January 25, 2006 Library of Congress Celebrates African American History Month with a Tribute to National Black Institutions

The Library of Congress will present a roundtable discussion featuring African American leaders for its 2006 celebration of African American History Month at 10 a.m., Feb. 2, in the Mumford Room, sixth floor, James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave., S.E., Washington, D.C. Co-sponsored by the Office of Workforce Diversity and the 2006 African American History Month Planning Committee, the event is free and open to the public.

The program, “Celebrating Community: A Tribute to Black Fraternal, Social and Civic Institutions,” will include presentations from the leadership of five major African American organizations.

Gwendolyn E. Boyd is the immediate past national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., which has a membership of more than 200,000 predominantly African American, college-educated women. Founded in 1913, the private, nonprofit organization provides assistance and support through established programs in local communities throughout the world.

Margaret J. Cooper is the national president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) Inc. and Youth Affiliates. NACWC was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1896 with the merger of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, the Women's Era Club of Boston and the Colored Women's League of Washington, D.C.

Samuel C. Hamilton is the grand polemarch of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., which was founded in 1911 on the campus of Indiana University. Fashioning achievement as its purpose, Kappa Alpha Psi’s mission was to unite college men of culture, patriotism and honor in a bond of fraternity.

Darryl R. Matthews Sr. is the general president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. Founded at Cornell University in 1906, the fraternity is celebrating 100 years as the first continuously operating, black collegiate Greek letter fraternity. Alpha Phi Alpha has been in the forefront of the African American community’s struggle for civil rights, and its membership has included such notables as W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke, Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall.

Linda M. White is the supreme basileus of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Founded in 1908, the sorority became America's first Greek-letter organization established by black college women. The sorority’s mission includes cultivating and encouraging high scholastic and ethical standards, promoting unity and friendship among college women and maintaining a progressive interest in college life.

The participants will respond to questions from the audience. Representatives from the remaining sororities and fraternities (Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc., Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc.), who have been invited to attend the program, will be introduced.