we’ve never been a racist in 1992 an all-white jury
Acquitted four white police officers for the videotaped beating of Rodney King we’ve never been a racist country in 2005 President Bush took days to respond to Hurricane Katrina when it struck the mostly black City of New Orleans we’ve never been a racist in 2011 Donald Trump
Launched a five and a half year campaign questioning Barack Obama’s birth certificate we’ve never been a racist country in 2015 a 21-year-old white supremacist in Nikki Haley’s homestate of South Carolina murdered nine black people at the Emanuel am Church in Charleston never a racist in 2020 Donald
Trump tried to throw out millions of black votes in Atlanta Detroit Philadelphia and other cities never been a racist country and in 2024 white people in Iowa voted to return to twice imp Peach quadruple indicted insurrectionist to public office we’ve never been a racist country even in Nikki Haley’s own life I faced
Racism when I was growing up but aside from that we’ve never been a racist country I may insult you with my opinion but I can’t insult you with the fact but this one is even better oh [Laughter] yes oh this one is even better baby give me just a second here now remember the first thing that he said on the clip America is not a racist country listen to this one I recall walking into an office building just last year after being here for five years on the
Capital and the officer looked at me a little attitude and said the I know you I don’t this is this is country I’ll tell you I was thinking to myself either he thinks I’m committing a crime impersonating a member of Congress or or what well I’ll tell you that later that
Evening I received a phone call from a supervisor apologizing for the behavior Mr President that is at least the third phone call that I’ve received from a supervisor or the chief of police since I’ve been in the Senate so while I thank God I have not endured bodily
Harm I have however felt the pressure applied by the scales of Justice when they are slanted I have felt the Ang the frustration the sadness and the humiliation that comes with feeling like you’re being targeted for nothing more than being just yourself go figure but it wasn’t because I was black
And there is no racism in America and because I give equal time to everybody here’s Nikki’s that is excuse me narata Nikki Raha hilly here’s her opportunity this is about two minutes after this commercial there’s a good chance somebody’s trying to hack your website right now you got to make
Sure you’re cover you’ve been asked about your comments on on slavery we don’t need to rehash that but there were some critics uh that that criticized your comments last night about having black friends as sort of a using a Trope what do you say to people who say that
You’ve really had challenges when it comes to talking about race and are worried about what that would mean for the general election we were the only Indian family in our small southern town I was teased every day for being Brown so anyone that wants to question
It can go back and look at what I’ve said on how hard it was to grow up in the Deep South as a brown girl anybody can look at my record and see when Walter Scott was shot down by a dirty cop how I made sure that the Walter
Scott family didn’t suffer because we put the first body camera bill in the country in place anybody can look at the fact that when we had nine amazing Souls dying mother Emanuel Church I did something that no Republican or Democrat ever wanted to touch which was call for
The Confederate flag to come down because it would take two-thirds of the House and Senate it was an impossible feat I don’t know what you’re implying with that but what I will tell you is saying that I had black friends is a source of Pride saying that I had white
Friends is a source of Pride if you want to know what it was like growing up I was disqualified from a beauty pageant because I wasn’t white or black because they didn’t know where to put me so look I know the hardships the pain that come
With racism it’s the reason that I fight bullies every day when it comes to racism anti-Semitism or hate and I always will if I didn’t mention slavery on that day it’s because that’s an automatic there’s always been the Civil War has always been known about slavery
I misread it and thought he was looking for a bigger answer going forward so critics can say whatever they want I’m very comfortable in my skin I’m very comfortable with what I believe in and my job is not to convince them thanks for watching stay updated about breaking
News and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media I wanted you to see that and hear that live because I wanted you to hear uh to to make sure that you heard the same thing that that I heard and I wanted you
To see and hear the disparity of of there is no this but I felt it and so again I don’t have to say that’s my opinion that’s simply factual and you saw it and you heard it for yourself but the struggle continues for all of us as
I said I can’t offend you with my opinions I I can’t offend you with my opinions but I can’t offend you with my facts because facts are facts and so what are some of the facts which made me want to come up with this conversation about uh trials and tribulations of
Black Folk in education in America well let’s follow some of the facts that was cute wasn’t it way back in 1740 and 1819 there was something called the acts against the education of slaves of South Carolina and then Virginia took it and ran with it as well and this is just an excerpt
From that file so it’s not an opinion it’s not even fact it’s legislation right so it’s factual legislation fearing that black literacy would prove a threat to the slave system which relied on slaves dependence on Masters whites in many colonies instituted laws for bidding slaves to
Learn to read or write and making it a crime for others to teach them KY and Sandy Duncan all right then here’s another excerpt from that South Carolina act and it says be it enacted that all and every person in persons whatsoever who shall Hereafter
