July 25, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 126 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1000-E1001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE 113TH ANNIVERSARY AND 95TH GENERAL CONVENTION OF ALPHA 
                       PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC.

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STEVEN HORSFORD

                               of nevada

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 25, 2019

  Mr. HORSFORD. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 113th 
Anniversary and 95th General Convention of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, 
Inc. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (AFA) is the first African-
American, intercollegiate Greek-lettered fraternity. It was initially a 
literary and social studies club organized in the 1905-1906 school year 
at Cornell University but later evolved into a fraternity with a 
founding date of December 4, 1906. Its aims are ``Manly Deeds, 
Scholarship, and Love For All Mankind,'' and its motto is ``First of 
All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All.''
  Chapters were chartered at Howard University and Virginia Union 
University in 1907. The fraternity now has over 290,000 members and has 
been open to men of all races since 1945. Currently, there are more 
than 730 active chapters in the Americas, Africa, Europe, the 
Caribbean, and Asia. It is the largest predominantly African-American 
fraternity and one of the ten largest collegiate fraternities in the 
nation.
  Alpha Phi Alpha is a social organization with a service organization 
mission and has provided leadership and service during the Great 
Depression, both World Wars, and the Civil Rights Movement. The 
fraternity has addressed social issues such as apartheid, AIDS, urban 
housing, and other economic, cultural, and political issues of interest 
to people of color.
  National programs and initiatives of the fraternity include A 
Voteless People Is a Hopeless People, My Brother's Keeper, Go To High 
School, Go To College, Project Alpha, and the World Policy Council. It 
also conducts philanthropic programming initiatives with the March of 
Dimes, Head Start, the Boy Scouts of America, and Big Brothers Big 
Sisters of America. Currently the fraternity is involved in a vigorous 
civic engagement initiative aimed at voter protection and a full census 
count for people of color.
  Members of this fraternity include many historical civil rights 
leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., NAACP founder W. E. B. Du Bois. 
Other world-renowned members include political activist Cornel West, 
musicians Duke Ellington and Lionel Richie, NBA legend Walt Frazier, 
Jamaican Prime Minister Norman Manley, Olympic gold medalist Jesse 
Owens, Justice Thurgood Marshall, Investor and founder of Vista Equity 
Partners Robert F. Smith, United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young, 
Academy Award winning director Barry

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Jenkins, six time MTV Video Music Awards winning director and 
choreographer Frank Gatson Jr., the hero of the Nashville Waffle House 
shooting, James Shaw Jr., and ESPN sportscasters Stuart Scott, Stan 
Verrett and Jay Harris.
  Alpha Phi Alpha asserts that through its community outreach 
initiatives, the fraternity supplies voice and vision to the struggle 
of African Americans, the African diaspora, and the countless unique 
problems that affect Black men. The fraternity provides for charitable 
endeavors through its Education and Building Foundations, providing 
academic scholarships and shelter to underprivileged families. The 
fraternity combines its efforts in conjunction with other philanthropic 
organizations such as Head Start, Boy Scouts of America, Big Brothers 
Big Sisters of America, Project Alpha with the March of Dimes, NAACP, 
Habitat for Humanity, and many Fortune 500 companies.
  In Las Vegas, since 1964 and 1993 respectively, the Theta Pi Lambda 
and Sigma Psi Chapters hold high the light of Alpha. We boast in our 
ranks Brothers Chief State Supreme Court Justice Michael Douglas; Chief 
District Judge Addeliar D Guy, III; Dr. James McMillan, the 1st Black 
Dentist in Nevada; Rev. Dr. Marion Bennet; Dr. Bob Bailey, the 1st 
Black TV Personality in Nevada; Ricki Y. Barlow, Las Vegas City 
Councilman; NV Assemblyman Steven Brooks; and Cedric Crear, Las Vegas 
City Councilman. Over the past 5 years they have reinvested over 
$140,000 in scholarships and boast a 100 percent college acceptance 
rate, through the Alpha Men and Divas of Tomorrow Mentoring program.

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