Phi Kappa Literary Society
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Phi Kappa Literary Society is a debate society, located at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.
The Society was founded in 1820 by Joseph Henry Lumpkin, later to become the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia and eponym for the University of Georgia Lumpkin School of Law, and by William Crabbe, Edwin Mason, and Henry Mason, who formed the society after splitting from the Demosthenian Literary Society.
Literary societies were nineteenth century forerunners to the modern social fraternities and sororities that emerged early in the twentieth century on college campuses. Literary societies tended to focus on debate and parliamentary procedure as a way of preparing their student members for roles in public and political life. Few societies remain active in holding regular meetings and debate; some, like the Phi Beta Kappa Society have become honorary societies.
Phi Kappa Hall, one of the oldest buildings on the North Campus of the University of Georgia, was built at a cost of $5,000 and dedicated on July 5, 1836.
Phi Kappa currently holds meetings 7pm every academic Thursday in Phi Kappa Hall on North Campus at the University of Georgia.
[edit] Famous alumni
- Joseph Henry Lumpkin, First Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia
- Howell Cobb, Secretary of U.S. Treasury, Constitutional Convention Chairman of the Confederate States of America
- Morris B. Abram, Founder of UN Watch, Permanent U.S. Ambassador to UN
- Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, Confederate General and Editor of the first Georgia Code
- Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America
- Henry W. Grady, Editor of the Atlanta Constitution, the voice of the "New South" Movement
- Eugene Talmadge, Georgia Governor/Segregationist
- Richard B. Russell, United States Senator
- Ernest Vandiver, Georgia Governor
- Herschel V. Johnson, Georgia Governor, 1860 Democratic Party Vice Presidential Candidate
- Carl Sanders, Georgia Governor
- Phil Gramm, United States Senator
- William Tate, University of Georgia Dean of Men
- Nathaniel Harris, Georgia Governor
- Francis S. Bartow, Confederate Congressman/Brigadier General C.S.A.
- Henry L. Benning, Confederate General/Namesake of Fort Benning
- Augustus O. Bacon, United States Senator/ President Pro tempore
- Norman S. Fletcher, Chief Justice, Georgia Supreme Court 2001-2005
[edit] Source Information
- E. Merton Coulter's College Life in the Old South
- Thomas G. Dyer's The University of Georgia: A Bicentennial History
- T.W. Reed's History of the University of Georgia
- F.N. Boney's A Pictorial History of the University of Georgia
