Charles Brown
*Charles Brown was born on this date in 1885. He was a Black teacher and one of the founders of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Charles Ignatius Brown was born in Pittsburgh, PA. Census records show that his father was Rev. John M. Brown, and his mother was Maggie M. Brown. His father also lived at 1813 Titan Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A graduate of Howard University, he was very popular with the student body and Howard’s administration. In the 1914 Howard University yearbook, under the Personals and Applied Quotations section, Brown left the school with this, “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” He graduated from Howard University on June 3, 1914.
The fraternity's last correspondence received from him was a letter in 1924, in which he indicated that he was teaching in Kansas. He chose the nine charter members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. Brown founded the Delta Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. He taught at the Kansas Industrial School for Negroes in Topeka, Kansas, until 1931. In the spring of 1949, Leonard F. Morse wrote, “We live in daily hope that we shall one day learn the fate of our beloved Brother and Founder."
The story of his disappearance continued in the organization for over 80 years. Charles Brown died on December 21, 1981, and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
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