THIS
BLOG POST IS DEDICATED TO MY MOTHER, DR. MONA MARTIN MACDONALD, AND ALL OF HER DELTA
SORORS AROUND THE WORLD
– MANY OF WHOM ARE MY FRIENDS.
Almost three weeks ago, Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority celebrated its Centennial in its founding city, Washington DC, as well
as around the world. Many of my friends,
who are Deltas, were posting photos on Facebook, of themselves and their
Sorors, in a sea of red and making the Delta triangle sign. They looked lovely;
and as though they were having so much fun, as well as being extremely proud! Why
wouldn’t they be? They are members of
the largest African-American Greek-lettered Sorority in the world, with a
membership of over 200,000, and over 900 chapters in the United States,
England, Japan, Germany, The Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas and the
Republic of Korea.
Click here to see some of the Centennial celebrations.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on
January 13, 1913, by twenty-two female students at HBCU, Howard University.
Their
names were: Osceola Macarthy Adams, Marguerite Young Alexander, Winona Cargile
Alexander, Ethel Cuff Black, Bertha Pitts Campbell, Zephyr Chisom Carter, Edna
Brown Coleman, Jessie McGuire Dent, Frederica Chase Dodd, Myra Davis Hemmings,
Olive C. Jones, Jimmie Bugg Middleton, Pauline Oberdorfer Minor, Vashti Turley
Murphy, Naomi Sewell Richardson, Mamie Reddy Rose, Eliza Pearl Shippen,
Florence Letcher Toms, Ethel Carr Watson, Wertie Blackwell Weaver, Madree Penn
White and Edith Motte Young.
These young women had been members of the
first ever African-American Sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA), also founded at
Howard; but they wanted to focus less on social activities and more on activism
and public service, with a mission of promoting academic excellence and
strengthening their community.
To note, The AKAs have been making a
significant impact on society for over one hundred years and remain strong
sisters with The Deltas, to this day. I will be writing more about The AKAs,
later this month.
The Delta Founders were strong and self-assured
and wanted more for their fellow sisters, be they White or Black. Their first public act was to participate in
the Women’s Suffrage March in Washington DC, in March 1913, the day prior to
President Woodrow WiIson’s inauguration.
They marched with honorary member, Mary Church Terrell, carrying a Delta
Sigma Theta banner.
Other Black women participated; but as
individuals. All, including The Deltas,
were subjected to, not only persecution by the opponents of the whole Suffrage Movement, but also to racists, composing of outsiders and some of the March’s
organizers, who were reluctant to empower Black women in such manner. Also, at
that time, Washington DC was quite a segregated city in public areas. Before
The Suffrage March began, The Deltas had to assemble themselves in an area
specifically allocated to Black women.
They may have been criticized, but they had no regrets. Florence Letcher
Toms commented,
"We
marched that day in order that women might come into their own, because we
believed that women not only needed an education, but they needed a broader
horizon in which they may use that education. And the right to vote would give
them that privilege.”
When The Founders established Delta Sigma
Theta, they already knew that they wanted to be national. A year later, a
second Delta chapter was established at HBCU, Wilberforce University; a third
chapter was established in 1918 at the University of Pennsylvania, being its
first African-American Sorority; and fourth and fifth chapters were established
in 1919 at the University of Iowa and Ohio State University. The first graduate
chapters were established in 1920 in New York and Washington DC. With the
chartering of a chapter at the University
of California, in February 1921,
Delta Sigma Theta became the first Black Greek-letter organization established
on the West Coast of the United States.
 |
| University of Pennsylvania Deltas, 1918 |
 |
| Ohio State Deltas, 1919 |
The
Deltas were certainly expanding; and their first National President was Sadie T. M. Alexander, the first African-American woman to
earn a Ph.D. in the United States, and the first woman of any race to earn a
Law Degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She served as Delta President from
1919–1923.
