Chapter History
Omega Chapter
Dr. Ernest E. Just (1883-1941)
In
The Beginning
Three
Liberal Arts students came in my office on November 17, 1911. It was a
dark and stormy night with blast of thunder loud as the roaring sea. These
young men had an interest in forming the first Black Fraternity founded on
a Historical Black College or University.
Dr. Ernest E. Just Biologist of International Fame
Ernest
Everett Just, an eminent marine biologist, was born in Charleston, South
Carolina. Seeking a substantial education, he attended the Industrial
School of State College, Orangeburg, South Carolina; Kimball Academy at
Meriden, New Hampshire; and Dartmouth College, graduated in 1907. Each
school he attended was proud to have him because of his kindly demeanor
and his unusual ability as a scholar. Accordingly each school he attended
honored him.
At
Dartmouth he won the Phi Beta Kappa Key, the highest scholastic award to
be given to a student in an undergraduate college.
Upon
graduating from Dartmouth he became a teacher in the M Street High School
of Washington, D.C., now the Dunbar. As Brother Just was marked for
greatness, his rise was inevitable. Soon he answered the call of Howard
University to become and instructor in Biology, his major field. It was
here he fascinated the hearts of Negro youth, inspired them and made them
ambitious. Here he met Oscar J. Cooper, who told him of the fraternal
dream of collegiate empire in his mind and in the minds of his bosom
friends, Edgar A. Love and Frank Coleman, all members of the Howard
University class of 1913. He listened to their fancies and their dreams,
helped them become realities, and thereby became with them a Founder of
our charming Fraternity, the Omega Psi Phi.
In
1915, after displaying unusual brilliancy in research, the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People conferred upon him the
Spingarn Medal, which each year is given to a Negro who has been most
outstanding in achievement. The following year he obtained the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Chicago.
The
honors that have since come to Brother Just are too numerous to mention in
our limited space; but we shall list a few of them. He did his work so
well, that he was selected as guest investigator, to engage in research at
the Kaiser Wilhem Institute fur Biologie. In 1919, he spent six months in
Biological Research at Naples, Italy. He had also at his disposal the
private laboratories of several of the crowned heads of Europe.
For
twenty years at least he did research worked at the Marine Biology
Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. A gift from the Rosenwald Fund of
about $80,000.00 a year for several years made it possible for Dr. Just to
be relieved of his undergraduate teaching assignment and devote all his
time to research and the teaching of graduate students.
Aside
from this, Dr. Just was selected by leading biologists of Germany as the
best fitted among world scholars to write a treaties on fertilization.
Brother
Just was a member of the National Research Council, editor of the
international Council, editor of the international Journal,
"Protoplasma." He was a member of the American Society of
Zoologists, the American Naturalists, and a corresponding member of La
Societe des Science Naturelles et Mathematiques de France. 1936
Manhood
The
first cardinal principle of our fraternity is Manhood. Nothing can be
built without it in a fraternity. With Manhood nothing
is insurmountable. You do not become a man by being on earth for some
specified number of years. You are a man when you realize and take control
of your responsibilities. Manhood is simply about being responsible for ALL
of your actions.
You Can NOT Stop an Omega Man!
Alpha
Chapter was established at Howard University, but this was not enough for
determined black men. We wanted to incorporate our fraternity in the
District of Columbia. During this time in American history any organized
black people were seen as a threat to the government. The incorporation
committee refused our proposal. They did not know that the difficult we
do immediately and the impossible takes a little longer. On October 28,
1914 Omega Psi Phi Fraternity was incorporated for an eternity.
Fatherhood of God
The most important thing I stressed to those three young men was that we must give thanks to God. We must accept the fatherhood of God. Without God we would not exist and our fraternity must show due reverence to this fact. Our fraternity has remained steadfast in the wisdom of the Holy Bible, and we strive to use the bible as a template for our lives.
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2006, Omega Xi Chapter, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated
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