The Scholar and the Civic Idealist: A Marriage of Mind, Mission, and Movement

Origins and Early Influences

Henry Arthur Callis was born on January 14, 1887, in Rochester, New York—a city whose bustling Erie Canal and abolitionist past made it both a commercial hub and a beacon of freedom. His father, Rev. Henry Jesse Callis, had been born enslaved in Virginia in 1858 and rose to prominence as an African Methodist Episcopal Zion minister and church pastor. His mother, Josephine Sprague Callis, born in Maryland in 1862, descended from a family with deep abolitionist ties; she was said to be related to Frederick Douglass through marriage. Henry’s grandparents had been enslaved, tracing their lineage to the Ashanti people of West Africa.

Tragedy marked his early years: when his mother died in an elevator accident in 1890, young Henry was taken in by his maternal grandfather, John Sprague, who raised him until the age of ten. The young boy grew up in an environment steeped in faith, racial pride, and academic expectation.

He entered Central High School of Rochester in 1901, where he distinguished himself in oratory, athletics, and civic engagement. His high school motto, “Education—to build in every neighborhood a common growth,” would become the governing philosophy of his life’s work.

Academic Brilliance and the Birth of Alpha Phi Alpha

In 1905, Callis entered Cornell University—one of only a handful of Black students on campus. Facing both intellectual rigor and social isolation, he gathered like-minded peers to create a fellowship for mutual support. Out of these study sessions and discussions emerged the first Black intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity: Alpha Phi Alpha, founded December 4, 1906.

Callis was regarded as the fraternity’s “philosopher”—its constitutional mind and moral architect. He wrote much of the early ritual, argued that the organization must extend beyond Cornell, and framed its creed around “Manly Deeds, Scholarship, and Love for All Mankind.”

After earning his A.B. from Cornell in 1909, Callis entered the University of Chicago, earning an M.D. and continuing postgraduate study in pathology. His medical training at Provident Hospital—the nation’s first Black-owned hospital—cemented his belief that medicine could serve as both a science and a form of social liberation.

Marriage and Partnership: Myra Colson Callis

While establishing his medical career, Henry met and married Myra Colson, an educated and civic-minded woman whose values aligned closely with his own. Born circa 1890, Myra came from a family rooted in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church tradition. She was well-educated, poised, and active in community service—representing the new generation of Black women molded by the club movement and the Progressive Era’s call for social uplift.

In Washington, D.C., and later Maryland, Myra worked quietly but effectively in women’s auxiliaries, educational circles, and church leadership. She shared her husband’s belief that progress required both intellect and compassion, and together they embodied the Black professional ideal: a disciplined, service-oriented couple using their education to advance their people.

Professional Eminence and Legacy

Dr. Callis’s career bridged academia, medicine, and public health. He served as a professor at Howard University, a medical inspector for the Veterans’ Administration, and a member of the Maryland Board of Medical Examiners. His research and teaching trained a generation of Black physicians who practiced across segregated America, many of whom credited him with introducing scientific rigor and moral clarity to their work.

In 1919, he joined Howard University’s Department of Anatomy and Physiology, where he became known for his precision, humility, and insistence on excellence. He later practiced medicine in Albany, Maryland, where he continued to mentor students and fraternity brothers.

Through it all, Myra Callis remained his intellectual and emotional counterpart. She was not simply a “doctor’s wife,” but a respected figure in her own right—known for her hospitality, quiet strength, and participation in civic initiatives supporting education and health among African Americans.

Final Years and Enduring Influence

The Callises lived a long, steady life of service. They witnessed their fraternity grow from a single chapter at Cornell to a national brotherhood of scholars and leaders. Dr. Callis remained active in Alpha Phi Alpha throughout his life, honored by generations of members as the last living founder when he passed away in 1974 at the age of 87.

Myra survived him by several years, continuing to be remembered as the steadfast partner who had shared the long arc of his vision—from a cramped study room at Cornell to the broad national influence of Alpha Phi Alpha and the Black medical profession.

Historical Significance

Together, Henry Arthur and Myra Colson Callis embodied the intellectual and moral ethos of early twentieth-century Black advancement. Their union fused the principles of the AME Zion faith, the ideals of racial self-determination, and the pursuit of education as liberation. They stood not as isolated success stories but as symbols of a generation that believed progress demanded both discipline and service—a lesson that continues to echo in classrooms, churches, and fraternity halls across America.