Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. was founded on the campus of Howard University on Friday, January 9, 1914 by three honorable men. Honorable A. Langston Taylor, Honorable Leonard F. Morse, and Honorable Charles I. Brown. These three young African American men came together to organize a Greek letter fraternity that would truly exemplify the ideals of brotherhood, scholarship and service.
The Founders deeply wished to create an organization that viewed itself as "a part of" instead of "apart from" the general community. They believed that each potential member should be judged by his own merits, rather than his family background or affluence...without regard to race, nationality, skin tone or hair texture. They desired for their fraternity to exist as part of an even greater brotherhood which would be devoted to the "inclusive we" rather than the "exclusive we".
From its inception, the Founders also conceived Phi Beta Sigmas as a mechanism to deliver services to the general community. Rather than gaining skills to be utilized exclusively for themselves and their immediate families, they held a deep conviction that they should return their newly acquired skills to the communities from which they had come. This deep conviction was mirrored in the Fraternity's motto, "Culture for Service and Service for Humanity".
Today, Phi Beta Sigma has blossomed into an international organization of leaders. No longer a single entity, members of the Fraternity have been instrumental in the establishment of the Phi Beta Sigma National Foundation, the Phi Beta Sigma Federal Credit Union and the Sigma Beta Club Foundation.
A fraternity of FIRSTS, Phi Beta Sigma is the FIRST and ONLY fraternity to be constitutionally bound to a sister organization, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. founded on Tuesday, January 16, 1920 also on the campus of Howard University
The Eta Zeta Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc was established at Texas A&M University-Commerce (TAMUC), formerly East Texas State University (ETSU), on