U. S. Military Academy at West Point
On Saturday April 22, 2006, six young men became the charter initiates of the Beta Beta Upsilon Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated. Beta Beta Upsilon Chapter is located at the United States Military Academy at West Point (New York) and represents the second chapter of any Greek Lettered organization chartered at the United States Military Academy.
On December 6 1997, Beta Psi Sigma, Bronx, Westchester Alumni, made Sigma history by initiating 4 men from the United States Military Academy at West Point. The ceremony took place at the home of Sigma’s 30th International President, Peter M. Adams, who also presided over the ceremony. This marked the first time in Sigma’s history that men were initiated who were enrolled in a military academy.
From Fall 1997, West Point Cadets wishing to become members of “Our Wondrous Band” were initiated into the Fraternity by the Beta Psi Sigma Chapter.
Beta Beta Upsilon Chapter was chartered with the assistance of Bro. Curtis Banks, New York State Director, Bro. Darrick Fuller, Area Deputy Director, and Bro. Dominick Falcon, Beta Psi Sigma Chapter and West Point Cadet with the blessings of Greville French, 23rd Eastern Regional Director. Additional Bros. that helped set up, select the guys, and put work into starting Beta Beta Upsilon were Bros. Terrance Houston, John Campbell, John Barlow and John Williams.
The chapter was presented with their charter by Bro. Greville French at the 92nd Eastern Regional Conference hosted by Chi Sigma Chapter in New Brunswick, New Jersey on Saturday April 29, 2006.
Additional Information Submitted by Bro. John(Jay-B.)Barlow
Attached is an article where I got selected again to Speak to the West Point Cadets about Leadership. Sigmas have been the only Greek Officers selected by their Branch (mine is Air Defense Artillery) in the last 4 years. The is the link to the Fort Bliss Monitor Article. Here are the years: 2006 (Bro. 1st Lieutenant John Barlow); 2007 (Bro. 1st Lieutenant John Barlow); 2008 (Bro. Captain John Barlow, Bro. Captain John Williams, and Bro. 1LT Dominick Falcon); 2009 (Bro. Captain John Barlow)
In the 03/04 school year, we started a chess club for the kids of the community. These were local kids and kids of the Colonels, Majors, Command Sergeants Major, Generals, etc. We taught chess, played with them, talked to them about life and growing up, and encouraged them to go to do well in school. Some to go to West Point. The Sigma by himself is Bro. Lawrence Lewis (SPR ’00). He is the one who wrote the proposal that we presented to the neighborhood. The chess club is still ongoing. The community center takes a larger role in it so it’s not as taxing on the Bros. at the Point, but we still go and work with the kids. It is also nationally accredited so the kids can play for scholarships and stuff if they’re old enough. The 3 Sigmas in the group pictures are (from left to right as you’re viewing us) Bro. Al Elam (SPR ’02)..yes Albert Garland Elam, Jr.’s son; Bro. Lawrence Lewis (SPR ’00), and me, Bro. John Barlow (SPR ’02). Our whole chapter has always participated. It’s one of the things that helps our Bros. and Sigma at the Point be viewed in a positive light.
U. S. Military Academy at West Point – Beta Beta Upsilon Chapter
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Sigma History Conference 10th Anniversary Pics
Here are a few pics from the history conference last weekend in Orlando.
Bro. Charles Morse (grandson of MHF Morse) with 33rd international president Jimmy Hammock and Dr. Adrienne Walker Hoard (granddaughter of AM Walker).
AM Walker’s pin
Charter member WE Rick’s membership certificate
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not so live blogging
first things first. you might have noticed i went back to the previous theme. the new one just wasn’t doing it for me and this weekend i had more than a few not so great comments about the layout so i decided to go back to this one until i find another one.
secondly, you may have also noticed i didn’t get to live blog the history conference like it’d hoped. there wasn’t a hotspot i could hop onto, but if i did do a live blog, it woulda looked like this:
9:51am – Round of intros. Bros get settled in, pulled away from the Sigma Museum. it’s great meeting brothers I only know online. Iota Rho Probate show tonight. Nice! glad we sent those undergrads on a breakfast food run for us.
