[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 99 (Tuesday, July 25, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H5769-H5772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING THE ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 100TH 
                              ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 384) recognizing and honoring 
the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Alpha Phi Alpha 
Fraternity, Incorporated, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter 
fraternity established for African Americans.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 384

       Whereas the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity was founded on 
     December 4, 1906, by seven young men, respectfully known as 
     the Seven Jewels, at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York;
       Whereas Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene 
     Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison 
     Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy, the 
     founders of the Fraternity, recognized the need for a strong 
     bond of brotherhood among African descendants in this 
     country;
       Whereas the aims of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity are 
     manly deeds, scholarship, and love for all mankind;

[[Page H5770]]

       Whereas, for 100 years, the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has 
     played a fundamental role in the positive development of the 
     character and education of more than 175,000 men;
       Whereas the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha have shared 
     countless friendships and a common belief in the founding 
     ideals of the Fraternity;
       Whereas alumni from Alpha Phi Alpha include many noteworthy 
     leaders in the areas of government, business, entertainment, 
     science, and higher education;
       Whereas the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has 350 college 
     campus chapters and 350 alumni chapters in 44 States, the 
     District of Columbia, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and 
     Europe; and
       Whereas the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity continues to enrich 
     the lives of its members who, in turn, carry out in their 
     communities a commitment to service and the uplifting of 
     humanity: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) recognizes and honors the 100th anniversary of the 
     founding of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity;
       (2) commends all Alpha Phi Alpha brothers, past and 
     present, for their bond of friendship, common ideals and 
     beliefs, and service to community; and
       (3) expresses its best wishes for the Alpha Phi Alpha 
     Fraternity's continued success and growth.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Nebraska.


                             General Leave

  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
on H. Con. Res. 384.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Nebraska?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 384 
offered by my colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey). 
House Concurrent Resolution 384 honors the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity 
on the occasion of its 100th anniversary.
  The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity was founded in 1904 at Cornell 
University in Ithaca, New York by seven young men who recognized the 
need to fill the void of social and cultural interaction on an Ivy 
League campus left behind by segregation. These founders, who came to 
be known as the Seven Jewels, were no ordinary achievers, for they had 
founded the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established 
for African Americans, no small feat given the racial attitudes of the 
time.
  For 100 years, the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has initiated more than 
175,000 men. The goals of the fraternity are manly deeds, scholarship, 
and love for all mankind. I might add parenthetically that several of 
my student athletes over a number of years joined this fraternity. The 
successes of the fraternity have continued through the establishment of 
700 collegiate and alumni chapters in 44 States, the District of 
Columbia, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Europe.
  Moreover, aside from being the first African American Greek-letter 
organization for college men, the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity was the 
first to integrate its membership in 1945. By doing so, they proved to 
the world that people of different ethnic backgrounds could effectively 
work together in peace.
  In addition, the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has implemented a number 
of national programs which have benefited the African-American 
community and all communities as a whole. The programs include, ``A 
Voteless People is a Hopeless People,'' which concentrates on voter 
registration and awareness, and the ``Go to High School, Go to 
College'' program, which focuses on the educational enrichment of 
African American youth. The fraternity also jointly leads programming 
initiatives with March of Dimes, Head Start, Boy Scouts of America, and 
Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America.
  Lastly, the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has played a fundamental role 
in the positive development in the character and education of these 
young men that has served as a foundation for success and achievements 
in all fields of endeavor, from the sciences, to education, to 
business, to professional athletics, and to public service.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to recognize and honor the Alpha Phi 
Alpha Fraternity for the celebration of its 100th anniversary, and 
commends all Alpha Phi Alpha brothers, past and present, for their bond 
of friendship, common ideals and beliefs, and service to community.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3\1/2\ 
minutes to the sponsor of this resolution who represents the area where 
Alpha Phi Alpha was indeed founded, Representative Maurice Hinchey from 
New York.
  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to express my appreciation to my 
friend and colleague, Mr. Davis, for providing me with this time. I 
also want to express my appreciation to my friends on both sides of the 
aisle for managing this resolution and allowing it the opportunity to 
come here to the floor this afternoon.
  Cornell University is one of the most important and one of the most 
significant colleges and universities in America. It is an outstanding 
source of education, as well as a place of great scientific and other 
intellectual research. A great many events have taken place at Cornell 
University, located in Ithaca, New York, over the many years that it 
has been in existence.
  Among those significant events was the founding of the Alpha Phi 
Alpha Fraternity, founded on December 4 of 1906. This first 
intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity, which was established for 
African Americans, was founded at Cornell University, New York, which 
is located in the congressional district that I am honored to 
represent, and it was done so by seven college men at that time, Henry 
Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George 
Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and 
Vertner Woodson Tandy.
  It is important that this resolution is passed today because 
obviously, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of 
this fraternity. In fact, it happens not coincidentally this week the 
Alphas are holding a centennial convention right here in the Nation's 
capital of Washington, D.C.
  Since its inception, the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has played a very 
crucial role in the educational and character development of more than 
175,000 men. Now this fraternity has 350 college campus chapters and 
350 alumni chapters that are located in 44 of our States as well as the 
District of Columbia. It also has additional chapters in Africa, Asia, 
the Caribbean, and Europe. It has become in fact one of the most 
significant fraternities in the world.
  Alpha Phi Alpha alumni include noteworthy leaders who serve in the 
areas of science, politics, the military, education, and social 
justice, and there are a large number of members of this fraternity who 
have served this country and then passed on. I will mention just a few 
of those outstanding Americans. They include Dr. Martin Luther King, 
Jr., W.E.B. DuBois, Justice Thurgood Marshall, and John H. Johnson. 
Alpha Phi Alpha alumni also include eight other distinguished 
colleagues in our House. They are Charlie Rangel, Bobby Scott, Chaka 
Fattah, Gregory Meeks, Danny Davis, David Scott, Al Green and Emanuel 
Cleaver. It gives me a great deal of pleasure, Mr. Speaker, to offer 
this resolution to the Members of our House, and I certainly hope it 
passes unanimously.

