Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., January 9, 1914, by
three young African-American male students. The founders, Honorable A. Langston
Taylor, Honorable Leonard F. Morse, and Honorable Charles I. Brown, wanted to
organize a Greek letter fraternity that would truly exemplify the ideals of brotherhood,
scholarship, and service.
The founders deeply wished to create an organization that viewed itself as
"a part of" the general community rather than "apart from"
the general community. They believed that each potential member should be judged
by his own merits rather than his family background or affluence...without
regard of race, nationality, skin tone or texture of hair. They wished and
wanted their fraternity to exist as part of even a greater brotherhood which
would be devoted to the "inclusive we" rather than the "exclusive
we".
From its inception, the Founders also conceived Phi Beta Sigma as a mechanism to
deliver services to the general community. Rather than gaining skills to be
utilized exclusively for themselves and their immediate families, the founders
of Phi Beta Sigma held a deep conviction that they should return their newly
acquired skills to the communities from which they had come. This deep
conviction was mirrored in the Fraternity's motto, "Culture For Service
and Service For Humanity".
Today, 91 years later, Phi Beta Sigma has blossomed into an international
organization of leaders. No longer a single entity, the Fraternity has now
established the Phi Beta Sigma Educational Foundation, the Phi Beta Sigma
Housing Foundation, the Phi
Beta Sigma Federal Credit Union, and the Phi Beta Sigma Charitable
Outreach Foundation. Zeta
Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., founded in 1920 with the assistance of Phi Beta
Sigma, is the sister organization. No other fraternity and sorority is
constitutionally bound as Sigma and Zeta. We both enjoy and foster a mutually
supportive relationship.
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.