Pi Gamma Omicron () was one of the first documented black collegiate fraternities which was founded in 1905.
History
The group was founded at
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
in Columbus, Ohio.
The group had 12 members.
The group was not known by the Ohio State's registrars office but was known to the
Chicago Defender
''The Chicago Defender'' is a Chicago-based online African-American newspaper. It was founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott and was once considered the "most important" newspaper of its kind. Abbott's newspaper reported and campaigned against J ...
newspaper which wrote an article about Pi Gamma Omicron.
This article about Pi Gamma Omicron took the interest of
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved in ...
founder
Robert H. Ogle who was inspired to transform Alpha Phi Alpha from a literary society into a fraternity.
It was reported that Pi Gamma Omicron initially desired to become a national fraternity by establishing chapters in Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, and Indiana according to the
Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of 2022 it consists of 144 active chapters in the Uni ...
correspondent at Ohio State University, but this expansion did not occur.
One member, Elmer Shackelford, went on to earn his law certificate in 1906, then the equivalent of today's law degree.
Influence
Needs expansion: What was Charles Poindexter's connection to Pi Gamma Omicron, if any, a few years before he founded
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved in ...
? How is he connected to Robert H. Ogle? (Mentioned in Parks reference.) Several paragraphs in the Alpha Phi Alpha article discuss this.
Founders
The Founders of Pi Gamma Omicron were:
See also
*List of African-American Greek and fraternal organizations
African American fraternities and sororities are social organizations that predominantly recruit Black college students and provide a network that includes both undergraduate and alumni members. These organizations were typically founded by Blac ...
* History of North American fraternities and sororities
References
Defunct fraternities and sororities
African-American fraternities and sororities
Student societies in the United States
Student organizations established in 1905
Ohio State University
1905 establishments in Ohio
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