City Council selects a Poet Laureate and honors Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
By Ivan Saul Cutler, Carolina Peacemaker / June 8, 2023
Members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated stand to be recognized during the June 6 Greensboro City Council meeting. The council acknowledged the 100th Anniversary of the Greensboro chapter. President Wilson Lester is the fourth person standing from right. Photo by Ivan Saul Cutler/Carolina Peacemaker.
Greensboro Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson presents poet Josephus Thompson III with a resolution declaring him the city’s Honorary Poet Laureate for the next year. Photo by Ivan Saul Cutler/Carolina Peacemaker.
The second resolution commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Tau Omega Chapter (Greensboro, N.C.) of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated, with fraternity members rising to hear the reading of the proclamation.
On November 17, 1911, Omega Psi Phi was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. The founders were three undergraduates — Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman. Joining them was their faculty adviser, Ernest Everett Just.
The name was derived from the initials of the Greek phrase meaning, “Friendship is Essential to the Soul,“ the fraternity’s motto. The organization’s cardinal principles are Manhood, Scholarship, Perseverance and Uplift.
President of the Tau Omega Chapter is Wilson Lester.
