On
April 17, 1982 an article appeared in the New York Times, entitled,
“End of an Era - Setback in Civil Rights for Blacks.” The article
had a devastating effect on a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity named
Jack Childs, Sr. Mr. Childs felt some action needed to be taken to
address the issues raised in the article. Mr. Childs called his
fraternity brother James Hill to get his reaction.
A
meeting was convened at Jack Childs’ office and was attended, by James
Hill, Auggeretto Battiste, and Don Trotter (currently State Senator of
Illinois), all members of Alpha Phi Alpha. It was determined that
community action could not be carried out under the Fraternal name and
an invitation was extended to the other historically African American
membership Greek letter organizations.
The
name chosen for this group was The Pan Hellenic Community Action
Council of Chicago (PHCACC) and their first objective was to
launch a massive voter registration drive spearheaded by Elliott Green
of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. The Pan Hellenic Community Action Council
was incorporated on December 16, 1982 following with the writing of our
Constitution and Bylaws.
|
A little known fact is that the National Pan-Hellenic Council logo
was originally designed during this time by the PHCACC and was
subsequently adopted by the National Organization. In its original
form, the logo only had 7 points. The present 9-point version was
developed by Frater Dwayne Dixon of Iota Phi Theta and was adopted
(after much discussion) when Iota was inducted into the NPHC in
1997. |
During the next six years, the PHCACC continued to provide a powerful
voice in the African American community and was actively involved in the
election of our first African American Mayor in the City of Chicago,
Mayor Harold Washington (Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity) as well as State
Comptroller Roland Burris (Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity).
Past
Presidents of the Pan Hellenic Council had been
-
James Hill, Alpha Phi
Alpha Fraternity, 1982 –1984
-
Sandra Kelly, Sigma Gamma
Rho Sorority, 1984 – 1986
-
James Polk, Kappa Alpha
Psi Fraternity, 1986 – 1988
In
1988 the PHCACC became inactive.
In
March of 1992, Auggeretto Battiste, one of the original incorporators,
and Marea Rivers, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority convened the first meeting
and elected officers; the officers, who served from 1992 – 1994, are as
follows:
-
President - Auggeretto
Battiste, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
-
Vice-president - H.
Vincent Price, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity
-
Treasurer - Deborah
Underwood, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
-
Financial Secretary -
Gregory Gilmore, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
-
Corresponding Secretary -
Sandra Reeves, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority
-
Recording Secretary -
O'teal Wyatt (92-93), Delta Sigma Theta Sorority / Maria Moore (93-94)
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
During the first two years, the PHCACC recruited people to become Deputy
Registrars for the Chicago Board of Elections. We also encouraged youth
to stay in school by participating in the Bud Billiken Day Parade and
passed out bookmarkers.
In
the spirit of Brother and Sisterhood, we hosted our first Undergraduate
Greek Summit in September of 1993 to increase the lines of communication
between Undergraduate and Graduate Chapters, as well as our, then,
non-affiliated brothers of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity. The discussion
sessions featured national, regional, and local officers, including:
-
Dr. Jason DeSousa (KAY),
Associate Executive Director, NPHC
-
Dwayne Dixon, National
Director of Marketing, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity
-
William Stanley, National
President, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity
The
PHCACC continued to be active and financial on a Regional and National
Pan Hellenic Council’s basis. Gregory Gilmore was our representative at
the 1992 Regional Conference. During that time, the council adopted a
new initiative, the Assault on Illiteracy Program. For the 1994 – 1995,
the officers were:
-
President - Gregory
Gilmore, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
-
Vice-President - Sonja D.
Gidney, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority
-
Treasurer - Delma Hunter,
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority
-
Financial Secretary -
Kimberley Offord, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
-
Corresponding Secretary -
Sandra Kelly Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority
-
Recording Secretary -
Deborah Underwood, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
As of
that time, the PHCACC had 3 chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority; one
chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; one chapter of Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority; three chapters of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority; one chapter of Iota
Phi Theta Fraternity; one chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity; two
chapters of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority; two chapters of Phi Beta Sigma
Fraternity and one chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
