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WELCOME TO THE ELITE ETA ETA LAMBDA CHAPTER
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated
Championed by the Eta Eta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the City of Annapolis Designates “Alpha Phi Alpha Way” on Franklin Street in a Historic First for Maryland.
ANNAPOLIS, MD. On April 8, 2024, the Brothers of the Eta Eta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, descended on Annapolis City Hall to hear the reading of :
Committee Chair Brother Kenneth Williams and other committee members Brothers Andre Dillard, Dr. Carl Bryant, Dr. Tarik Harris, Dr. Adrian Hood, Brian Boles, and Malik Branch began lobbying efforts for the City Council to designate a portion of downtown Annapolis in honor of the rich contributions of the chapter to the city. This started in 1874 with a visit by Brother Frederick Douglass and The Honorable Thurgood Marshall helping Walter Mills with his case against the Anne Arundel Board of Education and was later amplified by the contributions of our Charter Members Brothers Dr. Aris T. Allen, M.D., Dr. Theodore H. Johnson, M.D., and Dr. Samuel P. Callahan, Sr., D.D.S, who all had medical practices, which filled the gap of services which existed for minorities in the 1960s due to segregation and continues today through the advocacy and service of the brothers of the chapter to the city.
Franklin Street served as an epicenter for Black business, community, and worship throughout the city’s history, and the designation of this portion of Franklin Street, from Church Circle to Cathedral Street, is especially commemorative due to the connections to the heritage and history of the chapter and Black Annapolitans collectively.
More than 35 Eta Eta Lambda Chapter Brothers sat patiently. They listened to Brother Kenneth Williams during public time as he provided the City Council with some context and history of the Resolution presented and through the reading of the Resolution. They were surprised that Alderwoman Sheila Finlayson, who Introduced the Resolution, and Alderwoman Elly Tierney, Alderman Ross Arnett, and Alderman Robert Savidge Savidge, who were co-sponsors of the Resolution for the council, had orchestrated a special concession with the support of Mayor Gavin Buckley to bypass the procedural regulations to give full unanimous approval for the designation after immediate first and second readings.
Sixty-five years after our chartering in Annapolis, this elite designation is the first in Maryland for a fraternal organization, the second time with the District of Columbia receiving a designation one year before. It is fitting that it would occur in Maryland’s capital city. The brothers of the chapter are actively working to coordinate plans for a street sign dedication to celebrate this momentous occasion in the history of the city, chapter, state, district, region, and fraternity at large on June 15, 2024, at 84 Franklin Street, Annapolis, Maryland from 10 am - 1 pm.
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