The world’s oldest and strongest international community of women of the African diaspora are the black sororities. Developed at a time when African Americans were barred entry into America’s hallowed halls of higher education, both black fraternities and sororities promoted excellence in scholarship and leadership in service. These Greek organizations created their own symbols like the pyramid, the elephant and the Sphinx that linked to their African lineage.
Black sororities arose at a time when traditional roles of women were being challenged, and stereotypes of African Americans were the iconography of the American landscape. There are four major sororities, all of which were established in the early 20th Century, including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (Howard University, 1908), Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (Howard University, 1913), Zeta Phi Beta (Howard University, 1920), and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority ( Butler University, 1922).
Built on the precepts of “Scholarship, Service, Sisterly Love and Finer Womanhood” black sororities prepare women to deal with the exigencies of race relations and the attitudes toward women, and to become agents of change with a commitment to inspire others.
With chapters in the United States, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Japan and Korea, this international sisterhood continues to be a catalyst that positively affects all segments of society and the world.
A Black History Moment: The Sisterhood, Black Sororities
The world’s oldest and strongest international community of women of the African diaspora are the black sororities. Developed at a time when African Americans were barred entry into America’s hallowed halls of higher education, both black fraternities and sororities promoted excellence in scholarship and leadership in service. Black sororities arose at a time when traditional roles of women were being challenged, and stereotypes of African Americans were the iconography of the American landscape. There are four major sororities, all of which were established in the early 20th Century, including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (Howard University, 1908), Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (Howard University, 1913), Zeta Phi Beta (Howard University, 1920), and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority ( Butler University, 1922).
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