Contact:

Eric Christopher Webb, DDiv., CPLC

Director of Communications/Editor of The Sphinx

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. ewebb@apa1906.net

Cell: 443-635-5911

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. commends President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. for his pardon today of former Secret Service agent and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Brother, Abraham W. Bolden, Sr.

While a presidential pardon is not a vindication for the gross injustice Brother Bolden faced and endured, it is a long overdue acknowledgment and commendation of his character and his many contributions to the community following his release from prison.

Brother Bolden, who was appointed by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as the first Black Secret Service agent to serve on a Presidential detail, was convicted on federal bribery charges after he claimed he was framed for attempting to expose gross misconduct within the agency. Some witnesses also admitted prosecutors pressured them into lying.

Brother Bolden, who has long maintained his innocence, was sentenced to six years in federal prison, but served 39 months with a 2 ½-year probation.

Since then, Brother Bolden, a 1953 Alpha Psi Chapter initiate at Lincoln University, MO, and member of the Xi Lambda Chapter in Chicago, IL., has received numerous awards and honors for his continued efforts speaking out against racism he faced in the Secret Service and his courage for standing against injustice. In 2008, Brother Bolden also published his memoir, The Echo From Dealey Plaza, whose title is references site of JFK’s November 1963 assassination. In it, he writes about both the racism he

encountered from his fellow agents, including his supervisors, and their recklessness while protecting the President.

We, as men of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., have long stood against injustice, and some have suffered for it. We congratulate Brother Bolden on this presidential pardon, and his ongoing efforts to maintain his integrity and fight for what is right no matter the cost.

 

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About Alpha Phi Alpha

The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., headquartered in Baltimore, MD, was founded on December 4, 1906, at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. The Fraternity has long stood at the forefront of the African-American community’s fight for civil rights through Alpha men such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Adam Clayton Powell, Thurgood Marshall, Paul Robeson, Andrew Young, Edward Brooke and Cornel West. The fraternity, through its more than 720 college and alumni chapters and general-organization members, serves communities in the United States, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. Visit and follow on Twitter @apa1906network.