Teach or cause any slave or slaves to be taught to write or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe in any manner of writing whatsoever Hereafter taught to write every such a person or person shall for such offense forfeit the sum of 100 pound’s current
Money and so there it is it’s not my opinion it is simply legislated fact and this is the best one this is the one that showed Mercy this was Virginia’s Revised Code of 1890 where um wherein such assemblage and assemblage is school or schools or reading or
Writing or day or night uh shall be considered unlawful assembly and any justice of a county wherein such assemblage shall be either from his own knowledge or the information of others of such unlawful assemblage May warrant May issue his warrant directed to any sworn officer or officers authorizing
Him or them to enter the house or houses where such unlawful assemblages may be for the purpose of apprehending or dispersing such slaves and to inflict corporal punishment on the offender or offenders at the discretion of any justice of the peace but here’s the merciful part ladies and gentlemen not to exceed 20
Lashes okay so they did show Mercy all right you could get all the way up to 20 but we weren’t GNA hit you with that cat of nine tails with those sharp tips on it and leather all right coming down at you like nigar Falls all right more than
20 times okay and that’s why I always tell my students the story about Virginia State University and I look at them harshly when they don’t do what I tell them to do because when I teach statistics how many of you love statistics when you had to take it
How many of you wanted wanted to throw up when you had tiet okay all right the second time Virginia state the the school that’s known as Virginia State University it opened on Monday morning March the 6 1882 as Virginia normal and Collegiate Institute by my mother’s best friend’s grandfather Alfred William Harris right
And on Tuesday morning Mark March the 7th 1882 Virginia state was closed because the the funders party didn’t want to provide funding for Virginia State University but the readjusters party did and so there was that clash and the readjusters party was more the the Lincoln Republicans and the funders
Party were more the Dixie Democrat types you know until they flipped the script and I don’t know what’s going on now but they were closed and they stayed closed until Monday morning October the 1st 1883 when they reopened as Virginia normal and Collegiate Institute And before I go there even they were a Collegiate Institute until 1902 and then the state of Virginia said why do these colored people have to pretend to uh to to to look like they’re learning anything let us take away their collegii status and make it Virginia normal and Industrial Institute that’s
Probably that’s one of the reasons why fraternities and sororities didn’t come to Virginia State from here Howard is just 120 mile trick right but from uh 1902 until 1920 Virginia state was Virginia normal and Industrial Institute it was a two-year school and in 19 uh 20 it became
Virginia normal and K Institute again they got back their Collegiate status so they were fouryear school and then in 1923 Hampton Institute gave Virginia status land grant status because Hampton was not a private school at that time Hampton became private in 1923 and they gave away the land grant status to Virginia
State University and then in 1930 Virginia state became Virginia state college for Negroes and then in 1946 six it became Virginia State College and in 1979 it became Virginia State University and it has always been underfunded versus what University of Virginia or what that other public school that thinks it’s a
Private school in Williamsburg Virginia you got get and the reason that I don’t get excited about H versus hu I’m proud to say that I I am Hampton Institute years old and I wear my Hampton Institute proudly and if there were some significance to changing Institute to University to represent the growth of
Academic programs then there’s a little green and white school 31 miles Northwest of Hampton Institute that should be renamed Williamsburg State University but I don’t think the College of women Mary will ever let that happen even though they are Williamsburg State University right I digress but now back
To Petersburg well he he here are some some other issues Petersburg was not kind all right to to Black Folk we have Pocahontas Island which represents the the first free black area in like America and there was a lot of free black folk there but there was lots of everything else in
Petersburg as well and this is an image of a Virginia State College student who was arrested because she went into the front door of the Petersburg Public Library and at that time uh these are two Peabody High School students who went into the front door and there was just a whole push
Of folk going into peab into PE into the public library and uh I highlight there were Mass meetings held and I highlight that named Joseph Owens he was an instigator he was a sigma he was a member of he was a charter member of the Alpha Kappa Sigma
Chapter of Petersburg Virginia and he was one of the first men Blackman on city council you know after reconstruction he owned a little uh uh uh dry cleaning business they’re on Halifax Street all right and here’s a picture of black citizens at the courthouse protesting that we pay taxes
For the Petersburg Public Library but certain ones of us can go through the front door and certain ones of us cannot and this was from a a student who was in high school at the time her name was Peggy Lee she want to become uh an administrator at Virginia state and she
Says uh sometimes you couldn’t get everything you needed for research and we attempted to come to the public library on Sycamore Street but you couldn’t just walk in and say hey I need this I need this book but they were obv polite and said hello how are you I need this
Book if it wasn’t in the Negro section the receptionist had to retrieve it for you and whites had more volumes of books and the lighting system was very good good but the black session section was poorly lit and had small volume of books so there’s your uh the the the
