[Black Organizations] Sigma Pi Phi: “The Boule” -The First African-American Greek-lettered organization
Posted on 19. Aug, 2010 by Leshell Hatley in Black Organizations
Sigma Pi Phi is the first African-American Greek-lettered organization. Sigma Pi Phi was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 15, 1904. The fraternity quickly established chapters (referred to as “member boules”) in Chicago, IL and then Baltimore, MD. The founders included two doctors, a dentist and a physician. When Sigma Pi Phi was founded, black professionals were not offered participation in the professional and cultural associations organized by the white community. Sigma Pi Phi has over 5,000 members and 112 chapters throughout the United States and the West Indies.
The fraternity’s purpose is
“creating a forum wherein they could pursue social and intellectual activities in the company of peers.”
Founders
Membership
Sigma Pi Phi
Membership to Sigma Pi Phi is highly exclusive, number only about 5,000. The organization is known as “the Boule,” which means “a council of noblemen.” Founded as an organization for professionals, Sigma Pi Phi never established college chapters, and eliminated undergraduate membership during its infant stages. However, Sigma Pi Phi has historically had a congenial relationship with college Black Greek-Letter Organizations, as many members of Sigma Pi Phi are members of both. Sigma Pi Phi founder Henry McKee Minton and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were both members of Alpha Phi Alpha, while Arthur Ashe was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. Vernon Jordan and Douglas Wilder are members of Omega Psi Phi. James Weldon Johnson was a member of Phi Beta Sigma, as is civil rights leader and member of Congress John Lewis (D-GA). Members of Sigma Pi Phi have provided leadership and service during the Great Depression, World War I, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, and addressed social issues such as urban housing, and other economic, cultural, and political issues affecting people of African descent.
Other Famous Members
Members of Sigma Pi Phi include co-founder of the NAACP W. E. B. Du Bois, Former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, former United Nations Ambassador Ralph Bunche, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, former Virginia governor Douglas Wilder, American Express President Kenneth Chenault, Bobby Scott, Ken Blackwell, Ron Brown, Vernon Jordan, Arthur Ashe, Mel Watt, and Hank Aaron. Sigma Pi Phi is also open to members of all races, as can be demonstrated by its well known Jewish member Jack Greenberg who succeeded Thurgood Marshall as General Counsel of the NAACP. Lawrence Otis Graham talks about the organization, and his membership, in his book Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class. John Baxter Taylor, Jr. – First African-American Gold Medalist.
An interesting perspectives of ‘The Boule’ of Sigma Pi Phi:
More information can be found at http://www.sigmapiphi.org.
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