City of Philadelphia - File #: 040684

• File #: 040684
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 6/10/2004
• In control: CITY COUNCIL
• Final action: 6/10/2004
• Title: Honoring the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, the oldest African American Fraternity in the United States, on the occasion of its centennial anniversary.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Ramos, Councilmember DiCicco, Councilmember Kenney, Councilmember Krajewski, Council President Verna, Councilmember Rizzo, Councilmember Mariano, Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember Kelly, Councilmember Nutter, Councilmember Cohen, Councilmember Blackwell

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
6/10/2004	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED
6/10/2004	0	CITY COUNCIL	READ
6/10/2004	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced	Pass

Title
Honoring the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, the oldest African American Fraternity in the United States, on the occasion of its centennial anniversary.
Body
WHEREAS, The Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity will celebrate its centennial anniversary in Philadelphia from June 26, 2004 through June 30, 2004; and

WHEREAS, It is anticipated that more than twenty five hundred persons will attend this Centennial Convention; and

WHEREAS, The Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity is the oldest African American Fraternity in the United States having been founded in Philadelphia in May, 1904; and

WHEREAS, Sigma Pi Phi, a Fraternity of college graduates, was born at the dawn of the twentieth century because intellectual and social interaction for men of color in their professional endeavors was closed or limited by virtue of race; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Henry McKee Minton, a pharmacist and later a physician recognized and foresaw that there was a need for African American men of distinction to interact with one another, learn from each other's experiences and thereby better serve their individual communities; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Minton was a pharmacist at Philadelphia's first black hospital, Douglas Hospital and later after receiving his medical degree was a co-founder of Mercy Hospital the second black hospital in Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, These institutions were beacons of hope that attracted black professionals to Philadelphia for generations; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Minton convened the first Boulé meeting of Sigma Pi Phi together with Algernon B. Jackson (1878-1942), Chief Surgeon at Mercy Hospital; Eugene T. Hinson (1873-1960), a graduate of the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania who joined the staff of Douglas Hospital; Richard J. Warrick (1880- 1957), a dentist and also a founder of Mercy Hospital; Eugene C. Howard (1846-1912), the first Negro to graduate from Harvard Medical Sc...