Honoring the Founding of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Inc. on the occasion of its 120th Anniversary.

Honoring the Founding of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Inc. on the occasion of its 120th Anniversary. WHEREAS, The Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity was founded in Philadelphia on May 15, 1904, at 508 South 10th Street, the home of Dr. Edwin C.J. Turpin Howard; and WHEREAS, Sigma Pi Phi, a fraternity of college graduates and professional Black men, was born at the dawn of the 20th century during a time when intellectual and social interaction for men of color in their professional endeavors were closed or limited by virtue of race; and WHEREAS, Dr. Henry McKee Minton, a pharmacist and later a physician, recognized and foresaw the need for African American men of distinction to interact with one another and become members of a close fraternal union for their mutual benefit and to enhance their underserved communities; and WHEREAS, Dr. Minton was a pharmacist at Douglas Hospital, Philadelphia’s first Black hospital, and later, after receiving his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson College of Medicine, was a co-founder of Mercy Hospital, the second Black hospital in Philadelphia; and WHEREAS, These two medical institutions were beacons of hope that attracted Black professionals to Philadelphia for generations; and WHEREAS, Dr. Minton (1870-1946) convened the first Boulé meeting of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity with Dr. Edwin C.J. Turpin Howard (1846-1912), the first African American graduate of Harvard Medical School, who practiced medicine and hosted the meeting in his home; Dr. Algernon B. Jack…