The Archons of Lambda Boulé in Columbus, OH - July 2021
In the Spring of 1921, an insurance executive from Atlanta by the name of Truman K. Gibson arrived in Columbus, Ohio, and set about preparing a list of select men to form a local branch of an organization known as the Boulé. Gibson, and Archon of Kappa Boulé in Atlanta, found no lack of interest among the qualified men of Columbus, and on June 21, 1921, Lambda Boulé, the first Boulé in Ohio, was set apart with charter members representing the fields of business, dentistry, social work, and medicine.
The Archons of Lambda proved exceptionally active, and after one year, they unanimously decided to hold two meetings each month instead of one.
Lambda assisted in establishing Sigma Boulé in Dayton, Ohio (1924) and Tau Boulé in Cleveland, Ohio (1925).
Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity (the Grand Boulé)
Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, also known as the Boulé, is the first Greek-letter fraternity to be founded by African American men. Significantly, unlike the other African American Greek -letter organizations, its members already have received college and professional degrees at the time of their induction. The fraternity's insignia is the Sphinx.
From the beginning, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity was a learned society, a social fraternity and an advancement organization, albeit a quiet one. As well, the fraternity believed absolutely in the equality of standing of its members and insisted that anyone who was eligible for membership was eligible and qualified for leadership. The founders were so certain of this fact that the fraternity selected its officers by lot, a custom that continued for the most senior officer until 1970. The founders' devotion to equality and mutual respect stemmed in large measure from the devotion to democratic traditions that they traced to ancient Greece and to the traditions of leadership that existed there among free men. Central to this idea was the Boulé: the Council of Chiefs, or the leading noblemen of the society. Individual members of the Boulé were known as Archons. Thus Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity became the Boulé and individual members were designated as Archons. As the fraternity evolved and the spouses of members became an integral part of the organization as a family group, it adopted the Greek term Archousa (pl. Archousai) to distinguish Archons' wives. To learn more about the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, visit our link at http://www.sigmapiphi.org/home/ 
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