#sigmapiphi

Paul Revere Williams, FAIA (February 18, 1894 – January 23, 1980) was an architect based in Los Angeles. He practiced largely in Southern California and designed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, and Desi Arnaz, Lon Chaney, Barbara Stanwyck, and Charles Correll. He designed many public and private buildings. Orphaned at four years of age, he was the only African-American student in his elementary school. He studied at the Los Angeles School of Art and Design and the Los Angeles branch of the New York Beaux-Arts Institute of Design Atelier, working as a landscape architect. He went on to attend the USC, designing several residential buildings while still a student there. He became a certified architect in 1921, and the first certified African-American architect west of the MS. He won an architectural competition at age 25, and three years later opened his own office. Known as an outstanding draftsman, he perfected the skill of rendering drawings "upside down." This skill was developed because in the 1920s many of his white clients felt uncomfortable sitting directly next to an African American man. He learned to draft upside down so that he could sit across the desk from his clients who would see his drafts right-side-up. He served on the first Los Angeles City Planning commission in 1920. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #sigmapiphi https://www.instagram.com/p/CozbJxHrzRh/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

William Henry Lewis (November 28, 1868 – January 1, 1949) was a pioneer in athletics, law, and politics. Born in Virginia to freedmen, he graduated from Amherst College, where he became one of the first African-American college football players. After going to Harvard Law School and continuing to play football, he was the first African American in the sport to be selected as an All-American on October 31, 1893. In 1911 he was among the first African Americans to be admitted to the American Bar Association. When he was appointed as an Assistant Attorney General in 1910 by President William Howard Taft, it was reported to be "the highest office in an executive branch of the government ever held by a member of that race." He was one of four African Americans appointed to high office by Taft and known as his "Black Cabinet". Before being appointed as an AAG, he had served for 12 years as a football coach at Harvard University. He wrote one of the first books on football tactics and was known as a national expert on the game. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #sigmapiphi https://www.instagram.com/p/ClgO8iMLwIB/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr. (August 15, 1935 – March 1, 2021) was a business executive and civil rights activist who worked for various civil rights movement organizations before becoming a close advisor to President Bill Clinton. He has become known as an influential figure in American politics. He was born in Atlanta to Mary Belle (Griggs) and Vernon E. Jordan Sr. He had a brother, Windsor. He was a cousin of James Shaw, a musician who is professionally billed as The Mighty Hannibal. He grew up with his family in the segregated societal cosmos of Atlanta. He was an honors graduate of David T. Howard High School. Rejected for a summer internship with an insurance company after his sophomore year in college because of his race, he earned money for college for a few summers by working as a chauffeur to former city mayor Robert Maddox, then a banker. He graduated from DePauw University. He earned a JD at Howard University School of Law. He was a member of the Omega Psi Phi and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities. He returned to Atlanta to join the law office of Donald L. Hollowell, a civil rights activist. The firm, including Constance Motley, sued the University of Georgia for racial discrimination in its admission policies. The suit ended with a Federal Court order demanding the admission of two African Americans, Charlayne Hunter, and Hamilton E. Holmes. He became directly involved in activism in the field, serving as the Georgia field director for the NAACP. From the NAACP, he moved to the Southern Regional Council and then to the Voter Education Project. He became executive director of the UNCF. He was president of the NUL. He married Shirley (née Yarbrough), who died in 1985. They have a daughter, Vickee Jordan Adams, who works in media relations for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. In 1986 he remarried, Ann Dibble Jordan. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #omegapsiphi #sigmapiphi https://www.instagram.com/p/ChRyuUnuMZlgiPAHt1BcHWu3-q94sX3m95d8IA0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. (March 23, 1938 – June 23, 2003) was a politician and attorney from Georgia. was born in Dallas. His father, Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Sr., was a leading figure in the 1930s campaign for African American voting rights and a founder of the Democratic Progressive Voter’s League. His mother, Irene Dobbs Jackson, was a professor of French at Spelman College who desegregated the Atlanta city library system. His aunt Mattiwilda Dobbs was the first African American to sing at the La Scala Opera in Milan. When he was seven, his father moved the family to Atlanta, where he assumed the pastorship of the Friendship Baptist Church. After graduating from Morehouse College with a BA in Political Science, he attended law school at Boston University before transferring to North Carolina Central University Law School where he earned a JD. Married two times, he was the father of seven children. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternities. In 1969 he was elected vice mayor of Atlanta. Upsetting expectations that he would serve several terms as vice mayor, he challenged the incumbent. On October 16, 1973, he won with 59% of the vote, becoming the first African American to be elected mayor of a major southern city. He served three terms, he presided over the inception of Atlanta’s rapid transit system and the expansion of its airport. He had a reputation for an uncompromising confrontational style, but—for many African American Atlantans, as well as upwardly mobile African Americans who flocked to the city from other parts of the country—he ushered in a new era of economic opportunity. One of the major challenges to his leadership was that of healing the wounds opened by the horrific Atlanta child murders. He is credited with bringing the Olympics to the city. Atlanta remembers him with two major public facilities: the Southside Comprehensive High School, which was renamed the Maynard Holbrook Jackson High School in 2008; and the Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal, which opened at the Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport in 2013. