These fraternities and sororities along with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. constitute
"The Divine Nine".
ΑΚΑ
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the first Greek-lettered organization established by Black college women (Anna Easter Brown, Beulah Elizabeth Burke, Lillie Burke, Marjorie Hill, Margaret Flagg Holmes, Ethel Hedgeman Lyle, Lavinia Norman, Lucy Diggs Slowe, Marie Woolfolk Taylor), was founded on January 15, 1908 at Howard University. The following group of sophomore women were chosen to complete the first group so that the sorority would continue after those of the first group had graduated. They were Most Gracious Ladies: Norma Elizabeth Boyd, Alice P. Murray, Ethel Jones Mawbray, Sarah Merriweather Nutter, Joanna Berry Shields, Carrie Snowden, Harriet Josephine Terry. One year later, on February 11, 1909, the first initiation was held in Minor Hall at Howard University. In January 29, 1913, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was incorporated to ensure perpetuity. The incorporators of Alpha Kappa Alpha were Nellie Pratt Russell, Nellie Quander, Norma Elizabeth Boyd, and Beatrice Smith. Alpha Kappa Alpha has grown from one undergraduate chapter to an international organization with a membership of more than 140 women. Our membership consists of ladies of distinction and exemplary character who excel in scholarship, leadership and service. Our undergraduate and graduate chapters are located throughout the United States, West Africa, the United Kingdom, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Korea, and Germany. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. is the epitome of class, grace, and finer womanhood. {Source: Alpha Kappa Alpha: www.auburn.edu}. PROMINENT SORORS: Coretta Scott King, Gladys Knight, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lynn Whitfield, Phylicia Rashad, Star Jones, Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks, Debbie Allen
ΔΣΘ
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated was founded on January 13, 1913 at Howard University by 22 dynamic undergraduate women. These young women wanted to use their collective strength to promote academic excellence and to provide to the needy. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is a private, non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide services and programs to promote human welfare. Delta Sigma Theta has a membership of over 200,000 predominately African-American college educated women. The Sorority currently has over 850 chapters located in the United States, Japan, Germany, Bermuda, Haiti, the Bahamas, the Republic of Korea and the Virgin Islands. The major programs of the Sorority are based upon the organization's Five Point Thrust which is as follows: Economic Development, Educational Development, International Awareness, Involvement Physical and Mental Health Political Awareness and Involvement. Program Development and Implementation in Delta is a cooperative function with several committees and executive boards involved those with direct leadership responsibilities for implementation include members of the Program, Planning, and Development Committee, Social Action Committee, Membership Services and Regional Officers. A brief listing of the selected national program areas are as follows: Delta Habitat for Humanity Summit III: Preparing our Sons for Manhood, School America, Delta Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and AIDS Community Education Project (ADACE) Black College Convocation Distinguished Professor Endowed Chair Delta Days at the Nation's Capitol Young Artists Renaissance Gala. {Source: Delta Sigma Theta www.uiuc.edu}. PROMINENT DELTAS: Aretha Franklin, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Lena Horne, Natalie Cole, Roberta Flack, Cicely Tyson, Carol Mosely Braun, Ruby Dee Davis, Alexis Herman {Former Labor Secretary}, Shirley Chisholm {1st Black Congresswoman}, Erika Dunlap {2004 Miss America}
ΖΦΒ
A Community Conscious Action-Oriented Organization, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. was founded in 1920, on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. as the sister organization to Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. Five women chose not to embrace the tenets of the established black sororities, and chartered Zeta Phi Beta Sorority to encourage the highest standards of scholarships through scientific, literary, cultural and educational programs; promote service projects on college campuses and in the community; foster sisterhood and exemplify the ideal of Finer Womanhood. A private nonprofit organization, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority is incorporated in Washington, D.C. and in the state of Illinois. Since its inception, the sorority has chronicled a number of "firsts" among the established black sororities. In addition to being the only organization constitutionally bound to a fraternity, the sorority was the first to charter international chapters, those in West Africa and Germany; to form adult and youth auxiliary groups, the Amicae, Archonettes, Amicettes and Pearlettes; and to organize its internal affairs within a central, national office administered by a paid staff. Today, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority is classified as a non-profit service organization with a membership exceeding 100,000 college educated professional women. The membership operates within eight regions in more than 700 chapters located in the domestic United States of America, Hawaii, Alaska, West Africa, West Germany, Bahama Islands, Virgin Islands, South Korea and Italy. {Source: Zeta Phi Beta www.accessatlanta.com}. PROMINENT ZETAS: Dionne Warwick, Zora Neale Hurston, Vanessa Williams {from Soul Food the SERIES, not the MOVIE}, Ja'Net DuBois, Algenita Scott Davis {Past National President of the National Bar Association}, Anita Turpeau Anderson {1st female member on Harvard's debate team}, Clara McLaughlin {1st African-American woman to own and operate a television station}, Dr. Alyse Gullantee {1st African-American psychiatrist to win an Emmy}, Dr. Deborah Wolfe {former U.S. Education Chief in U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor}, Elizabeth Koontz {1st African-American president to the N.E.A.