History of Phi Beta Sigma in Leon County
The Beta Lambda Sigma Chapter was founded on Saturday, March 12, 1949, with ten charter members, who saw the need for change and progress in Leon County and Tallahassee, Florida.
The ten charter members were:
Bro. James H. Abner
Bro. R. L. Abner
Bro. Dr. J. R. Bates
Bro. David H. Brooks
Bro. Clinton C. Cunningham
Bro. Herman K. Matthews
Bro. S. T. Muller
Bro. Lewis. A. Stokes
Bro. J. C. Turner
Bro. Henry Wright
These men were stewards of the Tallahassee community and held prominent positions throughout Tallahassee. We pay a special tribute to these men for leading the path for the Beta Lambda Sigma chapter. "Our cause speeds on".
National History of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on Friday, January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students. The founders, Honorable A. Langston Taylor, Honorable Leonard F. Morse, and Honorable Charles I. Brown, wanted to organize a Greek letter fraternity that would truly exemplify the ideals of Brotherhood, Scholarship, and Service.
The founders 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 of race, nationality, skin tone, or texture of hair. They wished and wanted their fraternity to exist as part of even a greater brotherhood which would be devoted to the "inclusive we" rather than the "exclusive we".
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, the founders of Phi Beta Sigma 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".
Today, 105 years later. . . Phi Beta Sigma has blossomed into an international organization of leaders. No longer a single entity, the Fraternity has now established the Phi Beta Sigma Educational Foundation, the Phi Beta Sigma Housing Foundation, the Phi Beta Sigma Federal Credit Union, and the Phi Beta Sigma Charitable Outreach Foundation.
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., founded in 1920 with the assistance of Phi Beta Sigma, is the sister organization which will celebrate their centennial next year. No other fraternity and sorority is constitutionally bound as the Sigmas and Zetas. We both enjoy and foster a mutually supportive relationship.