OUR HISTORY

HISTORY OF BETA BETA LAMBDA

Beta Beta Lambda Chapter, Incorporated has been an active part of the Greater Miami community since its inception in November 19, 1937. Like many chapters across the country, the chapter was established by men with a common interest in improving the community through education and public service.

 

The chapter’s founding members are Dr. Felix E. Butler, MD, Dr. Nathaniel Colston, MD, Dr. Ira P. Davis, MD, Dr. Aaron Goodwin, MD, Frederick J. Johnson, Dr. Samuel H. Johnson, MD, Leo A Lucas, and Dr. William H. Murrell, MD.

 

Under the leadership of Solomon C. Stinson, Ph.D., the chapter was incorporated in the State of Florida as a legal entity on November 30th, 1978. Under the leadership of Earl H. Duval Ph. D., the Beta Beta Lambda/Alpha Foundation was created and incorporated on September 25th, 1995.

 

In June 2006, Alpha Land Community Development Corporation was created and incorporated under the leadership of Gregory D. Gay, Dana C. Moss, Sr. CPA, Lyonel Myrthil, and Eric Hernandez, Esq. The foundation and CDC are 501©3 not-for-profit organizations. The chapter’s executive board also serves as the Board of Directors of the foundation and the CDC has a separate board of directors with membership from the chapter.

 

Beta Beta Lambda Chapter and its subsidiaries are providing leadership through its many service activities such as Alpha Outreach, Project Alpha, Alpha-Dade Youth Sports Program, Alpha/Big Brothers & Big Sisters Partnership, Sankofa Project, Knights of Gold, Boy Scouts Troop 1906, Alpha/Head Start Partnership, Voter Education Project, and Scholarship Award Program.

HISTORY OF ALPHA PHI ALPHA

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, [AΦA] the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans, was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York by seven college men who recognized the need for a strong bond of Brotherhood among African descendants in this country.

 

Since its founding on December 4th, 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has supplied a voice and vision to the struggle of African-Americans and people of color around the world. Alpha Phi Alpha has grown steadily in influence throughout the years. It integrated its racial membership in 1945 and it has expanded mightily to the extent that there are now over 700 chapters with over 100,000 members located throughout the United States, Caribbean Islands, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the West Indies.

 

Alpha Phi Alpha chapters were developed at other colleges and universities, many of them historically black institutions, soon after the founding at Cornell. While continuing to stress academic excellence among its members, the Alphas also recognized the need to help correct the educational, economic, political, and social injustices faced by all persons of African descent.

 

Alpha Phi Alpha has long stood at the forefront of the African-American community’s fight for civil rights through leaders such as: W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Honorable Thurgood Marshall, Honorable Andrew Young, Dr. William Gray, Paul Robeson, and many others.

 

Alpha Phi Alpha today continues its commitment to members of the Fraternity and the African-American community through Alpha University. Through the Alpha University, the Fraternity has dedicated itself to fostering the spirit of Brotherhood, training a new generation of leaders, building the technological capacity of members, bringing consistency to the implementation of theFraternity’s national programs and ensuring that chapters have the necessary preparation to implement fraternal initiatives and day-to-day operations.

 

For more information on Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. please visit the national website (apa1906.net).

BETA BETA LAMBDA HIGHLIGHTS

 

During the convention in Miami Beach the local Miami chapter and national leadership of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. led a civil rights march on Krome Detention Center where many Haitians were being held unjustly. This march, along with the local Cuban community and leadership denouncing the arrival of Nelson Mandela of the ANC, was one of many catalyst events which led to the “Boycott on Miami”. This promoted positive changes in the civil and economic atmosphere of Greater Miami, i.e., the inception of The Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Hotel, which was the first African American-owned and operated resort hotel. Although the boycott has ended, the struggle for equality continues, and the fraternity will remain ‘a cog in the wheel’ to promote equal rights and prosperity for all.

 

Beta Beta Lambda Chapter and its foundation, the Beta Beta Lambda-Alpha Foundation of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., has played a significant role as one of the leading fundraisers for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Project in Washington, DC in the Southern Region. Since this fundraising project was initiated in 1997, the chapter has locally raised in funds and pledges exceeding $100,000 for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Project. In 2006, a member of our chapter, on behalf of the National MLK Memorial Foundation, played an instrumental role in motivating and securing a $1,000,000 donation from the ExxonMobil Corporation towards the MLK Memorial project.

 

For its effort during the last seven decades, Beta Beta Lambda Chapter has been honored four times [1975, 1985, 1986, & 2006] as Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity’s National Alumni Chapter of the Year. In addition, the Beta Beta Lambda chapter has been a consistent winner of the Florida Federation of Alpha Chapter’s District Chapter of the Year Award for more than 25 years. The chapter has also hosted three National Conventions [1954, 1975, & 1990] and is poised to host/co-host another national convention in South Florida in the very near future.