[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 29 (Thursday, February 14, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E181-E182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN RECOGNITION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BETA LAMBDA CHAPTER OF 
                    ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC.

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EMANUEL CLEAVER

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 14, 2019

  Mr. CLEAVER. Madam Speaker, I proudly rise today to recognize a 
significant milestone in one of the pre-eminent organizations, not only 
in the Fifth Congressional District of Missouri, which I proudly 
represent, but throughout the region--the Beta Lambda Chapter of Alpha 
Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. As a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha 
Fraternity myself, I am especially proud to recognize this great 
accomplishment. It is truly an honor to celebrate the Beta Lambda 
Chapter's Centennial observance on February 17, 2019 in Kansas City, 
Missouri.
  The Beta Lambda Chapter was chartered in January 1919 with ten 
charter members who laid a strong foundation of fraternal fellowship in 
the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The effort to organize the 
Beta Lambda Chapter in Kansas City, Missouri began in April 1918, upon 
the request of graduate members of the fraternity who resided in Kansas 
City. An application for the Chapter was made during the 1918 
convention held in Cleveland, Ohio by Brothers T.C. Brown, W.H. Bruce, 
L.H. Norwood, Thomas Taylor, J. Oliver Morrison and Guy Booker. 
Favorable action was taken by the convention and the Chapter was 
established in January 1919 making it the second oldest graduate 
chapter and first graduate chapter west of the Mississippi River. The 
charter members of the Beta Lambda Chapter were all outstanding members 
of the Kansas City community and of their respective professions. Faced 
with cultural realities of the early Twentieth Century, these charter 
members found in each other a source of mutual support, enlightenment 
and a retreat of friendship and fraternity. Each sensed a significant 
void created by the pervasive permanence of American institutional 
racism and exclusionary practices that were predominant during that 
era. Throughout its history, the Beta Lambda Chapter has proudly upheld 
the high standards of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
  Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated was founded in 1906 at 
Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Our founding Jewels are Henry 
Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George 
Biddle Kelley, Nathanial Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and 
Vertner Woodson Tandy.
  Beta Lambda has been privileged to host the Thirteenth Annual 
Convention in 1920, Twenty-Eighth Annual Convention in 1940, Thirty-
Sixth Annual Convention in 1950, Seventy-Fourth Annual Convention in 
1988 and Eighty-Eighth Annual Convention in 2008. Beta Lambda won the 
``McGee Memorial Cup'' as Outstanding National Chapter from 1945 to 
1947. Additionally, the Beta Lambda Chapter won National Alumni Chapter 
of the Year in

[[Page E182]]

1997 for its leadership and service in social justice, education and 
development for mankind.
  Beta Lambda is led today by Hon. Ardie A. Bland, Damon E. Roath as 
Vice President, and William A. Griffin as Recording Secretary. 
Additional officers include: Johnathan Bernard, Terence M. Goree, 
Joseph C. Lewis, Rev. Kevin L. Nelson, Howard A. Berry, Eric J. 
Halliburton and Thomas A. Phillips.
  One hundred years in the life of any person, organization or 
institution is a significant milestone and serves as a testament of 
fidelity to principles, seriousness of purpose and devotion to goals 
and objectives. Thus, the reason for intentional recognition to such an 
amazing local treasure.
  Madam Speaker, please join me and our colleagues in expressing our 
collective congratulations to the Beta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi 
Alpha Fraternity and extending our heartfelt wishes for even greater 
success as it begins its second century.

                          ____________________