}, Freddye Henderson {1st African-American owner of a travel agency in the U.S.}, Jylla Foster {national president for IBM}
ΣΓΡ
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc was founded seventy-five years ago on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority is the youngest sorority in the National Pan-Hellenic Council and remains the first and only historically African-American collegiate sorority founded on a predominantly white campus. This non-profit service and social organization was founded on November 12, 1922--a time when higher education for women and African-Americans was difficult to obtain. Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority's aim is to enhance the quality of life within the community. Public service, leadership development and education of youth are the hallmark of the organization's programs and activities. Sigma Gamma Rho addresses concerns that impact society educationally, civically, and economically. Despite all odds, seven dynamic, spiritual and strong African-American women rose to meet the needs of the African-American and women communities by organizing this stellar institution. And today, seventy-five years later, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority continues to be a beacon of light for all. {Source: Sigma Gamma Rho www.osu.edu} PROMINENT SGR: Marilyn McCoo, Rev. Willie T. Barrow {National Executive Director of Operation Push}, Hattie McDaniel {1st African American to win an Oscar - "Gone With The Wind"}, Victoria Rowell {Actress - "The Young and The Restless}, Cynthia Horner {Editor-In-Chief - "Right On" magazine}
ΚΑΨ
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. was founded on the campus of Indiana University on January5, 1911. Originally charted and incorporated Kappa Alpha Nu on April 15, 1911, the name was officially changed to Kappa Alpha Psi on April 15, 1915. The Fraternity is predominantly African-American whose fundamental purpose is achievement. Kappa Alpha Psi seeks to train its membership, particularly undergraduates, for leadership roles in their respective communities and the attainment of a high degree of excellence in their academic pursuits. Early in this century, African-American students were actively dissuaded from attending college. Formidable obstacles were erected to prevent the few who were enrolled from assimilating into co-curricular campus life. This ostracism characterized Indiana University in 1911, thus causing Elder W. Diggs, Byron K. Armstrong, and eight other black students to form Kappa Alpha Psi which remains the only Greek letter organization with its Alpha Chapter (first Chapter) on the University's campus. The founders sought a formula that would immediately raise the sights of black collegians stimulating them to reach accomplishments higher than they had imagined. With achievement as its purpose, Kappa Alpha Psi began uniting college men of culture, patriotism and honor in a bond of fraternity. Subsequently, chapters spread in succession to the University of Illinois, the University of Iowa, and Wilberforce University campuses. By 1919, the Kappa Alpha Psi experience had generated serious interest among black college degree holders to form Alumni Chapters. As graduate chapters multiplied, the Fraternity began to expand its programming, for example, "Guide Right," its national social out-reach program was started three years after the first Alumni Chapters were formed. Today National Guide Right programs provide programming, role models, and mentors for at risk and other youth in communities throughout the country and internationally. PROMINENT KAPPAS: Arthur Ashe, John Singleton {Director - "Boyz N The Hood"}, Ralph Abernathy, Kenny Lofton, Daniel "Chappie" James, Ed Bradley, Montell Jordan, Penny Hardaway, Johnnie Cochran, Robert Johnson {BET Founder}, Keith Clinkscales {CEO - Vibe Magazine}, John E. Jacob {Former CEO - National Urban League}, Cedric the Entertainer, Tavis Smiley, Ralph Wiley, Wilson Goode {first African-American mayor of Philadelphia}, Ukee Washington, Oscar Robertson, Kerry Kittles, Kwame Jackson {from "The Apprentice"}
ΩΨΦ
