And it wasn’t just because so many brothers of his beloved Omega Psi Phi, one of the nation’s oldest African American fraternities,had come to his city to celebrate its 100th anniversary.It also was that when Corley came to Washington in the 1940s, you didn’t see very many black men downtown at all.
“It. Blew. My. Mind!” said Corley, 88, whose eyes twinkled behind his glasses.
At a breakfast ceremony a few hours earlier at the convention center, he wore his ceremonial gold tunic, trimmed in purple, and was honored for his 70 years of service in the fraternity. His son, Richard Corley, 50, who became a member of the fraternity in 1987, snapped pictures with his iPhone as his father received a standing ovation.
Later, at the elder Corley’s home in Brookland, grandson Richard Jr., 21, a newly minted Omega man, would arrive with a half-dozen of his fraternity brothers from Morehouse College. “Look at those shoes!” Andrew Corley exclaimed, pointing to the work boots, spray-painted gold with purple laces, that some of the young men were wearing. “Those shoes are tough!”
For Richard Corley and his son, it was never a question of which fraternity they would join. But when Andrew Corley pledged Omega Psi Phi at the age of 18, major black fraternities and sororities were still relatively new organizations. Over time, they would gain widespread popularity and boast rosters of distinguished members. Notable Omega brothers include Langston Hughes, Bill Cosby, Vernon Jordan, Jesse Jackson, astronaut Guion Bluford, former Virginia governor Doug Wilder, and NBA stars Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal.
Still, personal ties, especially among family members, are perhaps the strongest incentives for young men and women to select a particular black Greek-letter organization. Omega Psi Phi was founded Nov. 17, 1911, at Howard University, the first black fraternity founded at a historically black college. Alpha Phi Alpha, the country’s first black fraternity, was founded in 1906 at Cornell University in New York. The second one, Kappa Alpha Psi, was born in January 1911 at Indiana University.
Andrew Corley, who grew up in South Carolina, didn’t have a male family member who belonged to a fraternity. He chose Omega Psi Phi because his high school English teacher, whom he revered for his “very precise” elocution, was a member. Corley went off to South Carolina State University excited about pledging the fraternity.
“I was surprised because I did not expect the hazing,” he said, declining to be specific about what his brothers did to make him prove his mettle. It was worth it. Through the years, he said, “I found a lot of brotherhood, people who I could turn to in case I needed guidance.”
Corley was drafted into the Army out of college and fought in Guam during World War II. After his discharge, he came to Washington to attend Howard University.
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