IOTA ALPHA CHAPTER
The Omega Psi Phi Fraternity was triumphantly unfurled in Knoxville, TN on April 19, 1935. Professor S. Herbert Adams from Johnson C. Smith University (Rho Chapter) journeyed over the mountains to join joyfully by which the Iota Alpha Chapter was duly established.
FRATERNITY HISTORY
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. is the first international fraternal organization to be founded on the campus of a historically black college. Omega Psi Phi Fraternity was founded on November 17, 1911, at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The founders were three Howard University undergraduates, -- Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper, and Frank Coleman. Joining them was their faculty adviser, Dr. Ernest Everett Just.
From the initials of the Greek phrase meaning, "FRIENDSHIP IS ESSENTIAL TO THE SOUL", the name Omega Psi Phi was derived. That phrase was selected as the motto.
Manhood, Scholarship, Perseverance, and Uplift were adopted as Cardinal Principles.
