Charles W. Chesnutt to Allen A. Wesley, 5 September 1922
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September 5, 1922.
Dr. Allen A. Wesley,
3201 S. State Street,
Chicago, Ill.
My dear sir:
Several months ago I received a letter from you on the letterhead of the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Grand Boule,1 which I have neglected to answer for several reasons, the principal one being that since I had no connection with the fraternity no answer was required. But as a matter of courtesy I think I ought to say that I am not connected with any group of your fraternity, nor, as I understand, am I qualified for membership, since I am not a college graduate, nor do I know anything about the local group, if there is one.2
Pardon me for my delay in answering your letter.
Yours very truly, CWC/FLCorrespondent: Allen Alexander Wesley (1856–1929) was a prominent Black physician from the Midwest, educated at Fisk University and Northwestern University's Medical school, who practiced in Chicago, helped found its early Black Provident Hospital, and was a high-ranking medical officer in Cuba during the Spanish-American War (1898). He was one of the founding members of the Chicago chapter of Sigma Pi Phi (Boulé), begun in 1907, and in the 1920s helped the effort to establish chapters in other midwestern cities.
1. The Black fraternal organization Sigma Pi Phi, known as the Boulé (the Greek word for "council"), was founded in Philadelphia in 1904 by and for Black male professionals, who were at the time excluded from most White professional organizations. In 1922, Harry E. Davis (1882–1955) tried to establish a chapter in Cleveland, but could not gather enough potential members; the chapter, Tau Boulé, was not founded until June 1925, as the third Ohio-based chapter. Several prominent Black Clevelanders of Chesnutt's acquaintance became members, but he did not join. See Charles H. Wesley, History of Sigma Pi Phi: First of the Negro-American Greek-Letter Fraternities, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition (Washington, DC: The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1954), 176–178 and 369–370. [back]
2. See the letter by Black Cleveland politician Harry E. Davis (1882–1955) to Chesnutt from September 28, 1922 and the resulting correspondence regarding the (at the time unsuccessful) attempt to found a local Boulé chapter and involve Chesnutt. [back]
