A Slightly Different Perspective
1963 was a turbulent year as history-making events would radically and permanently affect the country as a whole, and African-Americans in particular.
On April 12, America watched with horror and outrage as Birmingham, Ala., Police Chief Eugene "Bull" Connor and his officers used water hoses and police dogs against peaceful civil rights demonstrators.
On June 12, Medgar Evers, NAACP field secretary and civil rights leader, was assassinated at his home in Jackson, Miss., by a segregationist.
On August 28, 250,000 people participated in the historic "March on Washington" and heard Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver his historic "I Have a Dream" speech.
Three weeks later and less than 50 miles away, another group of men would make a different kind of history.
On September 19, at Morgan State College (now Morgan State University), 12 students founded Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.:
Albert Hicks*
Lonnie Spruill, Jr.
Charles Briscoe*
Frank Coakley*
John Slade*
Barron Willis*
Webster Lewis*
Charles Brown*
Louis Hudnell
Charles Gregory*
Elias Dorsey, Jr.*
Michael Williams*
*Founders who have transitioned into Alpha Iota Omega Memorial Chapter.
This group of men were unique for several reasons. First, many were long-time friends. Spruill, Coakley, Dorsey, and Gregory knew each another since grade school, and Spruill and Coakley's friendship extended to pre-school.
Even more uniquely, many of these men were "non-traditional students" and were three to five years older than the average college student. Gregory, Willis, and Brown were veterans, and Brown, Hicks, and Briscoe were married with small children. Several of the founders worked full-time jobs, and all were full-time students.
Based upon their ages, heightened responsibilities, and increased level of maturity, this group had a slightly different perspective than the average college student. 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!"
The Fraternity functioned as a local entity until the first interest groups were established in 1967 at Hampton Institute (Beta Chapter) and Delaware State College (Gamma Chapter). Further expansion took place in 1968 with chapters being formed at Norfolk State College (Delta Chapter) and Jersey City State College (Epsilon Chapter). The Fraternity was officially and legally incorporated on November 1, 1968, as a national fraternity under the laws of the State of Maryland.
The first steps toward moving the Fraternity from a regional to a more national scope were taken with the creation of Upsilon Chapter (Southern Illinois University) in 1974. It was also during this period that the Fraternity's first four graduate chapters were formed: Alpha Omega (Baltimore, Md., 1965), Beta Omega (Washington, D.C., 1970), Gamma Omega (Hampton, Va., 1973), and Delta Omega (Boston, Mass., 1973).
These chapters created the framework for the growth and development of the Fraternity in the Northeast, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest regions. The next regional expansion occurred in 1983 with the establishment of the Alpha Chi (San Francisco State University) and Xi Omega (San Francisco Alumni) chapters in California.
Today, Iota Phi Theta consists of over 260 chapters located in 40 States, the District of Columbia, and internationally in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Colombia, South America.