85X11 ANMVRRSAl^ THE SERIOUS AND FUN SIDE OF JEWEL VERTNER WOODSON TANDY EDITOR'S NOTE: Brother J. Herbert King had the distinction of serving twice as Editor-in-Chief of The Sphinx™, holding the position from 1969-1972 and again from 1973-1974. As Sphinx™ Editor, he was entrusted with the writings ofsome of the Fraternity's most distinguished members—among them was Brother Roscoe C. Giles who servedfrom 1909-1911 as the Fraternity's Second General President. Brother Giles later served as president of the Cook County Plyysicians Association and the National Medical Association. Here Brother King relates one of the stories Brother Giles wrote for The Sphinx™, looking back at the early days of the Fraternity's members at Cornell University.
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By Brother J. Herbert King Editor, 1969-72,1973-74
The Fraternity's Second General President Roscoe C. Giles—who was initiated through Alpha Chapter at Cornell University in 1907—enjoyed writing articles for The Sphinx™ during my tenure as Editor-in-Chief. Having been initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha only one year after the organization was founded, Brother Giles was well acquainted with the Fraternity's Jewels and loved telling stories about their college and postgraduate days. Here is part of one of Brother Giles' stories that appeared in the May-June 1974 Sphinx™ (Volume 60, Number 2). In the article, Brother Giles describes many of the attributes of Jewel Tandy; i.e. the Jewel Founder was a champion in the fight for the admission of African-American women to Sage College. He continues the discussion of Jewel Tandy by relating the following tale: Brother Jewel Vertner W. Tandy was from Kentucky. He was an excellent student and a very promising architect. St. Philips Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City stands as a testament. s$ to his architectural genius. Later, he became a vestryman of St. Philips under the late Brother Father Shelton Hale Bishop ^-' Brother Tandy also was a fighter for the principles for which believed, Brother Giles continues in the article. . ,gm The Dean of the College of Architecture at Cornell was to the Dean of Women at Sage College. The Dean of Women was from Virginia and adamant about refusing to accept AfricanAmerican women into Sage College. Brother Tandy led the fight against this pernicious practice. His efforts culminated in the admission of African-American women to the school.
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Brother Giles, who spoke with high affection for the Jewels, also lets us know that Brother Jewel Tandy was not a paragon of virtue I suppose his genius gave him license, Brother Giles states in 85lh ANNIVERSARY EDITION
the article. He would at times be an ardent devotee at the Shrine of Becchus and Aphrodite. During one of his excursions, Tandy disappeared from the house for a week, Brother Giles continued. Fearing something serious had happened to him, we held a council of strategy, deciding if Tandy did not show up by noon Saturday it would be necessary to report his absence to the provost. When we came home Saturday, we went to Tandy's room where we found him in a deep sleep. Attempts to interrogate him were futile. We were never able to get a word of explanation out of him about the absence. Two weeks later, a man in clerical garb came to the home inquiring for the Reverend Vertner W. Tandy, Brother Giles writes. We told him there was no minister living at our house. The gentleman was insistent that Reverend Tandy did, in fact, live at 214 Hozen Street. Reverent Tandy, he said, weighed about 230 pounds, was clean-shaven, of light-brown complexion and wore nose glasses. The FBI could not have given a better description of our distinguished Jewel, Brother Giles writes. Finally, the minister let us in on a secret—although he did not know all the facts of the secret himself. Brother Tandy, it developed, had ,one to the minister's town, ended up in riotous living and had become orokeJNot having funds to return to Ithaca, lit' had gone to the pastor and preached a sermon for him. The minister had lifted a collecJmt-ioptie benefit of his itinerant assistantvwhich enabled Tandy to accomplish his objective, the story continued. Tandy, out of gratitude, told the minister that if he ever came to Ithaca to look him up.