Greetings Brothers!
Ron Brown, former Secretary of Commerce under the Clinton Administration, was the son of Omega man, William Harmon Brown, initiated by way of Alpha Chapter in the Fall of 1935.
An interesting side note, Brother William Brown’s line brother, Walter E. Washington, would go on to become chief executive of the District of Columbia from 1967 to 1979, serving as the first and only Mayor-Commissioner from 1967 to 1974 and as the first home-rule mayor of the District of Columbia from 1975 to 1979.
Back to Brother Brown…
In 1913 the Hotel Theresa was built in Harlem by Gustavus Sidenberg, a German stockbroker. In the 1940’s, the hotel’s ownership decided to end its segregationist policies, allowing blacks to stay at the hotel. Equally significant, the ownership decided in 1948 to hire a young, enterprising African American hotel manager, our own Brother Brown.
A loyal and exceedingly capable Third District Omega man, Brother Brown would go on to make the Hotel Theresa a cultural institution, eventually earning the nickname, the “Waldorf of Harlem,” a reference to the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Brother Brown represents yet another example of Omega lighting the way on the crossroads of history.
Please make time to check out the attached Landmark Designation and the following links/videos.
https://famoushotels.org/news/hotel-theresa-the-waldorf-of-harlem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbmPnpcCmIY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6ge73EWTTU
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/realestate/03scapes.html
Make it a great week Brothers. Be noble!
F.I.E.T.T.S.
3rd District History and Archives Committee
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The Monday Pearl is provided by the Third District History and Archives Committee and is a weekly sharing of fraternity content, commentary, and research of historical value we hope Brothers will enjoy and from which Brothers will draw inspiration. Previous “Pearls” can be found at http://3rddistrictques.org/about-us/overview/monday-pearl/. The Committee encourages your feedback. Should you have reactions, comments, information, anecdotes, documents, and the like, related to any of the content we share, we’d very much like to hear from you. Please send all communication to 3dhistoryandarchives@gmail.com.