                              {time}  1630

  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3 
minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson).
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to salute my brother 
fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, on the occasion of their centennial 
celebration and in support of H. Con. Res. 384, a resolution honoring 
the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity as the first Greek letter fraternity 
established for African American men.
  As a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, the first 
female and sister sorority of Alpha Phi Alpha, I know well the hard 
work and dedication that goes towards their goals: their mission of 
education, their mission of civic engagement and participation, and 
their civil rights leadership.

[[Page H5771]]

  I was extremely honored to be declared a Golden Soror at the fall 
Alpha Kappa Alpha's Boule last week.
  The Brothers of the Black and Gold have watched their mission grow 
and evolve in the 100 years since the fraternity's founding. They have 
taken their original collegiate support system and expanded it to serve 
as a role model in high school and college mentoring programs, a 
practice that I as a former educator and school psychologist highly 
endorse as one of the best routes to success.
  Their 70-year-old mission to increase civic participation by 
instilling the adage, ``A Voteless People is a Hopeless People,'' is 
still relevant today, as we just passed the Voting Rights Act amid some 
claims that it is no longer needed. Unfortunately, intimidation, 
threats, innuendo and deception are still used to discourage voter 
turnout; and so the Alphas, as they are known on college campuses, 
continue to lead the charge for a free vote and fair representation.
  My last commendation to my brothers is to applaud them on their 
efforts to enshrine Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy by building a 
memorial to him on the National Mall. I was pleased to carry the 
legislation in the year 2003 authorizing such a monument to our 
Nation's foremost pacifist and civil rights legend where it belongs, in 
a highly visible, national area.
  I know that the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity is working in a determined 
way to raise the funds for the Martin Luther King, Jr., memorial; and I 
am pleased as usual to go into partnership with them in reaching their 
goal.
  I want to congratulate them, all of you, my brothers of the Alpha Phi 
Alpha fraternity, for founding this long-lasting organization and for 
your tenacity in engaging us on crucial issues that transcend time.
  Congratulations.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 4 
minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott), a 
member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, Judiciary 
Committee, and Budget Committee and known to those of us in the Alpha 
fraternity as Brother Constitutional Scholar.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding. Thank you, Brother Davis.
  Mr. Speaker, it is truly an honor for me to congratulate Alpha Phi 
Alpha fraternity on our centennial celebration, commemorating 100 years 
of civil service and social progress.
  Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity was founded on December 4, 1906, at 
Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, by seven young men known as the 
Seven Jewels. As the first intercollegiate Greek letter fraternity 
established for African Americans, Alpha Phi Alpha initially served as 
a brotherhood and study and support group for minority students at 
Cornell, but it also recognized the need to help correct the 
educational, economic, political and social injustices faced by African 
Americans.
  From that, the foundation of Alpha Phi Alpha principles of 
scholarship, fellowship, good character and the uplifting of humanity 
were laid. Alpha Phi Alpha now has a presence on hundreds of college 
campuses as well as in hundreds of alumni chapters in 44 States, the 
District of Columbia, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean islands.
  Over the years, Alpha Phi Alpha has played a fundamental role in the 
positive development of the character and education of more than 
175,000 men, and it has been paramount in the fight to advance civil 
rights and enhance the socioeconomic status of all in American society.
  Notable Alphas include Thurgood Marshall, W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton 
Powell, Martin Luther King, Jr., Edward Brooke, Andrew Young, William 
Gray, Paul Robeson, and there are countless others who have served or 
now serve as leaders in government, business, entertainment, science 
and education.