Discrimination of unequal education right there that our tax dollars paid for Herbert Colton he was a sergeant for uh Martin Luther King we realized we were being mistreated blacks had to come in and out of the service entrance on the side of the library that would be
Filmore uh no Mar street because the library faced Sycamore Street and then it was at at an intersection where Marshall Street is because my mother when was at Peabody High School and she used to talk about how she hated to go to the library for an assignment and so
She just would do the best not to go because you had to go in the side and down into the basement and that’s where the colored section was right and blacks had to come in and out of the service entrance on the side of the library and
A little cubby hole kind of place in the basement was the only area where they could read stated this Dorothy cotton woman who was a librarian at Virginia State University at that time in the 60s okay when you were were up here at Howard University that’s what was going on down at
Petersburg and so more of trials and tribulations of Education let me tell you about pebody high school again the first black woman to to graduate from the University of Virginia was a Peabody High School graduate and her name she got her PhD her Ed from the University of Virginia
And her name was Louise Stokes Hunter and she went on to teach at Virginia State University and there’s a building named for her husband John uh uh Hunter there’s Hunter McDaniel building on Virginia States campus Ruben McDaniel was a mathematician John Hunter was a physicist or something of that nature
And uh his wife Lis Stokes Hunter graduated from Peabody High School in 1914 right and uh then she went to Virginia normal and then she came up here to Howard University and then she came back to uh Virginia uh State College and she taught math and she
Wrote her PhD on her her dissertation on how to teach math to help students uh transition from high school to college but I bring this up for your attention it’s called the doel act and I’ll give you this scenario one of my grandmother’s first cousins graduated
From high school at St Paul’s it was St Paul’s high school and then she graduated from St Paul’s college and she wanted to go to the University of Virginia so that she could get a master’s degree in elementary education because she wanted to teach first grade okay and she applied to the
University of Virginia and and the University of Virginia was like maybe 1939 1942 somewhere in there they said thank you for your application no hell no don’t come back anymore no but this is what we’ll do for you we’ll we will institute the davel act and with the
Davel ACT we will pay you to get the hell out of Virginia and you can go wherever you want to go and so she went to New York University and they paid for her Transportation her housing her stien to live off of food money everything and she got her master’s degree in elementary
Education and she went stayed up in New York and she taught first grade in White Plains New York school system for 40 years and then when her husband passed away he was an administrator in the school system and he died it was buried then later on she came back to
Petersburg in her 1978 orange Volvo that you could hit this building and the building would fall apart because that’s a Volvo story when Volvos were Volos now they’re just like for Tauruses I don’t know what they are anymore but Volos used to be Volos but when you would
Look maybe in old black high school yearbooks and you would see the pedigree of the faculty members and you might see uh Florida uh A&M college or Florida A&M University or Hampton Institute or Virginia state college or something like that and then you would see master’s degree from Columbia
University from Ohio the Ohio State University from the University of Illinois from uh uh Indiana Oh Indiana University Michigan State University the University of Michigan all those degrees were there and I was wonder why why didn’t this go to UA because I didn’t know they couldn’t go to UA and that’s what you
See when you look at the yearbooks and you see that all right and I understand now and so again contrary to what these two folks say America has always had oh oh gosh okay all right see there well see there that deserves three all right because I was moved to talk about this
Guy but you’ve already talked about him but what did he do that was significant well you know everybody gives Martin Luther King credit for the March on Washington a ASAP Philip Randolph uh launched it in 1941 when Roosevelt was still in office but somehow Roosevelt appeased him and said I I’ll give in
I’ll give you these things but don’t bring all those color folk up to Washington DC please don’t and so it didn’t happen in 1941 and then he got Herod Truman to desegregate the bathrooms over in the Pentagon and the Army as well all right but this is my
Favorite I feel like I know him this is Brother Abraham a cartney walker first initiate of f Beta Sigma fraternity member of alpha chapter and Alp Kappa Sigma chapter in Petersburg Virginia and this citation right here is the 1927 who’s who in colored America and he was listed in it all right and
Here here is his here’s his legacy here’s his calendar of events born on a Thursday and he died on a Thursday he graduated from aval Avalon Public School more more or less and he came to Virginia normal and Industrial Institute then he went back home to Northern Neck
Area tapan ranic that area and he was a principal of two grade schools then he came back to Virginia Union University from 1910 to 1912 and then he came to Howard University 1912 to 1916 where he became a member of 58a Sigma fraternity Incorporated and then he went to
Caroline County and then he went to Christiansburg industrial Institute and then he came to Peabody High School did I say the first public black high school okay because it started in January not November all right this is the house that he lived in it’s 514 Harrison Street in Petersburg Virginia and it’s
