Sigma Pi Phi

Sigma Pi Phi was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1904 as a professional fraternity for African American men. When Sigma Pi Phi was founded, black professionals were not offered participation in the professional and cultural associations organized by the white community.{{Cite web |date=May 29, 2004 |title=UnityFirst.com |url=http://www.unityfirst.com/pressreleaseboule.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040529202002/http://www.unityfirst.com/pressreleaseboule.htm |archive-date=2004-05-29 |access-date=Jan 12, 2021}} Its founders were:.{{cite web |date=2018-06-12 |title=University of the Sciences: A Science and Healthcare College | Philadelphia, PA | University of the Sciences |url=http://www.usip.edu/alumnifriends/profiles/ |access-date=2018-06-20 |publisher=Usip.edu}}

• Robert J. Abele (1875–1929), graduated at the top of his 1895 class at Hahnemann University Medical School (and was its first Black graduate) who earned the highest score ever awarded at that point on the state's medical certification test, the Pennsylvania State Qualifying Examination for Physicians, in 1897 (where he scored 97.3% out of 100%).{{cite web | url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/robert-jones-abele-1875-1929/ | title=Robert Jones Abele (1875-1929) • | date=11 September 2023 }}{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=William H. |title=African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-8131-3662-2 |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=Tamara L. |edition=2nd |location=104 |pages=104 |language=en |editor-last2=Parks |editor-first2=Gregory S. |editor-last3=Phillips |editor-first3=Clarenda M.}}
• Eugene T. Hinson - a medical doctor and cofounder of Mercy Hospital in Philadelphia, which opened in 1907.
• Edwin C .J. T. Howard (October 21, 1846 – May 10, 1912) member of the Harvard Medical School Class of 1869 who practiced medicine in Charleston South Carolina and then Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he founded Frederick Douglass Hospital in 1895 and Mercy Hospital in 1907{{cite web | url=https://perspectivesofchange.hms.harvard.edu/node/40 | title=Edwin Clarence Joseph Turpin Howard, MD, Class of 1869 | Perspectives of Change }}
• Algernon B. Jackson (1878–1942), prominent African American physician, surgeon, writer, and columnist who contributed profoundly to the National Negro Health Movement, an organization that sought to uplift African Americans by educating them on preventative medicine and public health.
• Henry McKee Minton, pharmacist and doctor who was superintendent of the Mercy Hospital of Philadelphia
• Richard J. Warrick Jr. (1880–1957) Penn Dental School (Class of 1899), where he was the second Black person to graduate{{cite web | url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/richard-john-warrick-jr-1880-1957/ | title=Richard John Warrick, Jr. (1880-1957) • | date=11 September 2023 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.sigmapiphi.org/home/history-of-the-boule.php|title=Sigma Pi Phi | History of the Boulé|website=www.sigmapiphi.org|access-date=Jan 12, 2021}}

The fraternity does not have collegiate chapters and is designed to be a professional fraternity for African American men at mid-career or older. Sigma Pi Phi quickly established chapters (referred to as "member boulés"{{efn-ua|The word boulé, derived from ancient Greek βουλή, originally referred to a council of nobles advising a king. It is also used by the African-American sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha.}}) in Chicago, Illinois and then Baltimore, Maryland.{{cite web |title=History |url=http://www.betalambdaboule.org/mserver/History_1.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722101438/http://www.betalambdaboule.org/mserver/History_1.aspx |archive-date=2012-07-22 |access-date=25 October 2015 |website=Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity — Beta Lambda}}

Founded as an organization for professionals, Sigma Pi Phi never established collegiate chapters and eliminated undergraduate membership during its infant stages.{{Cite web |date=Mar 6, 2001 |title=Historical Moment#30 |url=http://skipmason.com/hm/hm30.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010306090057/http://skipmason.com/hm/hm30.htm |archive-date=2001-03-06 |access-date=Jan 12, 2021}} However, Sigma Pi Phi has historically had a congenial relationship with intercollegiate Black Greek-letter organizations, as many members of Sigma Pi Phi are members of both.

Lawrence Otis Graham reported on the organization and his membership in it in the 1999 book Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class.{{cite book |author=Lawrence Otis Graham |url=https://archive.org/details/ourkindofpeoplei00grah |title=Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class |date=January 6, 1999 |publisher=Harper |isbn=0060183527 |edition=First |url-access=registration}}

Sigma Pi Phi has over 5,000 members and 139 chapters throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and The Bahamas. Its national headquarters is in Atlanta, Georgia.

The fraternity is known as "the Boulé," which means, in ancient Greek "the Council".{{Cite web |date=Sep 28, 2007 |title=Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity Beta Lambda Boule |url=http://www.betalambdaboule.org/mserver/History_1.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928070358/http://www.betalambdaboule.org/mserver/History_1.aspx |archive-date=2007-09-28 |access-date=Jan 12, 2021}}

The fraternity's badge depicts a Sphinx, symbolizing wisdom and inner spirit, sitting above the Greek letters {{lang|grc|ΣΠΦ}}.{{Cite book |last=Wesley |first=Charles H. |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b71218 |title=History of Sigma Pi Phi, first of the Negro-American Greek-letter fraternities |publisher=The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc. |year=1954 |edition=50th anniverary |location=Washington, D.C. |language=en |via=Hathi Trust}} Its color is blue. Its publication is The Boulé Journal.

Membership in Sigma Pi Phi is highly exclusive.{{cite web |title=Historical Moment#19 |url=http://www.skipmason.com/hm/hm19.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128073031/http://skipmason.com/hm/hm19.htm |archive-date=2007-11-28 |access-date=2008-01-02}} Sigma Pi Phi is open to members of all races.

{{Main|List of Sigma Pi Phi chapters}}

Sigma Pi Phi has 139 chapters throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and The Bahamas.

{{Main|List of Sigma Pi Phi members}}Sigma Pi Phi has around 5,000 members.

• List of African American fraternities and sororities
• American Black Upper Class

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{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.sigmapiphi.com Official Site]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071128073031/http://skipmason.com/hm/hm19.htm Finding the Good and Praising It—Sigma Pi Phi: The Boule]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20041123041041/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_11_59/ai_n6158341 1904–2004: The Boule at 100: Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity holds centennial celebration]
• [https://rose.library.emory.edu/ Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library], Emory University: [http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rmznh Sigma Pi Phi records, 1926-2019]

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Category:African-American upper class

Category:Clubs and societies in the United States

Category:African-American fraternities and sororities

Category:1904 establishments in Pennsylvania

Category:Fraternities and sororities in the United States