IOTA – Omega’s First Graduate Chapter
Members click here to view The Oracle: August 1921
An excerpt from pgs. 22-23:
Subordinate Chapters
“The Iota Chapter was established on the night of August 17,1920 in Atlantic City, N.J., after authority had been obtained from Grand Basileus Robinson, who sent a telegram from Boston authorizing same. The initiation was held with Brother J. Granady, and many visiting brothers from the Alpha and Beta chapters. Chapters participated in the initiatory ceremonies, which were among the most impressive and orderly that the writer has ever witnessed.”
“The field was combed carefully, and in order that Omega's first graduate chapter might have a solid foundation, from a large field of eligibles, only two men were finally chosen for the initiation. This is in accordance with Omega's time-honored custom of emphasizing quality rather than quantity. The two brothers initiated were Brother H.A. Warner and G.D. Brooks. Brother Brooks has proved his loyalty and enthusiasm by setting up the Nu Chapter at Pennsylvania State College, Pa., of which he is now the honored Basileus.”
“The Iota Chapter gave several informal smokers in the law offices of Brother F.H. Wimberly in the Sheen Building, which served to bind the men together in a most intimate way. The New York Age carried the following notice in its column relative to the establishment of the Iota Chapter: "Negro college men in Atlantic City, N.J., announce the establishment of the Iota Chapter, a graduate chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. This chapter has been put on a permanent basis, which means that the Omega spirit is pervading the communities on the Jersey coast. Influential business men and leaders in other professions have accepted membership in the Iota Chapter.”
“The Omega Psi Phi Fraternity is a national organization with subordinate chapters in some of the most noted institutions of learning in the country, and includes in its membership some of the most distinguished men of the Negro race, two of whom are recipients of the famous Spingarn Medal.”
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, from its beginning, was created as a college organization. However, while some chapters were established on college campuses - like Alpha chapter at Howard University in 1911 and Beta chapter at Lincoln University in 1914, others were established to service multiple institutions within a larger jurisdiction – starting with Gamma chapter in 1916 for colleges and universities in the city of Boston, and including Harvard University, Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But whether established on a college or university campus, or within a city, no permanent chapter established before 1920 was established with a designation as undergraduate or graduate - they were established only as "chapters".
As more Brothers graduated from college, and as more graduates were either initiated as members of chapters or became "elected active" honorary members of chapters, the desire to continue associations with the Fraternity beyond the college years grew. Those graduated brothers continued to be active members of the chapters in existence, but their individual focus as a graduate was understandably different than their undergraduate brethren in these "mixed chapters". This directly led to need for graduate chapters, and the need for the classification of both undergraduate and graduate chapters in the Fraternity.
The main reason Iota chapter was established specifically as a graduate chapter was because the 1920s, with tourism at its peak, are considered by many historians as Atlantic City's golden age, and at the time there existed increasing opportunities for educated Blacks to find employment in the summer months during this economic boon. When chartered, on August 17, 1920, Iota chapter was the ninth permanent chapter chartered by the Fraternity.
According to known documents, the chapter remained with an active status in Atlantic City until about May 1922.
Members click here to view The Oracle: May 1922
To this point no recorded reason has been found as to why Iota chapter folded, but on page 35 of the May 1922 Oracle it indicates Iota chapter was inactive, had been shuttered by the Fraternity and placed in a Reserved status (with more to be heard about Iota chapter).