The Martin Luther King house because years later after he died when Martin Luther King would come to Petersburg undercover uh the family would host him at this house and if you look over here to just this side of it there was a driveway and he was in his car heading
Off to school and he had a heart attack that’s what the first peab body looked like the ne there there no pictures of the second peab body but that’s the third Peabody and this is the that it was a twin school and then that’s that’s McCartney school that’s McCartney Walker
School that’s he was principal and he only got to be in that school one year Donald Wingo who’s name is there he was a charter member of our chapter and so I put them together all right and there he is with his granddaughter Dr Adrian Ward
And that’s got to be at 514 Harrison Street because she was born in 1948 when he was still alive and when you look and this is a a statue of him of for him and the principles that Christians B okay did you get it because I only got three and a half minutes
Now there’s our historic plaque for Peabody High School proud school oh by the way I want you to do me a favor I went to this high this is J be Cook Elementary School jby cook was a major in the Confederate Army with Robert Lee but he redeemed himself and he became
The priest of my church St Stevens and guess what he was the first principal of bbody high school when it was so called the colored high school right and that’s what the 1920 Building looks like now but it is uh registered in the National register of historic places this is the
Graduation announcement where Abraham McCartney Walker graduated from Virginia Union University and the picture in blue that’s Abraham McCartney Walker in 1942 and this one uh I’ll let you read it on your own I don’t have time but we had a a member of the the house of delegates a Virginia who said take
Virginia state and turn it into a supplemental insane asylum all right because I don’t know why we would pretend that colored people can uh study and learn uh chemistry Latin and Greek right and that was a was after that that Virginia state got reduced to nor normal and Industrial school here is
McCartney’s death McCartney Walker’s death certificate and he is buried uh back in uh Avalon area Virginia nor the neck his wife’s name is not well his wife’s year is not there because after he died she remarried his younger brother about two or three years so that’s his wife Mrs Walker Walker
Right that’s the old PE body that’s the old peab body high school that’s that’s that’s Abraham McCartney Walker PE high school and he was leaving home on September 25th uh 1952 heading off to Peters to to Peabody High School and had a heart attack and he died at approximately 8:30 a. so he
Didn’t even make it to school didn’t even make it out of the driveway and these are some memoriams of the class of 1953 and his obituary was put in the color section of the Progress Index newspaper and if you can just sort of see where Peabody High Principal dies
Got anyway and there he is and I can’t offend you with I may offend you with my opinions but I can’t offend you with my facts because facts are facts and that painting right there that’s Laura Willer wearing’s painting of Abraham McCartney Walker and you see that puncture wound
Right there don’t worry all the fabric is there it just it’s just peel back but you can put it put it back together but by God’s grace money to do that and then perhaps it can hang an appropriate Place amen did I say that it’s protected under
Custody by me okay all right these are some of his faculty in 1949 there he is and that would be at the Christianburg school right there and that’s at Peabody High School and that’s Virginia normal and Industrial Institute that’s the main Virginia Hall and they tore it down and
Rebuilt it and it just doesn’t end there even even if you want to become a colored priest in the Episcopal Church you couldn’t come up here to the Virginia Theological Seminary you had to come down to to my church St Steph’s Episcopal church and go to the bishop
Payne Divinity School all right and they sent their the Virginia sent their folk down there and of course in uh I love this one because this is what the truth looks like and this is what pretend you see the Gucci luggage you see the Donna Kuran shoes
Okay so uh you can read that on your own and those two are there but just remember ladies and gentlemen and live and virtual can’t offend you with my opinions but I can’t offend you with my facts and that’s it I’ll take this out and I I will enjoy being the international historian
Because it looks like I’ve got a wonderful group of folk who already know what to do all I have to do is just add the chapter about Abraham McCartney Walker because I feel like I know him intimately he was my mother’s principal when she was at P body high school and
You can look at his picture and just see that he was such a gentile human being so glory be to God in the highest and peace to his people and all of us on Earth and thank for Peter Adams for sending me his granddaughter this information Adrien walk she and I Best brother Dr Lewis thank you so much for that presentation especially the part about uh brother Walker we appreciate you for that all right so we’re going to bring up two two distinguished men for some closing remarks before we open it up for Q&A so with that I would like to
Introduce the international executive director honorable brother Daryl a abson as the first Yeah all right want to thank the arist for come up here in your territory I want to send a quick shout out to those who’ve been here at the mic you’re taking on a topic that can sometimes be a little interesting to people but we have to understand that this is
Necessary 100% necessary that we understand from Once We Came because if we don’t understand from which we came There’s an opportunity for one us to repeat some negativity about it but two we don’t have a chance to pass on to those who are coming behind us so will
Hut who I’ve known for God knows how long we won’t embarrass ourselves with the age and Dr Christian who has been so helpful to me so many times as the exec director when you’re when you’re putting the information out like this and and I challenge Brothers to understand how
