Edgar Amos Love (1891-1974)

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Edgar Amos Love, son of a Methodist minister, was born in Harrisonburg in 1891. On 17 Nov. 1911, while a student at Howard University, he co-founded Omega Psi Phi, the first fraternity established at a historically black college. The organization later expanded beyond the United States. Ordained a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Love served overseas as an army chaplain during World War I. He became a bishop in 1952 and worked to desegregate the church. Dedicated to social justice, he advocated nonviolent protest against discrimination and helped lead the Southern Conference Educational Fund, an interracial civil rights organization.

Department of Historic Resources, 2014

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Baltimore Sun, 3 May 1974. Edgar Amos Love Military Service Record Edgar Amos Love World War I and World War II Draft Registration Cards J. Samuel Cook, “Of Vision and Power: The Life of Bishop Edgar Amos Love,” (MLS Thesis, University of Toledo, 2009). Los Angeles Times, 18 Nov. 1917 Minutes Including the Official Journal of the Washington Annual Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church (1927): 121-123. Minutes of the One Hundred Ninetieth Annual Session of the Baltimore Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church (1974): 396. Robert L. Gill, The Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and the Men Who Made its History (1963): 1-3. Various articles in Baltimore Sun, Chicago Defender, Washington Post