Sigma Betas engaged on MLK Day
(Above: Submitted Photos- The young members work in Odd Fellows Cemetery.)
On the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, members of the Sigma Beta Club of Winston-Salem participated in several activities.
On the morning of Monday, Jan. 19 during The Odd Fellows Cemetery Restoration Project, the Sigma Betas worked with other organizations cleaning up the 12-acre cemetery on Shorefair Drive across from the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds. The Odd Fellows Cemetery is believed to have started in 1911 by the Twin City Lodge and the Winston Star Lodge, both African-American fraternal organizations. The Odd Fellows Cemetery is one of Winston-Salem’s oldest African-American graveyards outside the Salem area. It is, by far, the largest African-American cemetery dating from the early 20th century. An estimated 10,000 graves could be located in the cemetery.
The kids and their leaders pose outside of a movie theater.
After the Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service Project at the cemetery, the group went to the Wynnsong 12 Cinema to see the movie “Selma.”
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Selma march and President Johnson’s signing into law of the Voting Rights Act on Aug. 6, 1965, which changed the course of our nation’s history. The movie tells the story of the three months leading up to the Selma march as it has never been told, portraying Martin Luther King Jr. as both a hero and a citizen, who used his voice to advance voting rights for all Americans.
The Sigma Betas concluded their activities on Tuesday, Jan. 20 by going to see the On Common Ground Lecture Series featuring renowned speaker Dick Gregory on the campus of Winston-Salem State University.
The Sigma Beta Club originally called the “Beta Club” is a signature Program of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and whose existence dates back to the early 1950s. It was launched under the guidance and leadership of the Honorable Dr. Parlette L. Moore, 20th National President of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., while serving in his capacity as National Director of Education. Throughout its existence, the Sigma Beta Club has been an essential part of the total organizational structure in many of our alumni chapters in Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, offering members a unique opportunity to instill wholesome values, leadership skills, social awareness, and cultural consciousness in youth at the most critical stages of their personal development.
