WHEREAS, Seven college men founded the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the first intercollegiate African-American Greek letter fraternity, on December 4, 1906, on the campus of Cornell University; and
WHEREAS, Since its inception, over 175,000 men have joined the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, through over 700 campus and alumni chapters, including seven chapters in the Philadelphia region; and
WHEREAS, The fraternity’s objective is to stimulate the ambition of its members; prepare them for the greatest uses of humanity, freedom, and dignity of the individual; encourage the highest and noblest form of manhood, and aid downtrodden humanity in its efforts to achieve higher social, economic and intellectual status; and
WHEREAS, In furtherance of its objectives, the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has embarked upon numerous projects, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Project, the Go-To-High School, Go-To-College Project, and A-Voteless-People-Is-A-Hopeless-People Program; and
WHEREAS, Nationally, the members of Alpha Phi Alpha, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., W. E. B. Dubois, Paul Robeson, Jesse Owens, Duke Ellington, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Ambassador Andrew Young, U. S. Senator Edward Brooke, U.S. Congressmen Chaka Fattah, William H. Gray, III, Adam Clayton Powell, William Dawson, Ronald Dellums, Harold Ford, Charles Rangel, Robert C. Scott, Earl Hilliard, as well as Mayors Maynard Jackson, Richard Arrington, David Dinkins, Willie Brown, Dennis Archer, Ernest and Mark Morial, Marion Barry, Kwame Kilpatrick, Emmanuel Cleaver, along with Ebony Magazine founder John H. Johnson, Harvard Professor Cornell West and Pa. State Rep. James Roebuck, to name a few, have all personified the organization’s highest ideals through their life’s work; and
WHEREAS, The youngest member of this legislative body was initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha almost two decades ago on March 25, 1984; now therefore
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby declares December 4th, 2003, as Alpha Phi Alpha Day in the City of Philadelphia on the occasion of the 97th Anniversary of the fraternity.
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