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Nov 17th, 1911 - Nov 17th, 2004

On Friday, November 17, 1911, three Howard University undergraduate students,
Frank
Coleman, Oscar James Cooper and Edgar Amos Love, met with Professor Ernest
Everest
Just in his office in Science Hall (Thirkield Hall) to establish a fraternity.
At this meeting,
they decided upon the motto "friendship is essential to the soul" as symbolized
by the
letters Omega Psi Phi, which are the initials of the three Greek words that
represent the
motto. They chose Manhood, Scholarship, Perseverance and Uplift as the four
cardinal
principles of the fraternity and decided upon the design of the fraternity's pin
and
escutcheon.


On Thursday, November 23, 1911, the three undergraduate Founders met and elected

Love as Grand Basileus, Cooper as Grand Keeper of Records (Grand Keeper of
Records and
Seals or Grand KRS) and Coleman as Grand Keeper of Seals (Grand Keeper of
Finance or
Grand KF). After carefully studying the student body for prospective
candidates, they
chose eleven men who not only possessed the principles upon which the fraternity
was
founded but also were willing to help Omega on its way. The eleven Charter
members
chosen for the first chapter of the fraternity, Alpha, established at Howard
University were:
William S. Gilbert, Charles Young Harris, Clarence Albert Hayes, Benjamin Harry
Jones,
Clarence Osceola Lewis, Julius Henderson Love, William Albert Love, William
Henry
Pleasants, Charles Brougham Washington, Edgar Paul Westmoreland and Frank Howell

Wimberly. The three Founders then formed a committee to draw up a constitution
that
would be submitted to the President of the university for faculty approval.


On Thursday, December 8, 1911, the committee made its report to the Grand
Chapter, the
constitution was adopted and each charter member signed the original document
that was
submitted to the President. The Grand Chapter had to work hard to win faculty
approval
at Howard although the men who signed the constitution were student leaders in
academics and extracurricular activities. Rather than wait for faculty
approval, they placed
small placards in conspicuous places around campus announcing the existence of
the
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and listed the names of its members.


On December 15, 1911, prior to faculty approval, Alpha Chapter, The Mother
Pearl, was
established at Howard University with fourteen Charter members. Along with the
Founders, these eleven stalwart men selected on November 23rd formed the
foundation of
The Mother Pearl. At this meeting, Coleman was chosen as Alpha Chapter's first
Basileus,
Edgar A. Love as its first Keeper of Records and Cooper as its first Keeper of
Seals. While
still awaiting faculty approval of its constitution and confident that approval
would
eventually come, Alpha Chapter voted on new members on February 21, 1912. On
February 28, 1912, members of the temporary chapter took the oath of allegiance
and
Alpha Chapter held its first initiation, adding four new members, Moses T.
Claybourne,
Christopher Columbus Cook, William Barrington Jason and James Raymond Johnson.
The
permanent chapter was established with the election of Westmoreland as Basileus,
Cook as
Keeper of Records and Wimberly as Keeper of Seals.


On March 2, 1912, Brother Coleman and Brother Hayes reported to the Grand
Officers and
Alpha Chapter on their conference with the faculty and informed them that the
President
of the university resisted the fraternity's national aspirations. The Brothers
kept the article
in the constitution regarding Omega Psi Phi Fraternity's national aspirations.
Eventually,
the faculty withdrew its objections and recognized the Fraternity as a national
organization. The Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Grand Chapter was incorporated
under the
laws of the District of Columbia on October 28, 1914 by Edgar A. Love as Grand
Basileus,
Oscar J. Cooper as Grand Keeper of Records and Frank Coleman as Grand Keeper of
Seals.


Having overcome faculty resistance for national expansion, Alpha Chapter
appointed a
committee to report on establishing a chapter at Lincoln University in
Pennsylvania. After
recommending establishment of a chapter at Lincoln, Alpha Chapter appointed
Cooper,
John Howard McMorries (Alpha 1913) and William Griffith Carter Brannon (Alpha
1912) to
carry out Omega's expansion. On February 6, 1914, they initiated twenty men
from
Lincoln who became the Charter members of Beta Chapter, the second chapter
established.


Omega Psi Phi had an early appeal for international students as Alpha Chapter
initiated its
first international student, from St. Vincent (now St. Vincent and the
Grenadines), in
1912. Others followed from St. Kitts and the Dominican Republic.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRUHS...