The Jim Crow System was a system of segregation laws that prohibited African-American from doing a great number of things such as attending white schools, colleges and universities. Blacks were not treated in white hospitals and black doctors could not practice in them. Lawyers had limited opportunities to practice. But the same system that attempted to maintain separation of the races, also created separate facilities for Blacks. In 1926, the cornerstone was laid for the Houston Negro Hospital (which eventually became Riverside General). Black Colleges were built and various opportunities arose for black entrepreneurs, making Houston a very desirable place for black medical professionals to practice and hone their skills. And professional blacks move to Boomtown from everywhere.
The Fraternity and its chapters were facing an uncertain future. It was during this period that Omega men, thoroughly trained as Officers in the military, traveled overseas and to various sections of the country spreading the ideals of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and establishing the foundation for the creation of new chapters.
Such were the circumstances when …
In the early spring of 1926, when a group of prominent Houston businessmen, educators, attorneys and physicians were informally socializing with visiting Omegas Carter Wesley, Jasper “Jack” Atkins and law student James Nabrit Jr. During their gathering, one of them presented the idea that they needed to organize a fraternal club. These men, undoubtedly influenced by Wesley, Atkins and Nabrit, decided that they wanted to be part of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. The enthusiasm for a chapter in the Omega organization had enveloped their hearts and the sensation was well on its way. Within a few weeks, these young men were meeting formally to exchange procedural ideas on establishing a new graduate chapter.
The first meeting was held at the Odd Fellows Temple located on the corner of Louisiana and Prairie streets in downtown Houston. James Nabrit, and Carter Walker Wesley provided written information on how to organize a chapter. Brother Nabrit, acting as Chairman, asked H.P. Carter to select fourteen men to serve as the nucleus and submit those names to the Grand Basileus for consideration in establishing a chapter in Houston.
Former Grand Basileus (1922) and Houston attorney, Jack Alston Atkins, developed the goals and objectives for the new chapter. After long hours of work, the documents requesting a charter were finally completed and submitted to Brother Walke Mazyck, the Grand Keeper of Records and Seal.
After submitting their proposal and months of patiently waiting for their request to be granted, the Houston men received word from the National Office that their request for a new chapter had been granted. With this good news in hand, Brother Nabrit began the process of organizing the chapter. Brother Pritchard Willard, an Omega man from Wiley College, assisted him and played an integral part in the establishment of this new chapter – a chapter that would become the pulse of the Houston community.
On Thursday August 26, 1926, during the second year of Grand Basileus Vaughn’s administration; this new chapter was founded and given the name NU PHI Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Future Grand Basileus Albert W. Dent of Louisiana and Brother Willard of Beaumont conducted the ceremony. Nu Phi’s official charter was issued on October 1, 1926.
Charter members were Howard Payne Carter, Dr. D.F. Barclay, James Delbridge Ryan, Gilbert T. Stocks, E.A. Chester, Richard G. Lockett and Olen P. Dewalt.
The charter members of Nu Phi and the men that worked so diligently to establish the chapter were all men of distinction, dedicated professions, and fierce civil rights champions.