The Omega Psi Phi Fraternity was founded on Friday, November 17, 1911 at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The founders of the Fraternity were three students: Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper, and Frank Coleman and their first faculty advisor Ernest Everett Just. The Fraternity's motto is "Friendship is Essential to the Soul." Omega Psi Phi was the first Black fraternal organization founded at a Black university or college. From its inception, the Fraternity has worked to build a strong and effective force of men dedicated to principles of manhood, scholarship, perseverance, uplift, and capable of giving expression to the hopes and aspirations of an unfree people in the land of the free. Since 1945, the Fraternity has undertaken a National Social Action Program to meet the needs of African-Americans in the areas of health, housing, civil rights, and education. In 1927, the Fraternity made National Negro Achievement Week an annual observance and it continues today as Achievement Week. In its continuing support of African-American education, the Fraternity gives a gift of $50,000 each year to the United Negro College Fund. Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. has supported the UNCF since 1955. {Source: Omega Psi Phi users.vnet.net}PROMINENT QUES: Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby, Hank Aaron, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Harvey, David Justice, Alonzo Mourning, Count Basie
ΦΒΣ
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. was founded at Howard University in Washington, DC on January 9th, 1914 by three young black male students. The founders, Honorable A. Langston Taylor, Honorable Leonard F. Morse and Honorable Charles I. Brown wanted to organize a Greek-letter fraternity that would truly exemplify the high ideals of brotherhood, scholarship and service. The founders deeply wished to create an organization that viewed itself as "a part of" the general community. They believed that each potential member should be judged on his own merits rather than his family background or affluence, without regard of race, nationality, color, skin tone or texture of hair. They wished and wanted their fraternity to exist as a part of an even greater brotherhood-sisterhood which would be devoted to the "inclusive we" rather than the "exclusive we." From its inception, the founders also conceived Phi Beta Sigma as a mechanism to deliver services to the general community. Rather than gaining skills to be utilized exclusively for themselves and their immediate families, the founders of Phi Beta Sigma held the deep conviction that they should return their newly acquired skills to the communities from which they had come. This deep conviction was mirrored in the fraternity motto, "Culture For Service and Service For Humanity." Today, more than three-quarters of a century later, Phi Beta Sigma has blossomed into an international organization of leaders. No longer a single entity, the fraternity has now established the Phi Beta Sigma Educational Foundation, Inc. and the Phi Beta Sigma Federal Credit Union (to build financial equity within our target communities). With the force, vigor, power and energy of its more than 100,000 dedicated men united in more than 700 chapters across the United States, Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean, Phi Beta Sigma continues to faithfully perpetuate composite growth and progress as the "people's fraternity" dedicated to providing services to all humanity. {Source: Phi Beta Sigma www.sa.sc.edu} PROMINENT SIGMAS: Dr. George Washington Carver, Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice, Blair Underwood, Karl Malone, Nelson Mandela, Morris Chestnut, Malik Yoba, Dr. Bobby Jones {TV host}, Jay Anthony Brown {Comedian}
ΙΦΘ
Iota Phi Theta was founded on September 19,1963 on the campus of Morgan State University. Our founders were unique because they were "non-traditional" students and 3 to 5 years older than the average college student. Some were married, some were veterans, and some even held full time jobs while attending college to earn a degree. This led to the concept of a "fraternity" that was different than the others at the present time. A very mature group of young men had a vision...a vision of Iota Phi Theta. As of today, Iota Phi Theta exits as a nationally incorporated social/service fraternity which continues to remain true to the original aims of its founders. While the fraternity's membership is comprised primarily of African- Americans, membership is not restricted by race, creed, or national origin. The fraternity consists of over 100 undergraduate and alumni chapters with nearly 15,000 members located in 17 states and the District of Columbia. The fraternity colors are Charcoal Brown and Gilded Gold. The fraternity motto is "Building a Tradition.....Not Resting Upon One." As iota has grown, it has endeavored to maintain a standard of excellence and leadership on campus and in the community. Individual chapters involve themselves in activities that allow members the opportunity to give of themselves and enrich the lives of others. A partial listing of involvements undertaken by Iota Phi Theta chapters includes: The NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, The National Federation of the Blind, The National Sickle Cell Foundation, The United College Negro Fund, Big Brothers of America, and Project IMAGE. Additionally, Iota Phi Theta is a member of the National Interfraternity Conference (NIC). The NIC is an international organization consisting of over 60 national fraternities with a combined membership of over six million individuals. As a member of the NIC, Iota Phi Theta is able to directly affect the issues of importance to the fraternal community at large. {Source: Iota Phi Theta www.uakron.edu} PROMINENT IOTAS: Spencer Christian, T.C. Carlson {Actor - "Living Single", Vaughn Booker {Football Player}
ZETA RHO LAMBDA CHAPTER
ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY Inc.
{First of all, Servants of all, We shall transcend all}
P.O. Box 1203, Dover, Delaware 19903
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'The Divine Nine