This works you have to kind of find yourself in historical landmarks let me tell you something these brothers talked about the fact that the headquarters that we had will not be the headquarters that we will have soon and very soon then you have to look at the history the
Person that shed that particular Adventure in getting 145 KY Street was honorable brother Sylvester Davis who was my mentor in the sou western region when I became the regional director I’m only I only became the regional director because Sylvester allowed me to become the regional director and taught me
Everything I need to know I come to the headquarters not knowing that Sylvester had done all the work but understand that right across the street my predecessor was living honorable brother Gerald Smith who came and nured me through the process I say this for the
Young cats you’ve had to ingest a lot to today and the definition of History talks about past events but you have to make it circumstantial for yourself uh you’re writing history for us we just create paths for you to come behind us so that you can do your thing so I
Really appreciate the fact that you able to wait it out uh keep your eyes open and do the whole thing but understand that there is a reason why this lady these gentlemen all brought this information to you I come from the healthcare side if it’s not written then
It did not happen so you have an opportunity to create legacies by writing what’s happening with you now so it can be passed on because if you don’t do that then there is no history there’s no documentation of it and it’s critical for organization like 58 Sigma being 110
Years old to understand from once it came so we can pass this on for the next 110 years that’s what you represent for us so as the executive director who was number six and number eight I appre another piece of History I appreciate the opportunity and I let you
Know that U yeah I was leaving on May 31st but that’s not going to work right now so I’ll be around a little bit longer to help you establish what you need to do from the historical perspective I look forward to working with you Dr Lewis I I know that you’re
Going to do a great job uh and I want to tell the audience it’s critically important that you establish a history within yourself everything they talked about came from someone else who who preserved it who retained it we all have to do that but we have to have another
Willingness we have to share it because me keeping it in my attic at home is not going to make the historical perspective go further we can’t do it like that so I look forward to the new headquarters that’s still going to be at 145 Kennedy Street I look forward to everyone out
There donating something to the space that’s going to be created to be the 58 Sigma Museum I look forward to every region having a regional a historian who’s creating space in all seven regions I look forward to Howard University creating a special space here for 586 Fraternity Incorporated because
This from once we came and we do not want to forget that I thank you for the opportunity bless all of [Applause] you thank you brother Anders next we’ll have honorable brother Peter Adams Esquire he’s also uh the 30th International president of five Fraternity Incorporated well good afternoon you’ve
Enjoyed a lot but there was a this this was a Sumptuous Feast was it not um for on on this um black history Celebration Day you know this this event today is is to celebrate five Beta Sigma F Sigma men um who have paid their dues to advance the cause of
Humanity and to celebrate Howard um with their historic record of serving Humanity uh when Sheila may I call you Sheila when Sheila came up here she she said yeah um in 1914 this place was was um founded this Library and it was it was Fonda’s Library back then F Beta
Sigma was started back then uh they had the right colors back then blue and white uh but but for certain we are celebrating the men who came here who represented the talent that we are the beneficiaries of you know let let me start by saying I bring you GRE gretings not just on
Behalf of myself but be on behalf of H honorable Chris Ray our 36th International president I served as the 30th International president between 1997 and 2001 just 24 years ago and but but we came through the new century I also had the distinction of serving as the Centennial
Co-chairman for f Beta Sigma for his 100th years today is 110 years many so many of you in this room were not even here 10 years ago so that is that will be history for you I also bring you greetings from Brother Edison Jackson who was the president of alpha chapter in
1964 my my chap brother who went on to become the president of medar ever College uh in the city of New York I I bring you greetings for from all of those folks that you just saw there because pretty soon I’ll be in that category I I will be dead and gone okay
Uh this is my 50 six year in Sigma wow I’m delighted that my darling wife got up with got up with me this morning at 5:30 to Journey here to hear from you my my uh she knows better than any of you how much Sigma paraphernalia historic stuff has been in my
Attic has been in my storage area and is waiting to come to to SP spinon Museum or wherever the permanent repository will be and that’s exactly what we have to do um I will be remiss though and just a couple quick things because you’ve been here long and when you talk about A
Philip Randolph everybody does and you know A Philip Randolph there’s also movie out there called 10,000 man named George which Chronicles his life his can be portrayed in so many ways you got got the movie out Origins which really talks about the the racial situation not here but but
Connects it with what happened in the Holocaust and everything you you you have the Rustin movie um and and you say ifil brand sure surely um should be um celebrated for what he for what he did but I would be remissed so th those are
All kinds of ways in which you you can depict history but history fundamentally whether it’s covering certain periods certain movements and and Lord knows we we can talk about the movements and what we went through but it’s all individuals who have made that happen so
