One hundred years ago, an average house costs $6,156, and to buy a car folks had to spend on $550. That was just $27 shy of the average yearly wage of $557.

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The year also brought about a major movement for hundreds of thousands of African-American men…it was the year Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity (Sigma) was founded. On January 9, 1914 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC, three courageous men forged new ground to form the fraternity. On January 9, 2014, the men of Phi Beta Sigma celebrated 100 years of service. The founders A. Langston Taylor, Leonard F. Morse, and Charles I. Brown established the fraternity on the principals of Brotherhood, Scholarship, and Service.

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A century later, the hope the founders, to be an organization that is “a part of” rather than “apart from” the community, lives on. The organization has evolved into a historical institution of more 150,000 college-educated men operating more than 650 chapters worldwide.