The First African American Sororities

Alpha Phi Alpha
Image source: Buccaneer 1974

Shortly after Alpha Phi Alpha, the first African American fraternity, was chartered at ECU on April 3, 1971 , African American sororities soon followed. On November 10, 1973, Delta Sigma Theta chartered a chapter, Kappa Sigma, making it the campus’s first African American sorority. Delta Sigma Theta encouraged sisters in “pride, service, and Blackness,” and sought to instill “high cultural, intellectual, and moral standards.” At the national level, it was founded at Howard University in 1913. As community service projects, Delta Sigma Theta raised money for the JoAnne Little Defense Fund, conducted children’s workshops at Saint Gabriel’s Catholic School, assisted with Operation Sunshine a local nonprofit organization that supported young women and girls, and worked to increase voter registration.

Alpha Kappa Alpha emerged as the second African American sorority with the founding of its Theta Alpha chapter on November 11, 1973. In line with its motto, “Service to All Mankind,” Alpha Kappa Alpha sponsored a “Reading Experience” serving approximately 20 children in the Greenville area, seeking to stimulate their interest in reading. Nationally, Alpha Kappa Alpha was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D. C., as the first African American sorority in the U.S. Fundraisers sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha enable it to support the United Negro College Fund, the NAACP, the Cleveland Job Corp, the Cancer and Sickle Cell Anemia foundations, and the National Urban League. It also serves the community through leadership training programs for youth.

Sigma Gamma Rho became the third African American sorority chartered at ECU on December 3, 1977. It began on the campus of Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1922. The sorority emphasizes responsibility and self-respect, as well as community service and sisterhood for all women. The Gammettes’ motto is “greater service, greater progress.” The sorority, as part of its engagement with the community, supports the March of Dimes, the NAACP, the National Council of Negro Women, the United Negro College Fund, and the National Urban League. African American fraternities and sororities provided the growing African-American student body with a means of both maintaining their identity and cultural heritage and contributing to the diversification of student life and culture and to the community. Alpha Kappa Alpha and Sigma Gamma Rho are still active at ECU.

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Citation Information

Title: Delta Sigma Theta, The First Black Sorority

Author: John A. Tucker, PhD

Date of Publication: 6/25/2019

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