  Today, in Congress, the eight Members have already been identified, 
but I would like to mention at this time three national programs that 
have been designed by Alpha Phi Alpha to benefit the future of African 
Americans and humanity as a whole. Every Alpha chapter is committed to 
the implementation of these programs.
  The Go-to-High-School, Go-to-College program was established in 1922 
and focuses on the importance of African American youth completing 
secondary and collegiate education as a road to advancement. Statistics 
prove that school completion is the single best predictor for future 
success, and Alpha Phi Alpha is committed to promoting education among 
African American youth and the importance of completing one's 
education.
  ``A Voteless People is a Hopeless People'' began as an Alpha Phi 
Alpha program during the 1930s when many African Americans had the 
right to vote, but were prevented from doing so due to poll taxes, 
threats of reprisal, and lack of education about the voting process. 
The program, which focus on voter education and voter registration, 
also facilitates town meetings and candidate forums to improve 
political awareness and empowerment.
  Project Alpha was started by a chapter in Chicago in the late 1970s 
and is now a national Alpha program implemented in collaboration with 
the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. It is designed to provide 
education, motivation, and skill-building on issues of responsibility, 
relationships, teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases for 
young males 12 to 15 years of age. Project Alpha reaches hundreds of 
communities and thousands of teen males to teach them the importance of 
responsibility in their personal lives.
  Mr. Speaker, on this centennial anniversary, it is my privilege to 
recognize the 100th anniversary of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity; to 
commend all Alpha brothers, past and present, for their bond of 
friendship, common ideals and service to the community; and to wish 
Alpha Phi Alpha success in the next 100 years as it continues to enrich 
the lives of its members, its alumni, and through them, communities 
around the world.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3\1/2\ 
minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott), an Alpha brother who 
holds a master's degree in business administration from the Wharton 
School of Business, a distinguished businessman before becoming an 
elected official, who hails from Atlanta, Georgia.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank very much Representative 
Davis, and what a pleasure it is to join all of my fellow Members of 
Congress on this historic day for this historic occasion, which is to 
truly recognize 100 years of sojourning for truth by this extraordinary 
fraternal organization.
  I stand before you as living proof of the greatness of our Alpha Phi 
Alpha. I was brought into Alpha Phi Alpha when I was 18 years old, 
1964, at Florida A&M University in the Beta Nu chapter, and it is not a 
stretch to say that if it were not for Alpha Phi Alpha, David Scott 
would not be standing in this prestigious place called the Congress of 
the United States, for I, like every Alpha member, and every Alpha 
brother, owe so much to the sturdiness of that organization to at an 
early age instill in so many young men, African American young men or 
boys and turn African American boys into men, to understand the 
importance of brotherhood, to understand the importance of commitment, 
of discipline, of focus, to learn early in your life that if you want 
to be something, if you want to be somebody, the first place you have 
to look is in the mirror because the answer lies deep within yourself.
  1906 to 2006, 100 years of greatness that mirrors 100 years of 
greatness in the greatest country on the face of the Earth, the United 
States of America; and at every step of the way in that great journey 
of the last 100 years, the men of Alpha have played a pivotal role, all 
the way from World War I, where we had Alpha men who fought in Europe; 
all the way up through the Great Depression, when America had to go 
through the great economic throes that we did, men and women of Alpha 
worked in the work plant, worked right there with Franklin Delano 
Roosevelt's plan. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt looked America in the 
eye and said we do not have anything to fear but fear itself, Alpha was 
there to take that challenge.
  Through World War II, Alpha men fought on the beaches of Normandy. 
All the way from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, Alpha 
men were there fighting for this country. And when the challenge came 
to desegregate the schools, the leader of

