Press Release: 39th Biennial International Conclave Public Meeting
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 21, 2023
60th Anniversary Celebration of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity
39th Biennial International Conclave Public Meeting
(Baltimore, MD) – Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. will celebrate its 60th Anniversary during a Public Meeting as part of the fraternity’s 39th Biennial Conclave in Atlanta on Thursday, July 27, 2023. The public is invited to attend the event which kicks off at 6 pm in the Ravinia Ballroom in the Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia, 4355 Ashford Dunwoody Road. The event is free, and the suggested attire is business casual.
Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. is rooted in the revolutionary spirit of the 20th-century civil rights movement, founded by twelve Black students on September 19, 1963, on the campus of Morgan State University (nee College) in Baltimore, Maryland, a hotbed of student activism in the 1960s. The fraternity’s founders were non-traditional students, including childhood friends, and were older than their peers on campus, some married and military veterans. Iota reflected the mood on campus and across the country and was born against the backdrop of the August 1963 March on Washington and just four days after the murder of four little Black girls in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The fraternity’s admission into the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) in 1997 transformed the body of Black Greek-letter organizations from the ‘Elite 8’ into the ‘Divine 9.’ Iota Phi Theta is also a member of the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), joining in 1984.
Joining the fraternity for its 60th Anniversary Celebration will be public officials and representatives of the National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations. Among the individuals expected to offer remarks are Cobb County District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson, Fulton County District 4 Commissioner Natalie Hall, DeKalb County District 3 Commissioner Larry Johnson, and senior staff of United States Representative Nikema Williams (GA-05) and United States Senators Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff. Dr. David Wilson, president of Morgan State University, and Rev. Al Sharpton, the president of the National Action Network, will offer recorded remarks via video. Representatives of the leadership of the National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations will also attend. The public should arrive for the event by 5:30 pm.
The Public Meeting will feature remarks by 23rd International Grand Polaris of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc., Dr. Sean D. Housen, Sr., and Most Honorable Founder, Brother Lonnie Spruill, Jr. Iotas elected Dr. Housen to the leadership of the fraternity in 2021 after having served in the role of International Grand Vice Polaris. Founder Spruill is a revered figure within Iota and highly respected in the National Pan-Hellenic Council family as one of only two living and active founders (both Iotas) of a D9 organization. In addition to staying active with the national organization, Founder Spruill continues his local affiliation and service with the organization through his membership in Gamma Omicron Omega Alumni Chapter in Baltimore Maryland. In attendance at the Public Meeting will be many of the pioneering Brothers of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc., who initiated into the organization as far back as 1964.
The ‘Public Meeting’ is a tradition for Divine 9 organizations when they hold their conventions. The meeting is an opportunity to expose the public to the history, accomplishments, and work of Black Greek-letter fraternities and sororities. The history of these organizations is synonymous with the arc of Black progress in the United States. The identity of Iota Phi Theta mirrors the community-driven campaign against Jim Crow in Baltimore, a city noteworthy for the role locally based activists played in the national civil rights movement. The 60th anniversary of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity marks the organization’s march toward its Centennial celebration in 2063.
Over the last six decades, Iotas have made their mark across a variety of professional fields and endeavors. The principles of the fraternity can be seen in the work of Essex County New Jersey Prosecutor Ted Stephens, the organization’s 15th Grand Polaris; attorney Benjamin Taylor, the first Black president of the State Bar of Arizona Board of Governors; award-winning journalist Mike Frisby, the former White House correspondent for the Wall Street Journal; Chief Albert Sally, the first Black police chief of Maplewood, New Jersey; NAACP National Director of the Youth & College Division, Wisdom Cole; civil rights trial attorney Keenan Saulter; and Dr. Stephen Ray, Jr., former president of the Chicago Theological Seminary.
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About the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)
Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. is a member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, a body representing nine traditionally and culturally Black Greek-letter sororities and fraternities. These organizations are Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.
MEDIA CONTACT
Walter Fields, National Director of Communications
communicationsdirector@iotaphitheta.org
973 738-7876 – Direct
1600 N. Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
443 438-5691
www.iotaphitheta.org