You it is quite right to focus on the individuals who who made made these things happen imagine this this guy Abram you know the you know from whom we have descended Abraham Langston Taylor and from from Tennessee IM imagine him coming to this place and it’s and with an
Idea has resulted in in over 200,000 men who have made their Mark many of whom you celebrated today that was one of the challenges that I had as a CO co-chairman of the Centennial along with uh Carter warmac along with Bill Stanley three National Presidents appointed by and
President Paul Griffin to co-chair the Centennial and that was really a labor of love and it caused us to to Really document where these funders came from like you said and brother Hut we we’ve got to celebrate our F Founders and founders today and always because what
They were able to create and to master is something quite phenomenal these were all quite ordinary guys who who had an idea and believe me as you go through things go through life there’s no such thing as an original idea there’s no such thing as an original idea folks
Have thought about it but it’s all a matter of how you act on it and how you make it happen okay and places like Howard University train you for that train you to know your history how it was established I understand to to be for the total
Liberation of the black man uh for the total Liberation in in all ways so that he can achieve in whatever Endeavor he saw shows and you have lots of and you you owe it to yourself to look at at the sping gone um interviews say say of of M
Michael um what’s his last name winon Winston Michael Winston they are very illustrative of of the story history of this institution and the main things you you you don’t know know about it and how it came about and how it real started and and how it actually started out and
Who was this this University when it started out and continued to be was as inclusive as five Beta Sigma TS itself to be from the very beginning where we brought in people from all walks of life from Africa from from everywhere that is a symbiotic relationship that you’re talking about
That we can capitalize on and and should pay attention to uh so when I um I had the job I was of of getting the permission of um of creating the monument in the valley it um I was the one who was tasked with getting it done and believe
Me it was no easy task and but uh with the help of Andrew Rivers who was Chief of Staff here and and uh we we were able to eventually secure the permission of president rabau to make it happen and then as president ribau was exiting president F Fred
Frederick came on the scene president Frederick was here for the breaking of the ground and he was here for the Centennial and what he said at the breaking of the ground I just wish my nine-year-old son were here to see and what Beta Sigma is doing here on the
Campus and if you were around on on on July 17 2014 and you witness that host of BL white folks on this campus it was a sight for so eyes and you have got to um get yourself you you have got to transport yourself back then
But but to get to that point of the unveiling um because I had to meet with the the uh langman here who was the architect at the time you know the the university had had a problem of having no no monuments on the upper quadrangle they had to be on the lower
Quadrangle uh but that didn’t deter us um I was able to to um engage um uh Glenn laru Smith the the the the the the designer but I gave him all of the all of the elements all of the everything in that Monument the writings on the monument those are my
Inscriptions i pen them the the um the images of the of the founders those were original images um that that were prepared by a frat brother of Chicago and these are uh the entire job of getting approval because after we got approval and they saw how how wonderful the
Statue was the Deltas that had had there and senten the year before uh there was a move to try all due respect that there there was a vot to PO of call water on what we were doing but we prevailed and we we got it to the point
Um where where the unveiling happened and that was the Capstone of our celebration no doubt about it um but but certainly what we want to do on that Monument was to inscribe on that Monument the names of those Sigma brothers who had contributed to the advancement of this fraternity over all
These years from since 1914 so you may have the list of and also the um the names of of the the presidents of zapi beta because like we said we were an inclusive um entity like like Howard was when Howard first started Howard was the only school that
Brought in women to the medical school or to the law school none of the the other renowned institutions in the country did that of course there were white women but but eventually um the it at but at the same time they had some black Deans at the
Same time an idea to to there were Trailblazers in that way so so in the same way that that um that happened um we wanted to make sure that Zetas were also on that Monument so they they’re listed there because we started we were instrumental in the starting of
Zeta beta because even as a fraternity we recognized the importance of women uh in in the whole um uh system of getting things done and leading a full and complete life so when you celebrate today history and just just as an aside for a moment and this is the first time
I’ve ever mentioned it publicly but as we celebrate celebrate black history and and like brother Hut said he he doesn’t know me and he doesn’t know my wife but Joan and our daughter for 13 Years celebrated on the first Saturday in February for 13 years what we call
Slave day in our home slave day slave day was a day when that one woman woman there cooked gabs if you know that’s the word of food of food and it was like an open house and we probably had a hundred people or more and we had we had songs
We had slave narratives people playing playing the role and music we had African drums um we we had steel drums we had xylophone it was just a good time time celebrating those who lived and died in slavery and you never even knew their name such is is our respect for our