9:59am – president jimmy hammock addresses the group. “You have an advocate for what you have done…I’m gonna be your advocate.” nice to hear.
10:09am – Opening remarks done. “Why are we here?” Mallet asks. “Please ask questions…You’ll have a lot of info put in front of you…You have brothers who have lived the history…in the building today. That have personally known the Sigma icons you’ll hear about today…We want to create dialogue.”
10:20am – 1st presentation is on founder abraham langston taylor. mallet shows a 1909 graduate pic from Howe Institute that i’ve never seen before.
10:51am – For the next presentation, Kevin takes the stage and starts talking about charter members. he tells the story of getting in touch with SP Massie’s son (Kappa) that he’s told me before. he also spotlights JA Franklin and IL Scruggs.
11:35am – Mallet talks about the pictorial history book. Hey that’s my name on that slide.
11:42am – Charles I Brown! Nuff said.
12:15pm – Lunch. Yum. BBQ. More open mic questions. hey i just met the brother who invented the hand sign.
1:24pm – Afternoon session starts with Gerald on Sigma Giants: Bill Doar and Lucius Young.
2:23pm – Mallet’s asked about the bros on the history committee that were listed on the slide shown earlier and we’re introduced one by one. Mallet calls me an IT genius (not true). Remind me to send him a check. He mentions I run this site. Yay applause.
2:50pm – Special guest Adrienne Walker Hoard, granddaughter of AM Walker, takes the stage. His legacy was education. AM Walker’s parents. When he meets wife – Hauzie Jeter Johnson. Pic from 1920. 1920 Honeymoon pic in Virginia Beach. Floretta Yvonne Walker (Adrienne’s mother). Adrienne comes along. Only one to know her GF. Always wore a white shirt. Shows his obituary from The Negro History Bulletin (Feb 1953). Sharing personal childhood memories of summers with grandparents.
The rest of the day is still a big blur. I know there was much picture taking. The history committee got a pic together and we also took one with Ms. Hoard. Brothers running around getting folks to sign their programs. Packed up the Sigma Museum. Chatted with the history team and Ms. Hoard and Jimmy in the hotel lobby some more about AM Walker. Off to TGI Friday’s for a quick dinner before heading to the Probate show.
Bro. Kerry and I get to the show just as it’s starting. Really enjoying the positive vibe, particularly how every org in the audience was called out, music on blast and got their chance in the spotlight to do a lil stroll before the probates are brought out. hey they’re right behind me. wow this sure is a lot of greetings. hey they’re finally breaking line.
a few last minute meetings of things i’d rather not blog about, but it’s the last time we’ll see each other this weekend so we say our goodbyes and i’m off to write this blog.
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celebration of history II: day one
nothing especially exciting today since it was by and large a travel day for me. was met at the airport by neo bro. jason. had to wait until craig and warren arrived and it was a short drive over to the host hotel where brothers were buzzing around. mallet, kevin and a few other brothers (president jimmy hammock amongst them) were huddled around a lincoln university scrapbook. WOW!
a took a quick stroll over to the hospitality suite hoping to grab a few bites to eat. hey the day started at 5am PST for me and those pesky lil airline snacks didn’t do the trick. bro. vladimir from the host chapter introduced himself as did a few other brothers. much different than the last time i came out here, especially with the success of this site. ran into bro. logic down by the copy room.
warren, kevin, craig and i grabbed a late night bite to eat and chatted away. but it’s bed time. we gotta be in the lobby at 7:15am tomorrow. wish us luck and stay tuned for live pics tomorrow.
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off to orlando
i’m headed to orlando tomorrow morning to attend the celebration of history II. i’ll be blogging live during the event so hopefully there’s a signal i can piggyback on to publish my posts. at the very least, i’ll be tweeting so you can follow me on twitter.
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