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Philanthropy
The order provides for "worthy Pythians in distress" and has given aid to victims of national or sectional disasters. It runs camps for underprivileged youth and homes for aged members. It has sponsored scholarship funds, blood drives, highway safety programs, and the Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation.
Other Pythian organizations
Knights of Pythias of North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa
After a black lodge was denied a charter by the Knights of Pythias' Supreme Lodge meeting in Richmond, Virginia on March 8, 1869, a number of black Americans who had been initiated into the order formed their own Pythian group, the Knights of Pythias of North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. By 1897, the KPNSAEAA had 40,000 members, with Grand Lodges in 20 states and other lodges in the West Indies and Central America. It distributed $60,000 worth of benefits annually and had a woman's auxiliary and uniformed rank.[8]:β266β
Canada
The Grand Lodge of Ontario was instituted on April 8, 1872. Rowena L. Rooks composed "K of P grand march [for piano]," which was dedicated to Collin H. Rose, Grand Chancellor, and the officers and representatives of the Grand Lodge K of P of Ontario, Canada. The march sheet music, which was published in London, Ontario, by C. F. Colwell, circa 1876, was illustrated with the Knights of Pythias emblem and Latin motto, Amico Fidus ad Aras, or in English, "True friends are a refuge.".[9]
Improved Order, Knights of Pythias
In 1892, the Supreme Lodge ruled that the work of the order would only be conducted in English. This upset some members who were accustomed to using German. After this ruling was reiterated at the Supreme Lodges of 1894 and 1895, a number of German-speaking Pythians split off and formed the Improved Order, Knights of Pythias at a convention in Indianapolis in June 1895. The new order was reportedly not very popular, and a movement toward reconciliation occurred a few years later.
Notable Pythian Knights
Granville Pearl Aikman (1858β1923), State of Kansas District Judge and suffragist[10]
A. A. Ames, four-time mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota
Louis Armstrong, jazz trumpeter and singer[11][12]
Hugo Black, U.S. Supreme Court Justice[13]
Clifford Cleveland Brooks, member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1924 to 1932 from northeast delta parishes[14]
William Jennings Bryan, U.S. Secretary of State and presidential candidate[15]
Benjamin Cardozo, U.S. Supreme Court Justice[16]
J. J. Carter, state representative, mayor, school board member, and parish police juror from Webster Parish, Louisiana[17]
Leopold Caspari, member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature[18]
Robert E. Lee Chancey, 44th mayor of Tampa.[19]
Robert Houston Curry, member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1888 to 1892 for Bossier Parish[20]
Brevet Major Augustus P. Davis, founder of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War[21]
U. T. Downs, sheriff of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, 1924β1940[22]
Eliot Engel, Congressman, New York [23]
John W. Grabiel, Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arkansas in 1922 and 1924[24]
Leroy Milton Grider (1854β1919), California real-estate developer[citation needed]
Warren G. Harding, U.S. President[25]
William S. Hayward, mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, co-founder of Citizens Bank[26]
Charles Tisdale Howard, U.S. Attorney for South Dakota, Speaker of the South Dakota House of Representatives [27]
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, U.S. Vice President[28]
Bob Jones, Sr., founder of Bob Jones University, prominent evangelist[29]
Claud H. Larsen, member of the Wisconsin State Assembly[30]
John Ellis Martineau, Governor of Arkansas, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas[31]
Frank McDonough, member of both houses of the Wisconsin Legislature[32]
William McKinley, U.S. President[33]
Alexander P. Riddle lieutenant governor of Kansas
Bradbury Robinson, pioneering American football player, physician, conservationist, and local politician.
John Buchanan Robinson, U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district (1891-1897)[34]
Nelson A. Rockefeller, U.S. Vice President[33]
Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. President, who joined in 1936, during his presidency[4]:β185β
William Green Stewart, Louisiana farmer and school board president[35]
Lee Emmett Thomas, mayor of Shreveport, and Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives[36]
Park Trammel, U.S. Senator from Florida[37]
Lew Wallace, author, territorial governor of New Mexico, major general (U.S. Army), diplomat[38]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Pythias
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