Brother Gregory S. Parks, J.D., P H.D
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A RESOURCE GUIDE TO THE SPHINX: THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY BROTHER GREGORY S. PARKS, J.D., PH.D. MAY 2017 INTRODUCTION In December of 1913, at the Sixth General Convention, hosted by Beta Chapter, one achievement was the creation of a fraternity journal. The idea seems to have been born at Gamma Chapter many years prior to 1913. General President Charles Herbert Garvin formally recommended it at the Fifth General Convention in 1912; however, no action was taken on it. One of General President Garvin’s first acts at the Sixth General Convention was to appoint a Committee on the Journal. The Committee not only recommended the establishment of a journal but that it should be titled the Sphinx—that it should be published monthly from October to May of each year. It was later decided that the journal would be a quarterly publication. The brother who was to serve as the Fraternity’s Vice-President was also to serve as Editor-in-Chief with the Printing Committee Chair also serving as the journal’s Business Manager. Fifty cents was recommended as the subscription and was to be added to the Grand Tax. The first Editor-in-Chief was Brother Raymond Winfred Cannon, and the first issue appeared in March 1914. Aside from the N.A.A.C.P.’s The Crisis magazine, The Sphinx would go on to become the longest, continually in-print African American magazine. Strikingly, among the journals of the National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations, only Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s The Ivy Leaf magazine has had any scholarly analysis conducted on it.1 The Ivy Leaf is also the only one of these journals that has been archived in a way that makes it accessible to researchers.2 This project is intended to do two things: (1) provide basic biographical information about the Editors- in-Chief of The Sphinx from 1914-2014; and (2) chronicle the contents of The Sphinx from 1914-2014. My hope is that individuals interested in Alpha’s history and legacy will find it a useful tool in their study and research. Thank you to my countless research assistants who made this work possible. 1 Gretchen Dionne King, A History of The Ivy Leaf Magazine, 1929-1989 (Dec. 14, 1990) (unpublished M.S. thesis, Northern Illinois University) (on file with author). 2 The Ivy Leaf, 1921–1998; A Chronicle of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (Gloria Harper Dickinson, Consulting Ed., 2000). Parks – The Sphinx Resource Guide | 1 EDITORS-IN-CHIEF OF THE SPHINX RAYMOND WINFRED CANNON was born historian of the Fraternity. Following his as the third son of his family on 28 General Presidency, Cannon was elected January 1892 in Northfield, Minnesota. as the Fraternity’s first director of He lived with his parents, Mack and education and served in that capacity Mittie, and brother, Homer. General from 1928 to 1931. He would go on to President Cannon attended the serve on the Scholarship Commission in University of Minnesota where he 1931 and the Special Committee on earned a bachelor of pharmacy in 1913. Human Relations in 1954. He finally He also earned an L.L.B. from the served as chairman of the Committee on University of Minnesota. He continued Reorganization. on to receive his J.D. from what is now General President Cannon was a William Mitchell College of Law in 1930. founder of the Minneapolis Urban He then became a senior partner of League and served as its vice president Cannon Brothers Pharmacy. for four years. Additionally, he was a General President Cannon had charter member of Sigma Pi Phi been engaged to C. Virginia Peters, who Fraternity’s Omicron Boule in died from an accidental fall in her New Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was also a York City home in 1926. In 1964, he member of the National Medical married Rachel Louise James of St. Paul, Association and the N.A.A.C.P. in Minnesota. His wife was a senior Minneapolis. General President Cannon science teacher at Roosevelt High School entered Omega Chapter on 3 March in St. Paul. General President Cannon’s 1992. two brothers, Miles and Homer, who each became Alphas. LUCIUS LEE MCGEE completed his General President Cannon was a undergraduate studies at Virginia charter member of Mu Chapter at the Union in 1913 and went on to receive a University of Minnesota on 12 April bachelor of divinity degree three years 1912. He began his Fraternity service as later. General President McGee was a Vice President of the General Ph.D. student at the University of Organization in 1913; in that capacity, Chicago. Thereafter, General President he helped charter Alpha Nu Chapter at McGee worked as a staff member for the Iowa State College. General President Chicago Commission on Race Relations Cannon also served