Watch CBS News

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Celebrates Legacy Of Founder, Honorable Charles I. Brown

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- For more than 80 years, Charles I. Brown disappeared from all activities in Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., the organization that he had helped organize. During a Phi Beta Sigma membership national gathering, a search team revealed what happened to Brown. This tribute marks the fraternity's official Founder Brown's Burial Ceremony.

On Saturday, a plaque and historical marker was unveiled at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.

ALSO READ: Bucks County DA: Suspect To Be Charged In Murder Of Dismembered Teen Girl 

Charles I. Brown, along with A. Langston Taylor and Leonard F. Morse, founded Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity at Howard University on Jan. 9, 1914.

image3
Credit: Samuel Gardner III

Two of the fraternities founders, Taylor and Morse, went on to live very productive and notable lives, and were very active in the growth of the Fraternity until their deaths in 1953 and 1961, respectively.  The third founder, Charles Ignatius Brown, as history taught, disappeared from all aspects of society around 1924.

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity is an international organization comprised of college and professional men, predominantly of African American origin, open from its inception to men of all race, religion, class and national origin.

image1-1
Credit: Samuel Gardner III

ALSO READ: Penn State Abuse Scandal Costs Approach Quarter-Billion 

The fraternity holds as its motto, "Culture for Service and Service for Humanity."

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.