9.162. December 4, Alpha Phi Alpha Day.
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9.162. December 4, Alpha Phi Alpha Day. — 1. December fourth is hereby designated as "Alpha Phi Alpha Day" in the state of Missouri. The citizens of this state are encouraged to observe the day with appropriate activities and events to commemorate the founding of the first black intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans.
2. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., was founded on Tuesday, December 4, 1906, at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Given racial attitudes in 1906, the accomplishments of the original founding members, Dr. Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy, known as the "Seven Jewels" were monumental. These men were determined to bind themselves together to ensure that each would survive the racially hostile environment. In coming together with the simple act of founding the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, these men set outstanding examples of scholarship, leadership, and tenacity.
3. Today, Alpha Phi Alpha and its more than two hundred ninety thousand members and more than seven hundred thirty chapters over five continents continues its commitment to members of the fraternity and the African-American community by dedicating itself to fostering the spirit of brotherhood, training a new generation of leaders, building the technological capacity of members, bringing consistency to the implementation of the fraternity's national programs, and ensuring that chapters have the necessary preparation to implement fraternal incentives and day-to-day operations.
The fraternity aims are manly deeds, scholarship, and love for all mankind, and its motto is "First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All.".
4. Famous Alpha Phi Alpha members include W.E.B. DuBois, civil rights activist and founder of the NAACP; Duke Ellington, jazz musician; Fredrick Douglas, author, abolitionist, and civil rights activist; Thurgood Marshall, former United States Supreme Court Justice and manager of the landmark United States Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education which declared segregation unconstitutional; Jesse Owens, Olympic gold medalist; Emanuel Cleaver II, United States Representative from Missouri; and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights activist and the fraternity's most recognized member.
5. The Beta Lambda Chapter, chartered in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1919, is Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity's second-oldest alumni chapter and the first established west of the Mississippi River.
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(L. 2015 H.B. 567)