as the first Editor- and contributed to the publication of an in-Chief of The Sphinx in 1914. He investigative report on the city’s 1919 served again as vice president in 1923 race riots. He later worked as a high during the Booker administration. He school principal and president of the also acted as a delegate to the Fifth City Separate Teachers Association. Annual Convention in Columbus, Ohio. General President McGee was He then served as General President initiated into Gamma Chapter at from 1924 to 1928. As General President, Virginia Union University on 26 April Cannon appointed Charles H. Wesley as 1913. He was the Editor-in-Chief of The Parks – The Sphinx Resource Guide | 2 Sphinx under Jewel Callis’s General VIRGINIUS DOUGLAS JOHNSTON also Presidential administration in 1915. In known as V. D. Johnston, was born on 1919, he served as Vice President to 11 April 1896 in Richmond, Virginia to General President Fowler’s parents who were natives of that state. administration. During his own term in He graduated from Virginia Union office, while he was in his doctoral University. In 1920, Brother Johnston program, the Fraternity embarked upon resided with his mother—Hanna B. one of its most significant and (Claiborne) Johnston—his siblings, noteworthy initiatives to date—the “Go Lowell T (thirty-two), James Hugo to High School, Go to College (twenty-eight), Oliver B. (twenty-one), Movement.” This project brought to Dorothy M. (seventeen) Johnston, and fruition the earlier mandate of General grandmother, Nannie Claiborne. He President Long. General President went on to work as Secretary of the McGee also later served as a part of the Victory Life Insurance Company, out of Scholarship Commission in 1931. Chicago, Illinois as well as the Treasurer General President McGee was engaged of Howard University. to Onie Angela Simmons of Oklahoma As an initiate at Virginia Union City. He entered Omega Chapter on 20 University in 1913, Brother Johnston August 1945 in Oklahoma City, helped to reactivate the Gamma Oklahoma. Chapter. He was elected Editor-in-Chief of The Sphinx at the General Convention WILLIAM AUGUSTUS POLLARD was born in Richmond in 1916 and published the about 1887 in South America to two first public issue of the magazine in South American parents. His family 1917. While Brother Johnston served as immigrated to the United States in 1900. Editor-in-Chief, The Sphinx expanded He earned his bachelor’s degree from from a length of sixteen pages to twenty Howard University in 1914, where he pages. He ultimately resigned from his was a member of the debate team. He position for military service in the Army went on to Howard Law School. In 1920, during World War I. Brother Johnston he became the secretary for the was a member of Sigma Pi Phi Y.M.C.A. He was initiated into the Beta Fraternity, active in its Lambda Boule Chapter (Howard University). In 1916, (Columbus, Ohio). Brother Johnston he served the General Organization as married Hazel Johnston, and in 1930, Editor-in-Chief of The Sphinx until he they lived in Chicago. He last resided in became the General President in 1917. Washington, D.C., entering Omega General President Pollard married Chapter on 21 August 1955. Brother Bessie L. Mitchell of Philadelphia, Johnston is buried on 25 August 1955 in Pennsylvania, in 1916. They shared one Arlington National Cemetery. daughter, Gladys and a son, William. General President Pollard entered VATTEL ELBERT DANIEL, also known as Omega Chapter in 1929 or 2 March 1940 V. E. Daniel, was the first child born to in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. parents Charles James Daniel and Carrie Green Daniel in 1890. He had seven Parks – The Sphinx Resource Guide | 3 siblings: Sadie Iola Daniel (1892 to 1975), in 1917, because of the vacancy created Charles James Daniel, Jr. (1894 to 1942), by Brother V. D. Johnston’s entrance William Andrew Daniel (1895 to 1970), into the Army; General President Carrie Ora Daniel (1898), Robert William A. Pollard appointed Daniel as Prentiss Daniel (1902 to 1968), Manilla the first ever Interim Editor to finish Corrine Daniel (1899 to 1930), and Brother Johnston’s term as Editor-in- Walter Green Daniel. Brother Daniel Chief. At a December Convention, attended the Virginia Normal and Brother Daniel suggested that The Industrial Institute and Virginia Union Sphinx omit “matters of a secret nature.” University and graduated as class Additionally, he recommended that The valedictorian in 1914. From there, he Sphinx establish a permanent office, earned an M.A. degree from the after which The Sphinx became public University of Colorado and then his and this first office was established in Ph.D. in philosophy from the University Washington, D.C. Brother Daniel of Chicago. entered Omega Chapter in 1971 at the Brother Daniel taught high school age of eighty-one.