THE SPHINX, NOVEMBER, 1923 And from now on let us think in terms of Alpha Phi Alpha and act accordingly. 1 hope that every hrother returned to his fraternal duties this fall with renewed vigor and ambition to do his utmost in helping Alpha Phi Alpha to fully carry out its high and noble mission. Sincerely and fraternally, R A Y M O N D W.
Chairman sented
Committee Chapters.
CANNON,
Delinquent
B R O T H E R J A M E S A.
and
Lnrepre-
DUNN
Thcta Lambda Chapter Designer of O u r Fraternity Shield
OUR
SHIELD
T h e Fraternity was in existence several years before the present Shield was adopted. The
5
emblems, d m c , torch in hand, fasces and Sphinx head were chosen during the early days o the Fraternity, hut it was not until L912 that they were given their present position on the Shield, At the Annual Convention held in 191] it was decided to ask meml>ers to submit designs for a shield embodying the emblems named above. Brother James A. Dunn, then a member of Kappa Chapter and a student in the Department of Architecture at Ohio State University, was requested by his Chapter to submit a design. He made several designs, arranging the emblems in various positions. The difficult part of the design was the arrangement of the several emblems so that the scale o! one would not be inharmonious with the scale of the other. The Sphinx head could not be in sca.e witn the Torch and Dove and. at the same time, make a harmonious composition. \ \ h i l c on a shield no attempt is made to keep the various elements in exact proportion, yei, as Brother Dunn explained, they should alwavs be placed so there is no impression of discord due to the different sizes. This condition was overcome by placing the Torch and Dove, which are made to ttie same scale, in one field; the Fasces in another; and trie Sphinx head in another. One of his first designs caused a great deal of excitement among some of his Kappa brottiers. 1 hey were much alarmed about the safety <>' the U o . e which seemed to have been hying towards the flaming Torch. It was feared the result would be scorched wings. l i i e y were soon canned by the designer's changing the direction of the flight of the bird of peace. A happy solution, indeed! The design was approved by Kappa Chapter and sent to the Annual Convention, which that year was held at the seat of Epsilon Chapter, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Brother Clarence Jones, now of Los Angeles, Kappa's delegate, spared no pains in showing the superior merits of the design over the many others that were submitted. At the close of the session, Brother Jones wired: â&#x20AC;˘'Dunn's design selected. Congratulations." Brother Dunn is now a member of Theta Lambda Chapter, Dayton. Ohio, being one of the charter members of that Chapter. He is a successful architect in the city named above, and for the past four years was employed in the Dayton Power and Light Company as a draughtsman. H e is actively engaged in the social and religious life of that city, and is the leader of a Bible Class with a membership of one hundred men.