The Beginning

Iota Phi Theta: 1969 to 1973

The rapid growth of Iota in the late sixties was encouraging; but that growth, in the absence of an operating directive body, was of little consequence. Something had to be done to pull all the chapters and various factions together.

In early 1969, under the leadership of the Polaris of Alpha chapter, John House; an effort was made to hold a national conclave; for the purpose of establishing a centralized organizational structure. But this conclave idea caused brothers, who were previously inactive, to come forward and assert that they were incumbent national officers.

Whether their claims were real or imagined, they had enough power to declare the conclave illegal and canceled it. This action caused much confusion and momentum was virtually destroyed; it lowered morale and dimmed hopes for the future.

Although the focus of the movement was changing, the majority of the Iota brothers remained staunch supporters of Martin Luther King. From the very beginning of Iota Phi Theta the name Martin Luther King was synonymous with creative nonviolence and social change. He was a national hero and the most prominent civil rights figure.

Between the years 1963 to 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King more than anyone else, articulated the aspirations, hopes and demands of black America. When it was announced that Dr. King was coming to Baltimore, the entire community would be gripped with anticipation. King’s every word was a clarion sound calling for direct action and he attracted throngs of people to his rallies.

On more than a few occasions he appeared at Baltimore’s Civic Center and the brothers of Iota made it a point to be in the audience. They were there the night King talked about his close brush with death, when he was stabbed by a deranged black woman in a New York bookstore while he was autographing a recently published book.

He talked about the sharp pain in his chest, blackening out, and awakening in the hospital after an operation that had treated a wound that was just inches from his heart. In rhythmic cadences he explained that if he had merely sneezed, the jolt from wound would have killed him.