Brown, wanted to organize a Greek letter fraternity that would exemplify the ideals of Brotherhood, Scholarship and Service while taking an inclusive perspective to serve the community as opposed to having an exclusive purpose.

Although Phi Beta Sigma is considered a predominantly African-American fraternity, its membership includes college-educated men of African, Caucasian, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian descent.

Vincent, William H. Foster, John Berry, Earl Lawson, among others, were presidents of the Debating Society, the college YMCA, the Political Science Club, and the Athletic Association, respectively.

The newly established Zeta Phi Beta sorority, Inc. was given a formal introduction at the Whitelaw Hotel by their Sigma counterparts, Charles R. and A. Langston Taylor.

[11] In addition to Locke, Sigma brothers James Weldon Johnson and A. Philip Randolph were participants in this creative emergence, led primarily by the African-American community based in the neighborhood of Harlem in New York City.

This would lead to the first inter-fraternity council meeting between the two organizations the following spring in Washington, D.C. "When Taylor left the center of the stage, the main theme of the plot had been introduced.

At the 1928 Conclave, held in Louisville, Kentucky, the tradition of branding the skin with a hot iron, as a part of the initiation process was officially sanctioned by the fraternity.

With brothers faced with financial worries, some members were forced to leave their respective institutions due to lack of funds to continue their educations; several chapters became inactive.

In February 1930, the General Board met in New York City and appointed then vice president of the Eastern Region, Dr. T. H. Wright, as head of the new Bigger and Better Business program.

Fraternity brother A. Philip Randolph, who organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, played a role in the amendments to the Railway Labor Act in 1934.

At the same conclave Brother A. Philip Randolph announced a proposed march on Washington, D.C., to protest racial discrimination in defense work and the armed forces.

This proposed march would lead then president of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt to create the Committee on Fair Employment Practice and issue Executive Order 8802 which barred discrimination in governmental and defense industry hiring.

In 1961, Phi Beta Sigma brother James Forman joined and became the executive secretary of the then newly formed Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

From 1961 to 1965 Forman, a decade older and more experienced than most of the other members of SNCC, became responsible for providing organizational support to the young, loosely affiliated activists by paying bills, radically expanding the institutional staff, and planning the logistics for programs.

With permission granted by the national board of Phi Beta Sigma, he was able to maintain his membership while establishing a new organization that aimed to serve and unify the Latino community.

[15][16] In 1989, the Fraternity celebrated its Diamond Jubilee in Washington, D.C. Also in that year, brother Edison O. Jackson became the president of Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York.

The 2009 Conclave in New Orleans saw former President William Jefferson Clinton accept honorary member invitation to Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.

The fraternity has experienced unprecedented growth and continues to be a leader among issues of social justice as well as proponent of the interests of minority communities, the needy, the oppressed, and the youth.

Membership is predominantly African-American in composition, with members in over 700 collegiate and alumni chapters in the United States, District of Columbia, Germany, Switzerland, The Bahamas, Virgin Islands, South Korea, Japan and countries in Africa.

In response to the increasing number of lawsuits stemming from allegations and incidents related to hazing, Phi Beta Sigma and other members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council jointly agreed to disband pledging as a form of admission.

[26] Phi Beta Sigma's efforts to eliminate hazing from the fraternity continue as local chapters are now mandated to participate in anti-hazing awareness workshops.

In 2009, Donnie Wade Jr., a student at Prairie View A&M University, died of extreme exhaustion due to illegal hazing activity while he was pledging the fraternity.

[37] In 2014, a former Francis Marion University student won a $1.6 million lawsuit against an individual member of the fraternity and his home owners policy after allegedly suffering acute kidney injury due to being severely beaten throughout his pledge process.

[39] Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity's membership includes many notable members who are involved in the fields of arts and entertainment, business, civil rights, education, health, law, politics, science, and sports.

In addition, seminars, social events, concerts, an international Miss Phi Beta Sigma Pageant, Stepshow, and oratorical contests are also held during the week-long conference.

Throughout the years, notable individuals such as George Washington Carver, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, and NFL quarterback Charlie Batch were speakers at past Conclaves.

A comprehensive list of regions is shown below:[43] Phi Beta Sigma aims their focuses on issues that greatly impact the African-American community and the youth of the nation.

The response was so great that the 1925 Conclave in Richmond, Virginia voted unanimously to make Bigger and Better Negro Business the public program of the Fraternity, and it has been so ever since."

[citation needed] In the winter of 1934, Sigma brothers Elmo Anderson, James W. Johnson, Emmett May and Bob Jiggets presented the Social Action proposition to the Conclave in Washington, D.C.

The museum's initial goal was to dispel the discrepancies of the Fraternity's history, by collecting as many newspaper articles, Crescent Magazines, Conclave Journals, autographs, pictures, etc., as possible.