Robert Ogle
*Robert Ogle was born on this date in 1886. He was a Black public policy administrator.
Born to Jeremiah and Mary Ellen Ogle in Washington, D.C., Robert Harold Ogle attended M Street School, one of the top preparatory schools for African Americans. Ogle secured one of the spots available, and upon completion in 1905, he enrolled in Cornell University. During this time, Ogle founded Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. (the oldest African American fraternity).
After graduating from Cornell in 1909, Ogle returned to his home of Washington, D.C., where he entered the secretarial field, finding employment for the United States Senate Appropriations Committee. As an authority on parliamentary procedures, Ogle received his training while working under the chairmanship of the late Senator Francis E. Warren of Wyoming. He was the first African American to serve as a professional Senate committee staffer.
There, Ogle developed a knowledge of the fiscal affairs of the Federal Government and a habit of careful research. He also clerked with two Washington Municipal Judges, Brother James A. Cobb, and Armond W. Scott. He married the former Helen Moore and moved to Richmond, Virginia, for a short period. She died, leaving him with two daughters, Helen Ogle (Atkins) and Mary Ogle (Wilson). He remarried Marea Scott. A lifelong resident of Washington, D.C., Ogle and his family resided at 1721 T Street, N.W. In 1923, he, along with Nathaniel Allison Murray and future historian and General President Charles Harris Wesley, chartered the Mu Lambda Chapter, where he was active until he died in 1936.
