So violent, in fact, that the leaders of those four fraternities, and of the four national black sororities, have made a stunning decision: They want to abolish "pledging," the traditional period of indoctrination and testing before a student becomes a full-fledged brother or sister. Alumni chapters pride themselves on their volunteerism, and on being a network for black professionals.īut on college campuses, black fraternities have a reputation for distinctively violent hazing. Douglas Wilder, Tom Bradley, David Dinkins and Walter Fauntroy. The four national Greek-letter fraternities for African Americans - Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi and Phi Beta Sigma - can claim many illustrious members, among them Thurgood Marshall, Jesse Jackson, L. "It's just amazing what you can do to other people." "That is what scared me the most," he says. "I'm still not a violent person." Yet as a "big brother" he would slap pledges hard across the face, sometimes for no reason, fully confident that none of them would dare lift a hand against him.Īnd he would feel no remorse. "I've never been a violent person," says this 23-year-old graduate of a mid-sized Southern university. When his turn came to carry on the chap- ter's secret tradition of hazing, he did it with gusto.
What he now regrets, he says, more than the blows he took, is the punishment he laid on the next batch of pledges. He endured almost seven weeks of rigorous hazing - paddling, face-slapping, body-punching and worse - and he became a respected brother for it. Subjects: African American History, Groups & Organizations Terms: United States-Washington D.The scar on his buttocks is a permanent reminder of how important it was to him, just four years ago, to get into a fraternity. Through its current scholarship program the fraternity supports African American undergraduates in various institutions across the nation. Omega’s health initiatives include the annual Charles Drew Blood Drive, AIDS/HIV awareness discussions, and support for the programs of the American Diabetes Association. In 1981, the fraternity endowed its first faculty chair at Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Today, each of the 700 chapters is required to maintain a Life Membership at Large in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In the 1960s many Omegas took part in sit-ins, protests, and marches. In 1955 the fraternity donated the first annual gift of $50,000 to the United Negro College Fund. Drew Scholarship Fund, named after a prominent Omega scientist. The fraternity continued its public service over the decades. The annual observance has now evolved into Black History Month. Woodson persuaded the fraternity to become the first national organization to sponsor National Negro Achievement Week each February. Douglas Wilder, Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes, astronaut Ronald McNair, musicians Count Basie and Max Roach, and athletes Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal.įrom its inception, the fraternity worked to encourage scholarship and uplift among African Americans. Surgeon General David Satcher, former governor L. Weaver, the first black Presidential Cabinet Member, entertainers Bill Cosby and Steve Harvey, civil rights activists Jesse Jackson, Roy Wilkins, and Vernon Jordan, former U.S. Today Omega Psi Phi Fraternity has over 700 chapters across the United States, Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, South Korea, Japan, Liberia, Germany, and Kuwait. Ernest Everett Just, who would eventually become a world-renowned biologist. Love, Cooper, and Coleman extended the status of founder to their faculty advisor, Dr.
Cooper, and Frank Coleman-established the fraternity in the belief that “friendship is essential to the soul.” Out of this idea was born the guiding principles of the fraternity: Manhood, Scholarship, Perseverance, and Uplift. It is the first African American fraternity established at a historically black college. Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated, one of the five fraternities for African American men, was founded on Novemon the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.
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