• Dr. Austin Maurice Curtis, Sr. was a prominent turn of the century physician and protégé of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams

• He Graduated from Lincoln University with a B.A. in 1888. 

• He was appointed to his first internship as the House Physician of Providence Hospital in Chicago.

• He was also the first Black surgeon on staff of Cook County Hospital (a non-segregated hospital) in 1896.

• Dr. Curtis was a professor of Surgery at Howard University for 25 years. Sometime later he was cleared of charges brought to him and believed it was his fraternal connections that helped him through this difficult time. 

• He became an Honorary Alpha through the Beta chapter with Kelly Miller and George Cook in 1908 and was also given the fraternity's highest honor Exalted Honorary Member in 1925 when two of his sons helped perform the ceremony. 

Mrs. Namahyoke Sockum Curtis

Described as a “woman of remarkable intelligence and energy,” she benefited from her reputation of providing civic leadership and humanitarian aid to the African American community.” 

• Played a large role in fundraising for and creating Provident Hospital. 

• During the Spanish American War, she was hired to recruit nurses, specifically immune to typhoid fever. Curtis succeeded in recruiting 32 such nurses, of whom at least two would later die due to typhoid fever. 

• After the war ended in July of 1898, Curtis continued her service, directing her attention to rescue and relief activities during natural disasters. In 1900, when a Category 4 hurricane tore through Galveston, Texas, killing 6,000-8,000 people and producing a 15-foot storm surge that flooded the city, she volunteered for a relief squad of the American Red Cross under the direction of Clara Barton. 

• Six years later, she was commissioned by William H. Taft, secretary of war at the time, as part of the relief work for victims of the San Francisco earthquake and resultant fires that killed over 3,000 people and destroyed over 80% of the city.

• Namah was recognized for her service with a high commendation, a lifelong government pension, and burial in Arlington National Cemetery.[2][3][4]

• Recruited to Solve a Critical Shortage, She Helped Elevate the Status and Role of U.S. Military Nurses. 

• She also helped to get 600  black officers military rank which included her 3 sons Arthur, Austin and Merrill. Her daughter Gertrude, also a Howardite taught Physical Education at Howard and married an Omega Dr Fleming Norris.

First Lieutenants & 

Drs. Austin Jr.,  Arthur & Merrill Curtis

The Curtises' sons followed in their father's stead by becoming physicians (all trained at Howard no less), and their mother's by serving as commissioned officers in World War I. 

Austin Jr. became a dentist. that served his community for 41 years. He was also a community leader.

Dr. Arthur Curtis, MD. 

• provided the Black community in Washington, DC, with a healthcare option other than home care or Freedmen's.

•  a former Surgeon who later became a professor of surgery at Howard University Medical School. 

• At one point in time, he served as the Surgeon-in-Chief of Freedmen's Hospital.

• A second-generation Alpha man and Doctor, following the legacy of his father, and also Mu Lambda Charter member Brother Merrill Curtis.

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Bro. Merrill H Curtis

• Dr. Merrill H. Curtis, MD., a physician based in Washington, DC with a private practice. 

• A second-generation Alpha man and Doctor, following the legacy of his father, and also Mu Lambda Charter member Brother Arthur Curtis.