Ancestors such is our respect for the history that we have that that we we know so little about and and in the times that we live now you know when I was in college in the 60s that’s when Martin Luther King was killed when Bobby candy was killed you
When when when Malcolm X was killed you name it and and when when you talk about racism like like in the in in the theater in the movie Origins you’ve got to understand that even today you are experiencing a throwback of of things that that others experienced not in the same horrific
Way but you recognize that we have challenges we hope that the images that you see the stories that you hear today will let you recognize the character and caliber of people who came before you and make you recognize that you have to have to pick up the Baton now and carry
On and make sure that that history doesn’t repeat itself and that we can move forward as a nation in the way that this University was started that five Sigma was started as an inclusive type entity and helping to move um the the country forward and to for people to really love and work
Together in in the best way possible so if I leave you with anything I leave you with the thought that actually what you have seen and heard these folks on the screen are no more um talented than you are here at Howard and at all the HBCU around the
Country and in all of the his all of the educational institutions in the country we have a responsibility to to take off take up the Bon and move forward um lastly we are doing a historical um um booklet on the distinguished service chapter members I’m here in part because Eric
Gilliam asked me to be here Eric Gilliam is the epitome of the distinguished service chapter guys who works in all sectors um without the desire of accad he introduced the dising service chapter members in the room he didn’t introduce himself he is a member of the dising service
Chapter okay um and the members of the sing service chapter there are 200 in the in all the years that we’ve been around and they include you know George was Carver John Lewis our Founders all of the presidents Etc but these persons who who’ve been recognized for the service to the to the
Country to their fraternity and their Community they are no no less important to us than each of you each of you in school because you do service every day we recognize them we talk certain people here today we talk about them because they have stood out um amongst the time
It’s truly the last thing I’m going to say um I walk this campus trying to decide where the monument was going to be and there were people like John who was there there are people like Steve Taylor from The Graduate chapter um and and I tried to find the the the place
Where well the chemistry building is the building where you have the iconic picture of alpha chapter the first chapter the chemistry building this building where you are um is is model after Independence Hall um in Philadelphia you have the chapel over here and we decided to place the
Monument in the valley in front of the chemistry building very very known building and FDR came and and and uh he he christened it himself of course that that was their way of of him uh you know making sure folks know that we doing something for for
Howard um and and uh so the monument is in between the triangle of of chemistry building of of the chapel and of this this place and and you got to when you go down to the valley and and you pass there you’ve got a seat and that was the intention for people to
Recognize and the mark of our Founders and all of the men who came through so the rest of the history is is yours for the making and I I really want to congratulate all of the presenters today because Kevin Christian believe me he’s he’s the um the best Steward of of
Of these um artifacts that you could have found um you you’ve been treated to Professor um k k leis yeah and and um of of course H really I have a new respect for you I didn’t know you did all this [Laughter] Stuff okay and I want you to I want you to tell director Talton that we’re expecting by the time we get back here to be a member of f sigment I’m going put that on Eric and I also I’m disappointed and I hope he sees this that the president
Um Vincent is not here because he is a um a scholar and a historic um scholar bar Nan he really comes to that position with a true appreciation of history and I think he really would have appreciated what what he received today it was a long program
But it it was a program that really edified Us in in in a in a big way and I commend all of the presenters and those who were responsible for putting it together so all the best uh C carry on and your Sigma pride is showing and I couldn’t be more
Pleased to be here and I’m glad that my wife came with me to see um how what I’ve been up to all these years that that I’ve been taking from her all right so we open the floor up for Q&A uh brother Nightingale has the
Mic so if you guys have any questions by all means oh and now online to our online viewers we can take your questions as well I’ll just make a general statement I thought that everything was just great but this is just the first step so Brandon and John we still have to have
Weekly meetings until we get our goal accomplished right so we we’re gonna look for the agendas and all of the meeting invites to come out Monday at 7 pm so we can continue to have our meeting because this this this this is it made a Mark
Today made a mark so now we have to go to the next step otherwise guess what it’s it’s going to be dead what is faith without action it’s dead so we gotta make sure we continue to act thank you thank you I sincerely hope I gave
You a decent presentation of some of the historical framework and uh everything that everybody talked about seemed to fit into telling our story and telling it truthfully and understanding that even somebody like uh Alain Leroy lock first road scholar was discriminated against at Oxford University when he got there so brother