The
programmes were also expanding. Boston Delta Soror, Marion Conover-Hope,
initiated a bi-annual fundraising talent/variety/pageant show, in 1925, called
Jabberwock. The name was taken from Lewis Carroll’s character, Jabberwocky, in
Alice in Wonderland, who summoned all of the creatures in the kingdom to
perform a gala event. Today, the Jabberwock is considered a Delta institution,
and one of the highlights of the social calendar. Funds raised to pay for scholarships for young men
and women of promise and ability, as well as public service programs.
 |
| Jabberwock Contestants, 2011-12 |
 |
| Jabberwock Contestants, 1945 |
May
Week, the Job Analysis and Opportunity Project and The National Library Project
were officially implemented in 1921, 1941 and 1945, respectively – all of which
continue today, in some form.
The
purpose of May Week is to emphasize the importance
of higher education in the community, especially for Black women. The slogan, "Invest in Education" was adopted. The Job Analysis and Opportunity Project was launched to provide
career, employment counseling and job exposure for African-American women. The Sorority created the program to address concerns that Black women were limited
in their choices of occupations, and that they lacked training because of the
economy and World War II. The National
Library Project was implemented in 1945, with the goal to establish a
traveling library in especially the South, where library services were not
generally available for African-Americans, both because of segregation and because so many lived in rural
areas, which had fewer services, anyway.
 |
| Delta Job Fair, Atlanta, Georgia |
Meanwhile, a momentous event
occurred during this time. On January 20, 1930, Delta Sigma Theta became
nationally incorporated. The Founders had fulfilled their dream. But, The Deltas were just getting started.
 |
| Delta Sorors, 1930 |
The aforementioned are
just a few of the wonderful programs that The Deltas have created. They have established others, or make them happen,
in partnership with charities and NGOs, such as Habitat for Humanity homes in
Ghana and elsewhere; Delta Towers, an apartment building for elderly and
disabled individuals in Washington DC; the Dr. Betty Shabazz (Malcolm X’s deceased
widow and Delta Soror) Delta Academy, which offers unique programs to girls,
aged 11-14, that spark their interest in math, science and technology, as well
as careers where women of color are scarcely represented. The Academy's symbol
is the dream catcher. In Native
American culture, the dream catcher possesses power to capture bad dreams and
entangle them into a web. The good dreams pass through the dream hoop's open
center into the person; and The American Heart Association Partnership “Go Red
for Women” Campaign to educate women of all races on heart disease.
In 1954, Delta Sigma Theta was the first
African-American organization to purchase a national headquarters site, which
is located in Washington DC, in the historic DuPont Circle neighbourhood.
 |
| Delta Sigma Theta HQ |
A year later, the Sorority established an
organizing structure, entitled the Five-Point Programmatic Thrust, which
creates programs to benefit the African-American community, including:
1.
Economic Development
2.
Educational Development
3.
International Awareness and
Involvement
4.
Physical and Mental Health
5.
Political Awareness and
Involvement
The
fifth Program Thrust has manifested itself, most recently with the
establishment of Delta Days in the Nation’s Capital, in 1989 and Delta Days at
the United Nations, in 2003. Their primary purpose is to help shape policies
that affect women, children, minorities and humanitarian efforts.
Other famous Sorors have included activists,
Mary McLeod Bethune and Dorothy Height; and Congresswomen, Shirley Chisholm and
Barbara Jordan; poet, Nikki Giovanni; journalists Gwen Ifill and Soledad O'
Brien; singers, Aretha Franklin, Lena Horne, Leontyne Price and Roberta Flack,
and actresses Cicely Tyson and Ruby Dee.
 |
| Cynthia Butler-McIntyre, National President |
The
current, 24th National President is Cynthia M.A. Butler-McIntyre,
who has been serving since 2008 and is extremely proud to be overseeing this
year’s Centennial celebrations. Even though we don’t know what the
Bi-centennial will look like, no doubt The Deltas will still be resplendent in
red and making a positive impact around the world.
Sources: Wikipedia,
deltasigmatheta.org, Google Images, Huffington Post, Schomburg Center
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