Esplanade

An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The original meaning of esplanade was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide clear fields of fire for the fortress' guns. In modern usage the space allows people to walk for recreational purposes; esplanades are often on sea fronts, and allow walking whatever the state of the tide, without having to walk on the beach. Esplanades became popular in Victorian times when it was fashionable to visit seaside resorts. A promenade, often abbreviated to '(the) Prom', was an area where people - couples and families especially - would go to walk for a while in order to 'be seen' and be considered part of 'society'.

In North America, esplanade has another meaning, being also a median (strip of raised land) dividing a roadway or boulevard. Sometimes they are just strips of grass, or some may have gardens and trees. Some roadway esplanades may be used as parks with a walking/jogging trail and benches.

Phi Alpha Literary Society

Phi Alpha (ΦΑ) is a men's Literary Society founded in 1845 at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois. It conducts Business Meetings, Literary Productions, and other activities in Beecher Hall, the oldest college building in the state of Illinois.

Origin

"On Thursday evening, September 25, 1845, seven students from Illinois College gathered in a small room on the third floor of the old dormitory and made a momentous and historic decision. In order to unite a group of men whose ideas and principles were similar enough as to desire a common bond of fellowship, a new society was to be organized. Five days later the Immortal Seven drew up and adopted the constitution that proved to be the birth certificate of Phi Alpha Literary Society."

Founders

The seven founders of Phi Alpha who are called the Immortal Seven are:

Alpha Phi Alpha

Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ) is the first African American, inter-collegiate Greek-lettered fraternity. Initially a literary and social studies club founded in Dec 1905 by CC Poindexter. The group later evolved into a fraternity with a founding date of December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The individual recognized by the fraternity as founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". It employs an icon from Ancient Egypt, the Great Sphinx of Giza, as its symbol. Its aims are "manly deeds, scholarship, and love for all mankind," and its motto is First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All. Its archives are preserved at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.

Chapters were chartered at Howard University and Virginia Union University in 1907. The fraternity has over 290,000 members and has been open to men of all races since 1940. Currently, there are more than 730 active chapters in the Americas, Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia.

Alpha Phi Alpha is a socs a social organiztion ial with a service organization mission and provided leadership and service during the Great Depression, World Wars, and Civil Rights Movements. It addresses social issues such as apartheid, AIDS, urban housing, and other economic, cultural, and political issues of interest to people of color. The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial and World Policy Council are programs of Alpha Phi Alpha. It also conducts philanthropic programming initiatives with March of Dimes, Head Start, Boy Scouts of America, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

The Stroll

The stroll was both a slow rock 'n' roll dance and a song that was popular in the late 1950s.

Billboard first reported that "The Stroll" might herald a new dance craze similar to the "Big Apple" in December 1957. "The Stroll" was written by Clyde Otis and Nancy Lee and was recorded by the Canadian group the Diamonds (Mercury 71242). The Diamonds versions also featured a saxophone soloist.

The original version of the song reached number four on the Billboard pop charts, number five on the R&B charts, and number one on the Cashbox charts.

In the dance, two lines of dancers, men on one side and women on the other, face each other, moving in place to the music. Each paired couple then steps out and does a more elaborate dance up and down between the rows of dancers. Dick Clark noted the similarity of the dance to the Virginia reel.

It was first performed to "C. C. Rider" by Chuck Willis on American Bandstand. Link Wray's "Rumble" was also a popular tune for doing the stroll.

It is referenced in Led Zeppelin's 1950s rock homage "Rock and Roll".

Kappa Alpha Psi

Kappa Alpha Psi (ΚΑΨ) is a collegiate Greek-letter fraternity with a predominantly African-American membership. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never limited membership based on color, creed or national origin. The fraternity has over 150,000 members with 721 undergraduate and alumni chapters in every state of the United States, and international chapters in the United Kingdom, Germany, Korea, Japan, United States Virgin Islands, Nigeria, and South Africa.

The president of the national fraternity is known as the Grand Polemarch, who assigns a Province Polemarch for each of the twelve provinces (districts/regions) of the nation. The fraternity has many notable members recognized as leaders in the arts, athletics, business, civil rights, education, government, and science sectors at the local, national and international level. The Kappa Alpha Psi Journal is the official magazine of the fraternity since 1914. The Journal is published four times a year in February, April, October and December. Frank M. Summers was the magazine's first editor and later on became the Fourteenth Grand Polemarch. The former editor of the magazine was Jonathan Hicks. The current editor of the magazine is Earl T. Tildon.