Can’t even be a road scholar without getting it you know what I’m saying right uh as your International historian I’m still trying to understand the definition of that and all of the duties uh truly you know from what I’ve heard any one of you why was I chosen unless it’s a Sam
And Eli thing and and Sam said Here I Am Lord take me all right uh but I will simply rely on the expertise that is in this room and as the international historian my only job is to facilitate and be the spokesperson and express the need to the general board because there
Has to be a complete historic plan in place including Logistics and resources and management and all of that sort of thing we’re not talking about getting a U-Haul 12 by 12 you know storage facility and putting stuff in there so this is a major undertaking I do not
Know what preceded me but I I consider it an absolute honor to be recognized to be given the opportunity to do this job and with your help and with God’s help we will make it work and we will get the book written as well anybody
Else I just wanted to say is um someone who kind of does this for for for work one of the lwh hanging fruit that I think we have as an opportunity for this fraternity is to create digital mapping opportunity where we don’t necessarily have to build The Monuments and secure
The properties and all those types of things we just have to do enough work to identify those places and identify those stories and then build a digital mapping off off of it which will then allow us to then create awareness through social media and through other platforms that democratize the space and the
Information and then that will put us in a better position to then acquire Monies to continue to build this work so I don’t think think we have to wait to do all this work then to tell the digital we let’s use the digital mapping and the things that are lwh hanging fruit and
Available to us to then be able to push the bigger projects that may require some fundraising considering the nature of everything that we have to uh reclaim it’s going to take more than just one approach I just want to say one thing because you you most of the people here
Are um local but but and you talked about monuments and and um historical markers and when we um would decide to do the monument I also wanted to do a historical marker in front of lock hall because of course we didn’t mention we have a whole um building here named
After elain Leroy lock and I wanted to to to actually erect an orc tree I know we have a tree here an orak tree to to the symbol of of um the oess of our existence here we did do um establish a historical marker in Memphis um on Beal
Street um and and thank thank thanks to um our brothers there um that is the historical marker where Abraham Langster um conceived the idea of establishing five Beta Sigma on this campus when he the summer before he came here he spoke with a a recent um um student in
Attendance about fraternities and he he decided that he was going to start a fraternity so we established a historical marker there with the with the assistance of Harold Collins who was a city councilman there and and we unveiled it and and and um uh John Lewis
Was able to march one of the good marches from from the PE Hotel Hotel Here Comes pebody again pebody hotel to the site of the maret for an unveiling so that was another unveiling and of course we we also established um we laid a wreath um at the site of the other
Founders in Kansas City um where I found found the brown was and also in in um Jacksonville where where founder Moss spent most of his years so we we do have his hisorical markers that we and and of course um we intended during the Centennial to um establish a statue for
A Philip Randolph in one of the local parks I guess we didn’t get everything we wanted to accomplished but we got some significant markers including the monument in place okay thank you okay so we’ll oh I’m sorry one more my name name is Carolyn Williams I’m with beta Zeta chapter Washington
D.C Zeta beta Soro Incorporated and I am a native Washingtonian so Howard University is very very special to me I pledged at cap Alpha chapter at the University of the District of Colombia but it was just wonderful listening to all the stories that everyone has spoken about and I am the historiographers for
My chapter so I would love to get into the digital information section but I would like to say that one of my um Soro sister was Lynette Smith the wife of Gerald Smith she recently passed uh last year and also Gerald’s mother is still living if you would like to be able to
Speak to her or Gerald’s sister Joanne stanach that’s usually how we get in touch with her I can give you that information she would love to hear some of the stories about Geral um I thank you very much I’m sorry I wasn’t able to
Be here at the beginning but um I had a little delay but I did make it toward the end and I really appreciate it and it was very helpful oh did okay okay so we’ll we’ll wrap it up here again thank you thank you all for for
Coming out and again it was a long long day today but you all stuck it through and so we have a treat for you all if you can um we’re gon to do a brief tour take about 15 20 minutes we’ll get you all through the different floors of
Morland sping our resarch Research Center you can see what me and John do on the day-to-day basis some of our facilities um because it is a lot to see and it is a treat I promise you all be in for a treat so we’ll go ahead and
Start that we we want to get a group picture really quickly for our social media so we can get that out so we’ll do a group picture and then we’ll head out we’ll head out for the tour thank you all again we can come up here yes everybody
Yes more experienced WIS Brothers up Front I got a text message from brother in Tennessee just about minutes ago that Father William C William at online how we looking good one more back up John back up right thank you all right so yes and if you’re going on the tour you can leave your stuff in here
Security is right out there they’ll be watching the door if you going on the tour you can’t leave your stuff in here two brothers you need to put some darkness in the middle of
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