{"id":100,"date":"2026-03-24T20:25:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T00:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/?page_id=100"},"modified":"2026-03-24T20:25:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T00:25:21","slug":"chapter-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/chapter-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter History"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_pb_section_0 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_flex_section\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_0 et_pb_row et_flex_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_0 et_pb_column et-last-child et_flex_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et_flex_column_24_24\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_slider_0 et_pb_slider et_pb_slider_fullwidth_off et_pb_module et_flex_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_slides\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_slide_0 et_pb_slide et_pb_media_alignment_center et_pb_bg_layout_dark et-pb-has-background-video et_pb_preload\" data-slide-id=\"divi\/slide-0\"><span class=\"et-pb-background-video\"><video autoplay loop playsinline muted><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Omega-Psi-Phi-Montage-V2.mp4\" \/><\/video><\/span><div class=\"et_pb_container\"><div class=\"et_pb_slider_container_inner\"><div class=\"et_pb_slide_description et_flex_module\"><h2 class=\"et_pb_slide_title\">Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.<\/h2><div class=\"et_pb_slide_content\"><p>For 100 years, Alpha Omega Chapter has had a distinguished history in Washington, D.C. Alpha Omega\u2019s members have won national recognition for their ambitious programs and reclamation efforts, and the chapter has been home to most of the founders, including Founder Edgar A. Love, as well as to contemporary international and district officers. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_slide_1 et_pb_slide et_pb_media_alignment_center et_pb_bg_layout_dark\" data-slide-id=\"divi\/slide-1\"><div class=\"et_pb_container\"><div class=\"et_pb_slider_container_inner\"><div class=\"et_pb_slide_description et_flex_module\"><h2 class=\"et_pb_slide_title\">Your Title Goes Here<\/h2><div class=\"et_pb_slide_content\"><p>Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"et_pb_button_wrapper\"><a class=\"et_pb_button et_pb_more_button\" href=\"#\">Click Here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_section_1 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_flex_section\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_1 et_pb_row et_flex_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_1 et_pb_column et-last-child et_flex_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et_flex_column_24_24 et_flex_column_24_24_tablet et_flex_column_24_24_phone\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_0 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_flex_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><h1>Chapter History<\/h1>\n<p>In the fall of 1922 when Alpha Omega Chapter was launched, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity was only 11 years old, a youth with a lot of questions both about itself and about everything around it. Only two years earlier, the fraternity had come up with an answer to one of the most burning questions facing it: How could a young Omega build a structure that would allow members who had received so much from their undergraduate experience to continue to derive benefits and the \u201cgood fellowship\u201d as they moved into their careers and on to graduate education. As Herman Dreer wrote in The History of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, \u201cThey wanted the place of their new abode to feel the transforming power of Omega.\u201d The solution was to set up graduate chapters, with the first one being Lambda of Norfolk, Va., in November 1920 (now Lambda Omega). In 1922, Grand Basileus J. Alston Atkins would restructure the system for assigning names to chapters, adding the word \u201cOmega\u201d to the names of graduate chapters and tying them to the name of the undergraduate chapter in the city. For Washington, D.C, the birthplace of Omega and the location of its Alpha Chapter at Howard University, this new system meant that the graduate chapter carried the name \u201cAlpha\u201d as a tribute to the first chapter and the name \u201cOmega\u201d to distinguish it as a graduate chapter. Not surprising, many of the earliest members of Alpha Omega were men who had entered the fraternity through Howard University.<\/p>\n<p>For 75 years, Alpha Omega Chapter has had a distinguished history in Washington, D.C. The chapter has been the second-largest and largest chapter of the fraternity in terms of membership. Alpha Omega\u2019s members have won national recognition for their ambitious programs and reclamation efforts, and the chapter has been home to most of the founders, including Founder Edgar A. Love, as well as to contemporary national officers such as current Keeper of Records and Seal Robert Fairchild and former Keeper of Finance Kenneth Brown. Moreover, Alpha Omega was the home of the first National Executive Secretary, Brother H. Carl Moultrie I, and the chapter was the impetus for the D.C. Superior Court being renamed in honor of Brother Moultrie.<\/p>\n<p>The idea for a graduate chapter in Washington, D.C., \u201chad its birth in the minds of men in the spring of 1922,\u201d said Brother Spurgeon Burke during an interview in 1975, and was formed and launched in fall 1922. \u201cAlpha Omega evolved from the Alpha Chapter because as we advanced through the academic curriculum in the college or from the professional schools, we became graduates of the university,\u201d Burke said. \u201cMany of us lived in the District of Columbia, and we did not want to lose our relationship with Mother Omega. And out of our combined yearning to continue in the service of Omega, these graduates decided to build the Alpha Omega Chapter.\u201d Burke added, \u201cThe actual desire was extended to the point that we felt that there was an opportunity for leadership in this city among adult citizens who were out in the world and in many instances had already made their mark, and we wanted to have their association and support. In those instances we made it our business when we first made an effort to organize Alpha Omega Chapter to select the leadership.\u201d Among the charter members of the chapter were Bradshaw Marshall, Campbell Johnson, Leonard Johnson, Herbert Marshall, Edwin B. Henderson, Robert Mattingly, Gene Clark, Guy Wilkerson, Kyger Savoy, Clyde McDuffie, Walter Smith, G. David Houston, Cato Adams, and Howard Long, as well as Burke.<\/p>\n<p>The founders of the chapter were principals, college instructors, language instructors, authors, and officials in the physical education department of the city. \u201cThese men had already made excellent records, were outstanding, and had been accepted by community leaders,\u201d said Burke. The first basileus of Alpha Omega was Brother Charles H. Marshall, according to the late Brother Cato Adams, who was also interviewed on the chapter\u2019s history in 1975. Brother Adams was its first Keeper of Records and Seal. During its 75-year history, Alpha Omega has left its mark in many ways. The following is a sample only of the chapter\u2019s activities:<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_1 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_flex_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><div class=\"wpb_text_column wpb_content_element \">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<h3 style=\"color: #333; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 5px;\">Grand Conclave<\/h3>\n<p>Alpha Omega hosted the 1945 Grand Conclave, as well as joined with the other Washington Chapters in hosting the 1961 Grand Conclave\u2013Omega\u2019s 50th anniversary celebration\u2013and the 1976 Grand Conclave, the fraternity\u2019s 75th anniversary. In fact, a total of nine Grand Conclaves have been held in Washington, with the first in 1912. In the year 2011, Alpha Omega will join the Washington Chapters in hosting the fraternity\u2019s 100th anniversary celebration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_2 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_flex_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><h3 style=\"color: #333; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 5px;\">Social Action<\/h3>\n<p>Every year, Alpha Omega\u2019s Scholarship Commission provides $10,000 to $20,000 in scholarships to deserving young men graduating from the Washington, D.C., public, private, and parochial schools to help them attend college. In total, the chapter has given more than $90,000 in college scholarships over the last 10 years. The chapter has also provided emergency grants to undergraduate and graduate students who are members of the fraternity. This is just a sample of what Alpha Omega has accomplished during its first 75 years in Washington, D.C. The chapter has set a high standard for fraternity life, and the members feel they are ready for the next challenges and opportunities life in Omega offers.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-100","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/100\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphaomegachapter.masaiinteractive.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}