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphaphialpha #sigmapiphi https://www.instagram.com/p/CqIKQW4uEPg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Admiral Joseph Paul Reason (born March 22, 1941, in DC) was Commander in Chief of the US Atlantic Fleet from 1996 to 1999. He was a naval aide to the President Jimmy Carter. He became the first African-American officer in the Navy to become a four-star admiral. The son of Joseph Reason, a professor of romance languages and director of libraries at Howard University and Bernice, a high school teacher of biology. He became interested in the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps, but was not selected although he ranked second out of 300 applicants. He spent his freshman year at Swarthmore College, his sophomore year at Lincoln University, and his junior year at Howard University. Congressman Charles Diggs, Jr. contacted him and encouraged him to apply to Naval Academy. He reported to Annapolis as a midshipman and graduated with a BS in naval science and a commission as an ensign. He married Dianne Lillian Fowler (1965) in the Naval Academy Chapel. They have a son and a daughter. His son, Joseph Paul Jr. is a graduate of the Academy. the first African American father and son to complete their undergraduate study. He served as operations officer in USS J. Douglas Blackwood (DE-219), before attending the Naval Nuclear Power School at United States Naval Training Center Bainbridge. He entered the Naval Postgraduate School earned a MS in Computer Systems Management. He retired from active duty in 1999. He was VP for ship systems at SYNTEK Technologies, Inc. He then became president and COO, and vice chairman of Metro Machine Corp.. He has been a director of Amgen, Inc., Norfolk Southern Corporation, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Todd shipyards, as well as a member of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, and the National War Powers Commission. He was appointed to a four-year term as a member of the Secretary of the Navy's Advisory Subcommittee on Naval History. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #sigmapiphi https://www.instagram.com/p/CqFrdv0O4Pd/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Major General William J. Walker (1948) is a retired Army major general and former Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives. He was the 38th House Sergeant at Arms and the first African-American to hold the office. He last served as the 23rd Commanding General of the District of Columbia National Guard. He served in the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Special Agent and was promoted to the Senior Executive Service in January 2003, with his final assignment being Deputy Assistant Administrator in Charge of the Office of Strategic Warning Intelligence. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow. Born and raised in Chicago. He earned a BA from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an MS in Criminal Justice and Corrections from Chicago State University. He holds an MS in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University and a MA in International Service from American University. He completed the National and International Security Program for senior executives at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the National Security Studies Program at George Washington University, the Seminar XXI Foreign Politics, International Relations, and the National Interest Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was promoted to the Senior Executive Service of the DEA in January 2003 and appointed to the Senior National Intelligence Service by the Director of National Intelligence in August 2009. He retired in 2014 after 30 years of service and his last position was Deputy Assistant Administrator. He was ordered to active duty with the Army following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and served as an operations officer in the Pentagon. He was called to active duty in 2011 and served with the NATO International Security Assistance Force and the American Embassy. He is active in several community and law enforcement organizations and is a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternities. He is vice chairman of the Board of Directors of the Young Marines, a national youth organization. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphaphialpha #sigmapiphi https://www.instagram.com/p/CpNLKfSr1vM/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Aloyisus Leon Higginbotham Jr. (February 25, 1928 – December 14, 1998) was born in Ewing Township. He was a prominent African-American civil rights advocate, author, and federal court, judge. He was the seventh African-American Article III judge appointed in the US and the first African-American US District Judge of the US District Court for the Eastern District of PA. He was appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, for which he served as Chief Judge. He used the name "Leon" informally. At 16 he enrolled at Purdue University. He transferred to Antioch College. He entered Yale Law School. As he had in grade school, he worked, this time as a butcher, to help support himself while at Yale. He was a member of the moot court team and the Barrister's Union. He advanced to the finals of the first-year moot court competition. He simultaneously served in several government positions; he was a special Deputy State Attorney General, a special hearing officer for conscientious objections for the US Department of Justice, and a Commissioner on the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission. He was a faculty member of the Rutgers University Law School. Two weeks before his death, he gave testimony before the House Judiciary Committee concerning the issue of what constituted an impeachable offense, as part of the hearings on President Clinton's impeachment. He argued that Clinton's conduct did not rise to the level of an impeachable offense. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #omegapsiphi #sigmapiphi https://www.instagram.com/p/CpFpnoAL6mC/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Rodney Earl Slater (born February 23, 1955) former cabinet member, attorney, and state government official, was born in Marianna, Arkansas. He graduated from Eastern Michigan University. He earned his JD from the University of Arkansas. In 1980, he became the Assistant Attorney General for the litigation division of Arkansas’s Attorney General’s Office. From 1983 to 1987, he served as Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton’s executive assistant for Economic and Community Programs and then as the Special Assistant for Community and Minority Affairs. In 1987, Clinton appointed Slater to the Arkansas Highway Commission. He held other positions in the state of Arkansas such as Director of Governmental Relations at Arkansas State University and was a special liaison for Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission. In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed him as the Administrator of the FAA. His effectiveness in that position catapulted him into the position of Secretary of Transportation in 1997. In June of 2001, he joined the private sector as a director of the Kansas City Southern, Inc, a major interstate railroad. He became a partner in the public policy practice group of a leading DC law firm, Patton Boggs LLP. While there he concentrated on transportation law. He is a member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. He has received numerous honors such as an honorary doctorate from Howard University, the Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award from the Hugh O’Brian Leadership Foundation, the Lamplighter Award for Public Service from The Black Leadership Forum, and the Trailblazer Award from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. In 1998, he received awards from The Congressional Black Caucus; Ebony Magazine, The National Bar Association, and The Arkansas Times. In 2006, he belonged to a group of investors that purchased the Washington Nationals. He and his wife, Cassandra Wilkins, have a daughter. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #sigmapiphi https://www.instagram.com/p/CpAKejXOZ8p/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=