The Divine Nine: Highlighting Iota Phi Theta fraternity

As the civil rights movement was in full swing, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Incorporated completed the Divine Nine.

“There were a lot of people that were going through tough times,” Jorden Miller, President of the local Iota Phi Theta Chapter said. “There were a lot of black men specifically that were getting beat in the streets, it was a whole lot of weight on us, and that’s a time when you need to band together and uplift each other.”

Iota Phi Theta was founded on September 19, 1963 by 12 students at Morgan State College, now Morgan State University. It is the nation’s 5th largest, predominately African American fraternity.


Before he even became a member, Miller remembers a moment he gained the utmost respect for Iota men.

“A few years back, when I first started college, someone in my community got into a very bad accident,” Miller explained. “He had severe burns throughout his body and at the time I knew of two people on campus, one happened to be a brother,” Miller continued. “I said ‘hey can you promote this GoFundMe page, it happened in our community’, and they did that with no hesitation, they asked how they could help.”

Iota Phi Theta’s purpose focuses on scholarship, leadership, citizenship, fidelity, and brotherhood among men. Iota men pride themselves on community service and doing what they can to help others.