About Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated

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Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on January 9, 1914, as a Greek letter fraternity that would truly exemplify the ideals of brotherhood, scholarship, and service.

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The Founders, Honorable A. Langston Taylor, Honorable Leonard F. Morse, and Honorable Charles I. Brown, 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 to race, nationality, skin tone or texture of hair. They desired for their fraternity to exist as part of an even greater brotherhood which would be devoted to the "inclusive we" rather than the "exclusive we".

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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, they 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".

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Today, Phi Beta Sigma has blossomed into an international organization of leaders. No longer a single entity, members of the Fraternity have been instrumental in the establishment of the Phi Beta Sigma National Foundation, the Phi Beta Sigma Federal Credit Union and The Sigma Beta Club Foundation. Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, founded in 1920 with the assistance of Phi Beta Sigma, is the sister organization of the Fraternity.

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Phi Beta Sigma Firsts:

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• to have Heads of State in its membership (Hon. Bros. Kwame Nkrumah, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, William Tolbert, William Tubman, and Bill Clinton).

• to be offered a merger with another Fraternity (1915: Kappa Alpha Psi, formerly Kappa Alpha Nu...Thanks, but no thanks).

• to hold a joint International Convention with another African-American Fraternity (with Omega Psi Phi).

• to establish a chapter South of the State of Virginia before the year 1915.

• to establish a constitutional bond with a Sorority (Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.).

• to establish a youth auxiliary program (the Sigma Beta Club).

• to own and operate a Credit Union for its members.

• to establish chapters on the continent of Africa.

• to establish Graduate/ Alumni Membership.

• to establish a Graduate/Alumni Chapter.to step with a cane (not Kappa Alpha Psi).

• First and ONLY Black Greek-Letter Fraternity to have one of its members on the face of a U.S. Coin. (George Washington Carver: The 1951 Half Dollar).

• to be recognized by Howard University (April 15, 1914).

• Last but certainly not least, many fraternities may have supported the Million Man March, but only PHI BETA SIGMA FRATERNITY, INCORPORATED sponsored the March at its International Headquarters.