Legacy 2016 Miami: Black History Month Issue | Page 5

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016
of college men of similar high ideals of
scholarship and manhood in order to
stimulate the attainment of ideas and
ambitions of its members; occupy a
progressive, helpful and constructive place
in political life of the community and nation;
and foster the humanity, freedom, and
dignity of the individual; and aid
downtrodden humanity in its efforts to
achieve higher economic and intellectual
status. The guiding principles of the
fraternity are Manhood, Scholarship,
Perseverance, and Uplift. Historically, OPP
played a vital role when the United States
entered World War I in 1917 by having
several brothers in the first class of black
soldiers graduate from Fort Des Moines
military training facility. OPP continues to be
on the front line, leveraging its power,
influence and more than 100 years of
commitment to the uplift of our people and
our communities. Annually, the fraternity
has been the national volunteer for St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital as one of their
many community projects. The current
Grand Basileus of OPP is Antonio F. Knox.
Several Omegas have been in the forefront
of the Civil Rights Movement. They include:
Grant Reynolds, Roy Wilkins, Jesse Jackson,
Vernon Jordan, and Oliver Hill. OPP

AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MIA MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS GROUP TO MIAMI HERALD

celebrities include Shaquille O'Neal, Magic
Johnson and Steve Harvey. Local OPP
personalities include Congressman Kendrick
B. Meek; Bill Diggs, CEO and President of the
Mourning Family Foundation; and The
Honorable Oliver Gilbert Mayor of Miami
Gardens.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority,
Incorporated, is celebrating 103 years. It
was founded to provide scholarships,
support to the underserved, educate and
stimulate participation in public policy and
to highlight issues and provide solutions for
problems in communities. Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority has over 1000 collegiate and
alumnae chapters located in the United
States, England, Japan, Germany, the Virgin
Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Jamaica and
the Republic of Korea resulting in a membership of over 200,000. The major programs of
the sorority are based upon the organization's Five Point Programmatic Thrust of
economic development, educational
development, international awareness and
involvement, physical and mental health,
and political awareness and involvement.
The National president is Dr. Paulette C.
Walker. Listed amongst their celebrity icons

are Shirley Chisholm, Natalie Cole, Soledad
O’Brien, Aretha Franklin, Cecely Tyson, and
the late Mary McLeod Bethune. Some of the
sorority’s well-known local personalities are
Dr. Roslyn Artis, President of Florida
Memorial University; Dr. Brenda Snipes,
Broward County Supervisor of Elections;
Audrey Edmonson, Miami-Dade County
Board of County Commissioners; Maud P.
Newbold, Historic Virginia Key Beach Trust
Trustee; Petula Burks, Director of Public
Affairs, The City of Miami Gardens; and
Shirley Gibson, the First Mayor of Miami
Gardens.
The founders of Phi Beta Sigma
Fraternity, Incorporated (PBS) wanted to
create an organization that viewed itself as
“a part of” the general community rather
than “apart from” the general community
and a mechanism to deliver services and
skills to the communities from which they
had come. Today, PBS has blossomed into
an international organization establishing
the PBS National Foundation, the PBS
Federal Credit Union and The Sigma Beta
Club Foundation. In keeping with its
commitment to President Obama’s My
Brother’s Keeper Initiative, the fraternity

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introduced its 10-point agenda to address
issues impacting men of color in our
communities. The current International
President of PBS is Jonathan A. Mason Sr.
Famous Sigmas include honorary member
former President Bill Clinton, the first
president to be inducted into an historically
black fraternity, Emmitt Smith, Al Roker,
Blair Underwood, Terrence Howard, Harry
Belafonte, and J. Anthony Brown. Prominent
Sigmas in South Florida include Gerald
Grant- Author of “Bold Moves to Creating
Financial Wealth”; Reginald Fox- Principal,
Kendale Elementary School; Ray
Smith- Board Member, Florida Memorial
University, Retired UPS Executive; and Alva
Royston Sr., President of A. Randall
Financial.
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority,
Incorporated’s founders
believed that sorority elitism
and socializing overshadowed the
real mission for progressive organizations
and failed to address fully the societal
mores, ills, prejudices, and poverty affecting
humanity in general and the black
community in particular.
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