Legacy 2016 Miami: Black History Month Issue | Page 21

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016

By Dr. Denise St. Patrick-Bell
International programs such as “Z-HOPE”
(Zetas Helping Other People Excel) through
Mind, Body and Spirit serve to empower
people from all walks of life. It was the first
NPHC organization to centralize its
operations in a national headquarters, first
to charter a chapter in Africa, first to form
auxiliary groups, and first to be
constitutionally bound to a fraternity, Phi
Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Zeta Phi Beta has
chartered hundreds of chapters worldwide
and has a membership of 100,000+. The
International President is Mary Breaux
Wright. Famous Zeta’s are Zora Neale
Hurston, Gwendolyn Brooks, Dionne
Warwick, Minnie Riperton, and Esther Rolle.
Local prominent members include Colleen
D. Clark, District 26 Director of Future
Business Leaders of America (FBLA) for
Miami Dade County Public Schools and Mary
Smith, Life member and a Zeta Dove (50+
years as a productive Zeta.

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority,
Incorporated is the only Black sorority,
which was not founded at Howard
University. This 94 year old organization has
over 85,000 members serving in 500
chapters in the United States, Thomas,
Bermuda, the US Virgin Islands, Canada,
Germany and Korea. The mission of SGR is
to enhance the quality of life for women and
their families in the United States and
globally through community service in the
areas of education, healthcare, and
leadership development. Their national
programs and initiatives are under the
umbrella of a signature program entitled
Project Reassurance through which it seeks
to promote responsible living highlighted by
the slogan “H3 It’s All About Me Which
Focuses On Healthy Living, Healthy Choices
and Healthy Generations”. The
International President is Bonita M. Herring.
Famous SGR members include Kelly Price,
Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Hattie McDaniel,
MC Lyte and Maysa Leak.

Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Incorporated
(IPT) was founded by men who were active
in the local civil rights movement and who

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

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A Legacy of Service continued...
were 3-5 years older than the average
college student and are now referred to as
“Non-Traditional Students”. Even more
uniquely, many of them were service
veterans, married with small children and
working full-time jobs while they were
full-time students. Based upon their ages,
heightened responsibilities, and increased
level of maturity, this group had a slightly
different perspective than the norm for
college students. It was this perspective
from which they established the Fraternity’s
purpose, “The development and
perpetuation of Scholarship, Leadership,
Citizenship, Fidelity, and Brotherhood
among Men.” Additionally, they conceived
the Fraternity’s motto, “Building a Tradition,
Not Resting Upon One!” The Foundation
has contributed over $250,000 towards
grants, aid, and services in high poverty
neighborhoods. Today, IPT consists of over
263 chapters with 70,000 members located
in 40 States, the District of Columbia,
Bahamas, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
National Service Initiatives include the
National Iota Foundation, the I.O.T.A. Youth
Alliance and the INROADS Partnership.
Robert Clark is the current Grand Polaris of
IPT. Notable members include Terrence
Carson, Kendrick Jevon Dean and Spencer
Christian.
NON-COLLEGIATE SOCIAL/SERVICE
ORGANIZATIONS

The Prince Hall Freemasons, shortened
to Masons, are an international fraternal
and charitable organization pledged to
brotherly love, faith and charity. On March
2, 1784, Prince Hall, a free Black man,
petitioned the Grand Lodge of England,
asking for a warrant for a Charter that they
had been denied by the white Masons of
Massachusetts. The warrant was approved
and Hall established the first lodge of
African American Masons in North America
known as African Lodge No. 459. The Prince
Hall Masons are the oldest and largest group
of Masons of African origin in the world.
During the years of Reconstruction and

continuing to 1900, Prince Hall Masonry
remained a highly prestigious but small
fraternity. Currently, there are over forty
Grand Lodges of Prince Hall Freemasonry in
the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, and
Liberia. These Grand Lodges preside over
more than 5,000 lodges. South Florida is the
home of several lodges and is the
beneficiary of the many social programs
provided by its Brothers. A few prominent
Masons in Miami-Dade County include Pierre
E. Rutledge, Right Worshipful Junior Grand
Warden, Lee B. Carter, Past Grand Master
and Johnny L. King, Honorary Past Grand
Master of the Most Worshipful Union Grand
lodges of Florida, Belize, Central America and
Jurisdiction, Inc.; Cleveland E. Morley, Jr.,
Right Eminent Grand Commander and Henry
E. Puyol, Past Right Eminent Grand
Commander of the Knights Templar Masons
of Florida.

The members of The Order of the
Eastern Stars, PHA, are dedicated women
and men who sincerely reflect the spirit of
fraternal love and the desire to work
together for good. It gives them the
opportunity to give a part of their time to
many projects that benefit mankind. Their
lessons are scriptural, their purposes are
beneficent, and their teachings are moral. In
1874, the Prince Hall Order of the Eastern