This protest started February 15, 1963, and over the course of the six days, the total number of picketers involved reached 1500, and over 400 individuals were arrested. In many theaters, only white people could occupy seating on the main floor, while black people were restricted to the " Jim Crow" balcony, often with a separate ticket booth and entrance. Northwood continued to segregate its services, affecting thousands of students at the historically black college. The earliest was a protest organized with a civic interest group, composed mostly of Morgan State College students, against the theater at Northwood Shopping Center in Baltimore, Maryland, located diagonally across the street from Morgan State College. Brothers participated in various protests and sit-ins throughout Baltimore to fight racial segregation. In the 60s many African Americans began forming organizations based on their passion for social change and their alignment with the principles of the Civil Rights Movement. While the 1950s was an era of conformity, the 1960s was an era of resistance. While the Greek mythological creature, the Centaur, has a well known public meaning, a beloved alternate description of the Centaur is known only by initiated members of the fraternity.Įarly activism – Northwood Theater It was this perspective from which they established the Fraternity's purpose, "The development and perpetuation of Scholarship, Leadership, Citizenship, Fidelity, and Brotherhood among Men." Additionally, they conceived the Fraternity's motto, "Building a Tradition, Not Resting Upon One!". Based upon their ages, heightened responsibilities and increased level of maturity, the group had a slightly different perspective than the norm for typical fraternity members.
#Uf iota phi theta full#
Many of them were three to five years older, worked and attended classes full time, had served in the military and had families with small children.
Spruill, Coakley, Dorsey, and Gregory had known one another since grade school, and Spruill and Coakley had been friends since pre-school. Influencers of Iota Phi Theta include organizations such as the Black Panthers, SNCC, the original Rainbow Coalition (Fred Hampton) and individuals like Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael.Īdditionally, unlike most of their fraternity peers, the founders were all non-traditional students. Many early members of the fraternity were also actively involved in the Black Power and Pan-Africanism Movements, both begun due to perceived and actual failures of Civil Rights Movement initiatives. Like those organizations, Iota Phi Theta's founders were extremely devoted to Civil Rights and energizing the movement. Many new organizations devoted to the plight of African Americans arose during the 1960s. At the time of the fraternity's founding, several NPHC organizations “existed on Morgan State’s campus”. On September 19, 1963, the twelve founders gathered together on the steps of Hurt Gymnasium on the campus of Morgan State College (now Morgan State University) and unyielding desired & agreed to form Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc., a support system for militant men of color in the era's turbulent social climate. and Michael Williams - during the Civil Rights Movement. The fraternity was founded by 12 men (giving the organization the distinction of having more founders than any other NPHC fraternity) - Albert Hicks, Lonnie Spruill Jr., Charles Briscoe, Frank Coakley, John Slade, Barron Willis, Webster Lewis, Charles Brown, Louis Hudnell, Charles Gregory, Elias Dorsey Jr. The fraternity also holds membership in the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC). The fraternity holds membership in the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), an umbrella organization commonly referred to as the Divine 9 which is composed of international historically African American Greek letter sororities and fraternities. states, the District of Columbia, The Bahamas, Colombia, South Korea, and Japan. Today there are over 301 undergraduate and alumni chapters (including colonies), as well as colonies located in 40 U.S. As a contemporary organization, many members have had the great honor of meeting, fellowshipping with and/or engaging in personal or virtual discussions with one or more of their founders.
Members of the close-knit afrocentric fraternity proudly embrace the organization’s youth, uniqueness, individualism (stereotyping discouraged) and modern idealism. It was founded on September 19, 1963, at Morgan State University (then Morgan State College) in Baltimore, Maryland, and is currently the 5th largest Black Greek Lettered Fraternity. ( ΙΦΘ) is a historically African American fraternity. Not Resting Upon One! and/or It Takes A Man! Morgan State College (now Morgan State University)
Historically African American fraternity Iota Phi Theta
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