[[Page H5772]]

that, Thurgood Marshall, was an Alpha man who stood tall. And when the 
call came out, who would go for us and who shall we send to lead the 
charge in the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King stood strong, a 
26-year-old man, and said here I am, Lord, send me. Alpha.
  So it is with great feeling and great expression that I join every 
Member of this House of Representatives to give the proper respect to 
an organization on whose shoulders we in this House rest. We are eight 
Members of Alpha in this House, and we are so proud because as we look 
back through our history, we know that we stand here on the shoulders 
of Adam Clayton Powell. When there were only a few, maybe one, maybe 
two, African Americans that sat in this Chamber, it gave hope that we, 
too, could one day come.
  I am so proud and I thank this House of Representatives for 
recognizing Alpha Phi Alpha.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3\1/2\ 
minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from the great State of Texas 
(Ms. Jackson-Lee) who, of course, is not an Alpha, but of course, she 
could indeed marry an Alpha man if she chose to do so, but a tremendous 
leader from the State of Texas.
  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise 
and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, although this esteemed body is 
filled with aura and history, I might imagine that today there is more 
history, more aura, more feeling, more acknowledgment of the struggles 
and the success of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. How many can claim 
100 years?
  And so today I rise to add my appreciation to the Members of Congress 
who are Alphas, in particular the men that are on this floor today, Mr. 
Scott of Georgia, Mr. Davis of Illinois, and Mr. Scott of Virginia, 
representing a wide array of men who are in the United States Congress 
who are Alpha brothers.
  Might I just for a moment claim to be a sister of their fraternity as 
a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, but that is not why we rise 
today.
  It is worth noting Alpha brothers who are founding members of the 
Houston chapter and others who are part of that great chapter such as 
Gerald Womack, Prince Cartwright, Larry Green, James Ward and, yes, the 
former national President, Mr. Harry Johnson. Additionally, other such 
leaders are Horace William, Walter Criner, Lew Don Buney, Sr. and L.W. 
Garrett, and many, many other good brothers.
  I salute the Alphas who has been here for 100 years of life and 
liberty and freedom and salute them for understanding the first line of 
defense is an education in their Go-to-High-School, Go-to-College 
program, and of course, A Voteless People is a Hopeless People.
  Doing that for 100 years, 175,000 African American men have been 
educated in the fundamental role of developing character and education; 
but I think if we speak to the heart and soul of Alphas, I want to 
speak to their commitment to civil rights.

                          ____________________