FRANK HOWELL WIMBERLEY
Founders Love, Cooper, and Coleman recognized a future great Brother when they selected their classmate, Bro. Frank Howell Wimberley, to be a Charter member of Alpha Chapter, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. During his 75 years, Bro. Wimberley’s life exemplifies the high standard all Omega men should aspire to.
Born on February 4, 1889, as a twin, Bro. Wimberley grew up in Tarboro, NC, the second oldest child of five to John Portervine Wimberley, a country school teacher, and Mary Ann Wimberley. Bro. Wimberley attended St. Augustine School in Raleigh, NC, where he was active in football, tennis, drama club, debate, and literary societies. During a performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, his presentation of the Duke of Gloucester was so profound he earned the nickname “Duke,” for which he was known for the rest of his life.
After graduating from St. Augustine’s in 1908, he entered Howard University as a freshman in 1909. In his freshman class of 53 students were the three undergraduate Founders, three future Charter members, and four future Brothers. While at Howard, Bro. Wimberley participated in many activities,but he thrived at debate. He was the first sophomore ever selected to the prestigious Kappa Sigma Debating Society in 1910 where, along with Charter member and fellow debater Charles Brougham Washington, won six consecutive debates from 1910-11. In 1911, he was made Captain of the Debating Society with Founders Coleman and Love earned spots on the team. His acumen as a great debater was a precursor to a distinguished legal career. On June 6, 1913, Bro. Wimberley graduated from Howard with an A.B. degree. He was immediately accepted to Howard Law School, graduating in 1917 with an L.L.B. degree.
After graduating from Law School, Bro. Wimberley moved to Atlantic City, NJ, where he clerked for former Judge John J. Crandall, after which he became an associate for famed African American attorney and Howard alum Isaac Henry Nutter. In February 1920, he passed the NJ bar exam and immediately established his practice in Atlantic City as a general practitioner specializing in criminal law. Shortly after that, on August 17, 1920, Bro. Wimberley co-founded Omega’s first graduate Chapter, Iota, in Atlantic City. So well regarded by the Brothers, Mu Chapter, the graduate Chapter in Philadelphia, had him give the keynote address at their annual banquet on August 18, 1921. Unfortunately, Iota Chapter proved to be unsustainable and disbanded in 1922. Bro. Wimberley went on to become active with Mu Chapter (soon to be reassigned as Mu Omega) in Philadelphia in 1922.
Bro. Wimberley relocated to Camden, NJ, in 1928, where he established a practice with fellow Howard alum Robert Queen. Wimberley and Queen were the only African American attorneys in Camden County at that time. There, his career flourished as he successfully defended cases ranging from assault to murder. In April 1932, he received a verdict of acquittal for John Jones in the famed Dump Murder. Wimberly successfully argued the killing was self-defense by calling fifteen witnesses and, through cross-examination, turning prosecution witnesses into witnesses for the defense. Bro. Wimberley also was a political and social justice crusader for African Americans, serving on a number of political and community organizations, including the NAACP and Negro Citizens League of Camden. In 1936, he made his final move to Trenton, NJ. There, Bro. Wimberley made significant accomplishments. His legal practice thrived as he represented a group of Black teenagers who were beaten by their White employer and threatened to be lynched, launched a civil suit on behalf of the NAACP against nine White men who assaulted a group of African American potato pickers, and, most famously, defended Private Clarence Hill in 1945 for the murder of a white couple in the trial infamously called the Duck Island Murders. The defendant, a 34-year-old African American male, confessed to the 1938 killings only after being beaten, threatened, and denied counsel and food over six days.
Bro. Wimberley also was active in civic matters surrounding the Trenton community. Profiled in the March 1952 Oracle, he was appointed by the mayor of Trenton to the Anti-Discrimination Commission in 1952, where he eventually served as Vice Chair. He was the first African American to integrate the Trenton Board of Education, being appointed by the mayor in 1950 and unanimously elected by his fellow White board members to the Chairmanship in 1952. He was also a member of the Trenton Council on Human Relations and Chair of the Education Committee for the Carver YMCA.
He remained active with the Fraternity his entire life. On January 30, 1950, he co-founded Delta Upsilon Chapter in Trenton, served as its first Keeper of Finance, and eventually chaired the Social Action Committee. He regularly attended Conclaves, including the Golden Grand Conclave in 1961, where he received his 40+ Anniversary plaque.
Bro. Wimberley married the former Edythe C. Walden on August 15, 1922. To this union were born two children, Natalie Geraldine Wimberley and Frank Walden Wimberley, of which both attend Howard University. Bro. Wimberley passed on January 1, 1965, just shy of his 76th birthday.
Bro. Frank Howell “Duke” Wimberley defines what the Founders were looking for when they selected eleven men for Omega’s first Charter initiates. He serves as a shining example of what all Omega men should be and what The Mother Pearl represents.
