A Moment in Alpha History: Seven Days of Reflection (Day 6)
Today we honor and reflect on The Faithful Jewel Robert Harold Ogle, for his high ideals and precepts of Alpha Phi Alpha that binds us in lasting friendship and brotherhood as exemplified. It was in the rented room of Jewel Ogle at the home of Archie and Annie Singleton where the idea of the fraternity began to take shape. He was known for his “wise counsel, unabated enthusiasm, and fighting spirit” in the founding of our fraternity. He played a key role in the organizing of the fraternity by making the first motion to organize, proposed the colors of the fraternity (old gold and black), served as secretary of Alpha Chapter, and made the motion to charter Beta Chapter. He would later chair the Historical Commission in 1927, which oversaw the first publication of the history book. After leaving Cornell, he worked as secretary of the Senate Committee of Appropriations under the chairmanship of Senator Francis E. Warren of Wyoming, becoming the first African American known to serve as a professional Senate committee staffer. Known for his parliamentarian prowess and keen knowledge of fiscal affairs of the Federal Government due to his work on the committee, he later worked as clerk for two of Washington’s Municipal Court Judges Brother James A. Cobb and Armond W. Scott for a brief period of time. He also was one of the charter members of Mu Lambda. An avid attendee of the earlier conventions, he truly loved Alpha Phi Alpha. He entered Omega Chapter in December 1936. Please read and reflect on the quotes of Jewel Ogle:
“Never before was it as incumbent upon every member to restate loyalty and exemplify fraternal obligation by consistent life and unimpeachable character…”
-Jewel Robert Harold Ogle, 1936
“Alpha Phi Alpha undoubtedly faces the most challenging test in its history. It is of vital importance that we seriously consider the contribution of every brother may make for the good of our fraternity.”
-Jewel Robert Harold Ogle
“It is our task to blaze the way and keep our feet upon the path of progress and with prophetic vision keep alive in us the spirit of cooperation. These thoughts, my brothers, are my conception of our duties and responsibilities to Alpha Phi Alpha.”
-Jewel Robert Harold Ogle, April 21, 1936
“May I further say that Alpha Phi Alpha undoubtedly faces the most challenging test in its history. It is of vital importance that we seriously consider the contribution that every Brother may make for the good of the fraternity. Never were the demands for constructive effort and intelligent devotion as great as today. Never before was it as incumbent upon every member to restate loyalty and exemplify fraternal obligation by consistent life and unimpeachable character. But these must be reinforced by a growing consciousness of the responsibilities that Alpha Phi Alpha faces in the world today, where, if ever the problems which beset us are to be solved and a way of deliverance discovered, it must be by the application of those principles upon which we are founded.”
—Jewel Robert Harold Ogle, March 21, 1936.
This is your moment in Alpha history.
Brother Sean Hall, Historian