"Henry McKee Minton" (December 25,1870-December 29,1946)

Was an African American pharmacist and physician who helped found the first African

American fraternity,Sigma,Pi Phi,commonly, known as Alpha Boule.He also founded the second black medical institution in Philadelphia,Mercy, Hospital (now Mercy-Douglass Hospital).William was born in Columbia Hospital South Carolina to Sawyer Theophilus and Jennie McKee Minton.He attended the Academy at Howard University and Philips Exter Academy,a college preparatory institution in New Hampshire where he excelled as an athlete,debater and editor.Henry graduated from Philips Exter in 1891.Then after briefly attending the University of Pennsylvania Law School,he enrolled in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and graduated with a degree in pharmaceutical studies in 1895.William operated the first black-owned drug store in Philadelphia until 1902 when he enrolled in Jefferson Medical College.He earned an M.D. degree in 1906,making him the first African American to graduate from that institution.In 1895 Henry joined the staff at Frederick Douglass Hospital,an all-black Philadelphia hospital founded by Dr. Henry Nathan Francis Mossell earlier that year.Henry was the hospital first pharmacist.In 1907 he helped Mercy Hospital (merged into Mercy-Douglass Hospital in 1948) in Philadelphia with Dr.Eugene Hinson.Dr. Algernon B.Jackson became the first superintendent of the hospital and remained in that post until 1920 when he left to teach on the Howard University Medical Faculty.Henry was appointed his successor,and over the next 24 years as superintendent at Mercy Hospital he organized a Social Services Department,helped train over 200  interns,and in 1930 raised the standards for the Nursing School while leading the construction of a nursing building.He may be best known as one of the founders of the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity.In 1904, William met his friend and colleague Dr.Algernon B. Jackson as well as Dr.Edwin C. Howard and Dr. Richard J. Warrick,persuading them the time had come to create a fraternity specifically for African American of high achievement.On May 15,1904,all these men met in Philadelphia at William home and became the founders of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity,the first African American fraternity.The fraternity grew quickly,and by Boules were created in Chicago and Baltimore.Representatives of the three Boules came together on August 31,1908 in Philadelphia and established Sigma Pi Phi as a national fraternity.From 1915 until his death,William was also on the staff of the University of Pennsylvania Henry Phipps where he was a nationally recognized expert in the treatment of tuberculosis.Dr.Henry retired from Mercy Hospital in 1944 and died two years later in Philadelphia.