Upcoming Events:
TBA Next Semester!
Links:
Welcome!
The story of how the Alpha Alpha Chi chapter of Phi Beta Sigma, Incorporated came to be is just as remarkable as it is complex. In 1993, six ambitious and assiduous college undergraduates sought to introduce a much-needed change to campus life. These men also deemed it necessary to foster change within the greater Durham community. It would be this double-focus that would ultimately serve as not only the impetus, but the binding fabric for the presence of Phi Beta Sigma on the campus of Duke University. On October 24, 1993, these six men – Tremaine Sayles, Kelley Johnson, Rod Hargrave, Delton Devose, Courtney Fauntleroy, and Michael Sherman – entered the brotherhood of Phi Beta Sigma, Incorporated, making the first etchings on what would become an unforgettable legacy. “Genesis 6” had arrived.
Facing challenges from the campus administration, as well as the inevitability of time, the members of Genesis 6 graduated in 1995 and went on to pursue careers in various disciplines. Several of the members remained in the Durham area, thus laying the foundation for the chapter’s reemergence in 1998. Not surprisingly, the set of circumstances that would motivate six younger and equally ambitious Duke undergraduates to join Sigma would mirror those that beset their predecessors five years prior. On February 28th, 1998, after much anticipation, five brothers – D.J. Reddick, Stefan France, Damani Sims, Brian Waddy, and Rojah Reed – would usher in a new age. “Resurrection Six,” a group just as diverse as their predecessors, officially signified the permanent fixture of Phi Beta Sigma, Inc. on the campus of Duke University.
Now in its fifteenth year, the Alpha Alpha Chi chapter has seen its brotherhood swell to nearly fifty members. The chapter boasts a number of accolades, some of which include: chapter awards, including “Chapter of the Year,” as well as “Outstanding Programming”; several individual awards, including “Greek Man of the Year,” and an NAACP image award winner; and, finally, several championships from step competitions, including a state championship, four (out of six) homecoming championships, BET’s Stomping on the Yard regional championship, and a slew of others. The chapter has also donated several thousand dollars to the March of Dimes through its annual charity banquet, held each October. As in its beginnings, the chapter remains committed to the Durham community, seen most plainly through its collaboration with the Xi Gamma and Gamma Gamma chapters in its bi-annual Triangle Project.
As another generation of brothers follow in the paths paved by those before them, the chapter continues a tradition of excellence set nearly one century before its inception. Much like the original initiates of Sigma at Howard University, the forty-eight initiates of the Alpha Alpha Chi chapter represent men as diverse as they are talented, hailing from the likes of large cities such as New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Atlanta, San Antonio, and Atlanta to the likes of Katy, Kitrill, King of Prussia, Newport News, Edison, and, of course, Durham. The chapter is perhaps only equaled by its range of diasporic ancestry, ranging from Puerto Rico,The Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados, and Native American tribes, to the Igbo and Yoruba in Nigeria. With a brotherhood comprised of established lawyers, businessmen, academicians, as well as an ever-growing crop of future professionals and community activists, the legacy of Alpha Alpha Chi has continued to grow from its ambitious beginnings in 1993, embodying the principles set forth by the fraternity’s founders nearly one century ago.