Dec. 4 is an important day for members of Alpha Phi Alpha - the nation's first black intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity, which has an active chapter at Lincoln University.
That's the day Missouri lawmakers have designated as "Alpha Phi Alpha Day" in the state, through this year's passage of a new state law Gov. Jay Nixon signed July 6.
"This is a great honor for our chapter, our state and our fraternity," Arnold Parks - a 50-year fraternity member, an LU Professor Emeritus and the Jefferson City chapter's current president - said in a news release.
"We look forward to this Founder's Day with great anticipation."
According to an official at the fraternity's national office in Baltimore, Maryland, there are "no records at this time that any of the other 49 states have an Alpha Phi Alpha Day."
On Dec. 4, 1906, seven men attending Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, founded the fraternity because - in the words of the new Missouri law - they "were determined to bind themselves together to ensure that each would survive the racially hostile environment" that covered most of American society and segregated African Americans from other groups.
The law also noted: "In coming together with the simple act of founding the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, these men set outstanding examples of scholarship, leadership and tenacity."
From seven members in 1906, the fraternity has grown to more than 1,000 college and alumni chapters in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, with more than 150,000 members worldwide.
The Kansas City alumni chapter, founded in 1919, was the first established west of the Mississippi River and is the fraternity's second-oldest alumni chapter anywhere.
The fraternity's national programs include Project Alpha - which includes the organization's work in Big Brothers Big Sisters, the March of Dimes and other service programs - and a "Vote-Less People is a Hopeless People."
State Rep. Randy Dunn, D-Kansas City - a fraternity member and past president - sponsored the law creating the annual observance.
In the local chapter's news release, Dunn said, "it will illuminate the great work of the Fraternity in serving communities throughout the state, country, and the world."
The new law notes some of the organization's nationally famous members include the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (considered the fraternity's most recognized member); W.E.B. DuBois, a civil rights activist who helped found the NAACP; jazz musician Duke Ellington; Frederick Douglas, an author, abolitionist and civil rights activist; Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens; and Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court who, as a lawyer, has argued the Brown v. Board of Education case before the court, which resulted in the ruling that segregation violated the U.S. Constitution.
Current U.S. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver II, D-Kansas City, also is a member.
Well-known Jefferson City chapter members include Parks, Thomas D. Pawley III, Herman Miller and Ed Wilkerson - all 50-year members - and the Rev. W.T. Edmonson, Richard Presberry and the Rev. Greg Reeves.
Fraternity members with current LU connections include Fourth Ward Jefferson City Councilman Carlos Graham, Dean of Students Jerome Offord Jr., Provost and Academic Affairs Vice President Said Sewell, IT Director Kevin Harris and LU Recruiter Eric Cooper.