Spruill, Coakley, Dorsey, and Gregory had known one another since grade school, and Spruill and Coakley had been friends since pre-school. Influencers of Iota Phi Theta include organizations such as the Black Panthers, SNCC, the original Rainbow Coalition (Fred Hampton) and individuals like Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael.Īdditionally, unlike most of their fraternity peers, the founders were all non-traditional students. Many early members of the fraternity were also actively involved in the Black Power and Pan-Africanism Movements, both begun due to perceived and actual failures of Civil Rights Movement initiatives. Like those organizations, Iota Phi Theta's founders were extremely devoted to Civil Rights and energizing the movement. Many new organizations devoted to the plight of African Americans arose during the 1960s. At the time of the fraternity's founding, several NPHC organizations “existed on Morgan State’s campus”, however the NPHC fraternities and sororities at Morgan State were publicly more engaged in social activities than serving as advocates for social change and political justice. On September 19, 1963, the twelve founders gathered together on the steps of Hurt Gymnasium on the campus of Morgan State College (now Morgan State University) and unyielding desired & agreed to form Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc., a support system for militant men of color in the era's turbulent social climate.
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and Michael Williams - during the Civil Rights Movement. The fraternity was founded by 12 men (giving the organization the distinction of having more founders than any other NPHC fraternity) - Albert Hicks, Lonnie Spruill Jr., Charles Briscoe, Frank Coakley, John Slade, Barron Willis, Webster Lewis, Charles Brown, Louis Hudnell, Charles Gregory, Elias Dorsey Jr.
![greek for the ioda greek for the ioda](https://images.sftcdn.net/images/t_app-cover-l,f_auto/p/ec963352-9a65-11e6-815d-00163ed833e7/4088153502/yoda-soccer-screenshot.jpg)
![greek for the ioda greek for the ioda](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/iota-letter-outline-icon-iota-letter-outline-icon-linear-style-sign-mobile-concept-web-design-greek-alphabet-symbol-simple-131211960.jpg)
It was founded on September 19, 1963, at Morgan State University (then Morgan State College) in Baltimore, Maryland, and is currently the 5th largest Black Greek Lettered Fraternity. ( ΙΦΘ) is a historically African American fraternity. Not Resting Upon One! and/or It Takes a Man! Morgan State College (now Morgan State University) Historically African American fraternity Iota Phi Theta