AJC Sepia Greek Spotlight: Ladies of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority

Education

AJC Sepia Greek Spotlight: The Ladies of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

In an undated photograph from the 1930s, members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority at Clark College strike a magnificent pose. Chartered on May 6, 1931, the Sigma Chapter is one of the country's oldest undergraduate Delta chapters. (Courtesy of Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library's Archive Research Center)

On Jan. 13, 1913, a group of 22 women at Howard University formed Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., dedicated to public service with an emphasis on programs that target the African American community. The group was so committed to activism and public service that as one of their first points of business, less than two months after the sorority's founding, they participated in the historic 1913 Women’s Suffrage March for the rights of women to vote. They were the only black women's organization to walk in the march.

From the 22 black women who formed Delta Sigma Theta, it has now grown to the largest black sorority in the country having initiated more than 300,000 women, who proudly were crimson and cream and believe that “Intelligence is the Torch of Wisdom.” Here are some of their brightest.

Mara Brock Akil is a television writer and producer. She is perhaps best known as the creator ane executive producer of both “Girlfriends” and “The Game.” She poses backstage at the 43rd NAACP Image Awards with the award for outstanding writing in a comedy series for "The Game."

Juanita Powell Baranco is the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Baranco Automotive Group and is the former chair of the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents.

Regina Benjamin served as 18th United States Surgeon General. She is the third African-American woman (all of whom have been Deltas) to be appointed surgeon general. She attended the Morehouse School of Medicine from 1980-82, and completed her residency at the Medical Center of Central Georgia in 1987. She was appointed surgeon general by President Barack Obama in 2009.

Gwendolyn Boyd is the current president of Alabama State University. She is the first black woman to hold the position. She is also a former national president of Delta Sigma Theta.

Elizabeth Catlett was an internationally acclaimed sculptor and lithographer. She is noted for the vast range of works she created, including life-size sculptures. This 1948 photographic portrait of Catlett by Mariana Yampolsky is included in the Atlanta History Museum exhibit, "Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits."

Shirley Chisholm was the first Black woman member of the U.S. Congress. She was also the first African American and first woman to run as a major party candidate for the presidency of the United States.

Natalie Cole was a Grammy winning singer and the daughter of Nat King Cole. She was known for hits like "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)." She died on New Years Eve, 2015.

Pota Coston was the first African American elected to the Fayette County Commission. She was sworn into office in January 2015 and passed away from cancer only six months later.

Jocelyn Elders was the first African American to be appointed United States Surgeon General. She was appointed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. She was fired a year later after a string of controversial comments regarding her views on health.

Aunjanue Ellis is a noted actress with credits on Broadway and in Hollywood. On Broadway , she appeared in August Wilson's Tony Award-winning play “Joe Turner's Come and Gone.” She has also appeared in “The Taking of Pelham 123,” “Undercover Brother,” and “Ray.” She recently starred in the acclaimed mini-series, “The Book of Negroes.”

Paula Giddings is a professor of Africana studies at Smith College and is the author of several books on the social and political history of African-American women including “When and Where I Enter: The Impact on Black Women on Race and Sex in America.” Most recently, she penned the biography of biography of anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells. She is also a Delta Sigma Theta historian and wrote, “In Search of Sisterhood: Delta Sigma Theta and the Challenge of the Black Sorority Movement.”

Patricia Roberts Harris served under President Jimmy Carter as the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (now Health and Human Services). She was also the first executive director of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Dorothy I. Height served as president of the National Council of Negro Women for over 40 years. She was also a former national president of Delta Sigma Theta and was appointed by President Carter to the Presidential Commission on a National Agenda for the 1980s.

Alexis Herman is a former U.S. Secretary of Labor, serving under President Bill Clinton.

Ingrid Saunders Jones is the chairwoman of the National Council of Negro Women. She is the former chair Coca-Cola Foundation and senior vice president of the company’s Global Community Connections.

Barbara Jordan was she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction, the first southern black female elected to the United States House of Representatives, and the first African-American woman to deliver a keynote address at a Democratic National Convention.

Loretta Lynch is the 83rd and current Attorney General of the United States, having previously served as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Audrey Forbes Manley served as the U.S. Surgeon General from 1995-1997, before becoming Spelman College's eighth president. A 1955 graduate of Spelman College, Manley became the first and only alumna to return to the school to lead it. She also had the unique distinction of serving as the school's First Lady, having once been married to the school's fifth president, Albert Manley. Under Manley's administration the college endowment grew more than $63 million and she raised more than $70 million in private and federal funds. She retired in 2002.

Vashti Murphy McKenzie was the first woman to become a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She is also the national chaplain of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the granddaughter of founder Vashti Turley Murphy.

Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, the first white member of Delta Sigma Theta, is a civil rights activist and a Freedom Rider. As a Freedom Rider, she was placed on death row at the notorious Parchman Penitentiary in Mississippi.

Going against her family, she dropped out of Duke University in 1960 and enrolled at Tougaloo College, where she became the school’s first-ever white student. She also pledged Delta while at Tougaloo, becoming the organization’s first white member.

Melissa Harris Perry is an American writer, professor, television host, and political commentator with a focus on African-American politics. Harris-Perry hosts the Melissa Harris-Perry television show on MSNBC. She remains a professor at Wake Forest University.

Leontyne Price is widely regarded as the first African-American singer to earn international acclaim in opera, Price is known for her roles in “Il Trovatore,” “Antony and Cleopatra” and “Aida.” She was awarded the United States Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

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In an undated photograph from the 1930s, members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority at Clark College strike a magnificent pose. Chartered on May 6, 1931, the Sigma Chapter is one of the country's oldest undergraduate Delta chapters. (Courtesy of Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library's Archive Research Center)

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