MIAMI (FL) ALUMNI CELEBRATES 75 YEARS
James E. Hart; Strategus, Leonard S. Walker; Lt. Strategus, Frank Jones; and Historian Lewis Blake; Leandus Blackus was the eighth charter member. Chapter Recognition On November 16, 2021, Miami- Dade County and Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava issued a proclamation recognizing the chapter for its 75 years in the Miami community. The chapter throughout history has received nu- merous proclamations and certificates of merit from the state of Florida, the city of Miami, Dade County, and local congressional representatives. The local NPHC awarded the chapter with its Frater of the Year Award in 2011, 2015, and 2019. The Miami (FL) Alumni Chapter has won the Southern Province Chapter of the Year Awards in the following years: 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021. In addition, the chapter has won the Southern Province Community Service awards in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, and the Province Website of the Year in 2015. Host Chapter Known as “the Great 58 th ”, Miami (FL) Alumni hosted the 58 th Grand
Chapter Meeting in the summer of 1973. Miami (FL) Alumni was the first chapter in the Southern Province to host a Grand Chapter Meeting. The May 1973 Kappa Alpha Psi – Conclave Issue, which featured Miami (FL) Alumni, its members, and the city of Miami, was the largest Journal issue at 144 pages up to that date. According to the October 1973 issue of the Kappa Alpha Psi Journal, the Miami Conclave, led by Conclave Chairman and Miami (FL) Alumni member James R. Chambers (Alpha Upsilon 1940), was extraordinarily well organized, well attended, and “set benchmarks in several categories and established precedents in others.” The Miami Conclave had more registered delegates than any previous Grand Chapter Meeting. Grand Chapter delegates unani- mously elected Dr. Elbert Enrico Allen as the Fraternity’s 21 st Grand Polemarch. Held at the Playboy Plaza Hotel on Miami Beach, the 58 th Grand Chapter Meeting hosted the fraternity’s “first public-oriented” national meet- ing as seminars, awards programs, and Official Family Dinner” was open to the general public.
The October 1973 issue of the Kappa Alpha Psi Journal.
Polemarch Brother Travis L. Brown (Alpha Theta 1991), Miami (FL) Alumni hosted the fifth National Founders’ Day Weekend Observance at the Miami Hyatt Hotel. The chapter also hosted Southern Province Council Meetings the follow- ing years: 1953, 1970, 1989, 2005, and 2014. Advising Chapter The chapter currently advises two undergraduate chapters. The Florida Memorial University Chapter, Epsilon Mu of Kappa Alpha Psi, was the first undergraduate chapter in South Florida when chartered in April 1966. In Octo- ber 2007, the Southern Province named the Miami (FL) Alumni as the advising alumni chapter to the newly chartered the Barry University Chapter, the Pi Kappa of Kappa Alpha Psi. From 1979 to 1998, the chapter also advised the Miami (FL) University Chapter, the Iota Chi of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. Signature Chapter Events In the past, the signature event for the Miami (FL) Alumni Chapter was its annual Black and White Ball, which was a who’s who of Miami’s Black elite,
In 2010, led by past chapter
THE JOURNAL ♦ WINTER 2021 - SPRING 2022
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