The Omega Psi Phi, Sigma Rho Chapter records include bylaws, committee reports, correspondence, financial records, meeting minutes, membership rosters, news clippings, publications, and topical files. The collection illustrates the activities of Sigma Rho as well as the positive impact that gifts of time and money given by social/community service organizations have upon their local communities. Also included is a digital video invitation to the 2019 William DeHart Hubbard Scholarship Endowment Dinner.
Omega Psi Phi (also known as Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.) is a historically Black fraternity established in 1911 at Howard University. The fraternity's name was derived from the initials of the Greek phrase, "friendship is essential to the soul," and its foundational principles are "manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift." The fraternity has undergraduate and graduate chapters located across the United States and throughout the world. Omega Psi Phi is overseen by a Supreme Council (board of directors) and holds a voluntary gathering called the Grand Conclave.
The Phi chapter was chartered at the University of Michigan in 1922 following a probationary year as the "Annex Club." The Theta Gamma chapter was chartered at Eastern Michigan University in 1952.
Sigma Rho, the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti graduate chapter, was chartered on December 19, 1964 and is part of Omega Psi Phi's 10th district. It included Omega Psi Phi graduates living in the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area. Throughout its existence, the organization interacted with local undergraduates, especially those at the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University. Sigma Rho is primarily a social/community service organization. In compliance with national fraternal mandates, members organized dances, golf tournaments, and talent shows to raise money to provide local high school students with college scholarships. The group also gave generous financial support to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the United Negro College Fund and, as a local service, compiled a directory of Black businesses and organizations in the Washtenaw County area. In 2012, Sigma Rho joined the National Pan-Hellenic Council of Ann Arbor (NPHCAA).
