Paying Homage To Black Greek Letter Organizations!
Can you ReL8 to this?
Have you ever been in the midst of company and an “ah-ha” moment hits you. That’s what happened to me recently. I was sitting with some of my sorority sisters and we were reminiscing about our pledge processes, community services and our founders. We began talking about the volatility of the early 1900’s and what THEY must have experienced in order for US to have an organization to identify with. It was overwhelming. A light-bulb went on. I thought, when I crossed the burning sands in the Spring of 1989, I didn’t really understand the degree of trouble that my 7 lovely founders of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Incorporated endured. I mean, I knew of the drama simply because we were still living it, but just to think of the hell these men and women experienced just so we could have something special…an organization…a choice…something that fit OUR personalities with people that looked like US. I mean think about it, these were men and women who may have been a second generation freed slave and they risked their lives for us. What an honor! What a privilege to be a part of such a rich history.
I wanted to take the time to pay homage to all of my fellow sisters and brothers in Black Greek letter organizations. If you don’t fully understand what it means to be a part of these organizations (even if you are a part), take a minute to reflect on our history. In the early 1900’s, it was almost illegal for Blacks to convene in secret but it was what we were most familiar. It was how we learned, how we coped. It had only been 39 years prior that slavery was abolished in the United States – December 18, 1865 to be exact. So MANY of our founders were either children of or had been enslaved themselves. The formation of these illustrious organizations had to be constructed with such precision in an effort to spare the lives of its members and those to come.
Interestingly enough, the construction of Kappa Alpha Nu (1903) was attempted on the campus of Indiana University without the commitments of more than a few. I can imagine these men must have been pretty nervous to think they could possibly pioneer a group to contend with the immense hatred that was so obviously present on their predominantly White campus.
The following year, another cluster of people tried their hand at organizing themselves, Sigma Pi Phi (1904). Their aim was to extend membership to professionals: doctors, lawyers, dentists…men and women with positions of prominence. When Sigma Pi Phi was founded, black professionals were not offered participation in the professional and cultural associations organized by the White community. Side note…what I love so much about our people is that we are constantly taking the bull by the horns when rejected by the masses. I’m encouraged that these men and women didn’t allow a “NO” to stop them. What can that teach us today? They had far more to endure than we and they persevered. What’s our excuse?
On December 4, 1906, a group of guys at Cornell University decided to try their hand at organizing a collegiate fellowship. After assessing the lack of return for fellow students due to their murders, the seven gentlemen saw the importance of banding together on campus to protect one another. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated is THE oldest organization to grow successfully to the depths we see today.
I have to say, these were some brave men. In the span of 3 years, they managed to pave the way for what we know today as Black Greek life and have given us opportunities that cannot be misunderstood. I now have a greater appreciation for “locking up,” which was a term used during my pledge process when I would connect arms with my line sisters. The goal was NEVER to let anyone break our line. I’m just thinking about the fact that there may have been an even greater need to lock up back then…not just for pledgees but for safety. WOW!
A couple of years later, not too far from Cornell University in Ithaca NY, a group of ladies at Howard University in Washington DC must have caught wind of what had taken place with the gentleman. It seems the banding together concept in an effort to survive the racial tension and abuse worked well and the ladies quickly established our oldest sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. It had to have been a cold day that January 15, 1908 but the necessity of sisterhood far outweighed the weather. This was a matter of life or death and just like their parents and grandparents, it was far more dangerous traveling alone.
Across town at Indiana University Bloomington, Kappa Alpha Nu was able to secure enough men, 10 to be exact, to create yet another all male group who’s mission was to defend themselves against the wiles of White Supremacists and form educational bonds that would spawn into decades of legacy. On January 5, 1911, Kappa Alpha Nu fraternity was established but they later changed their name to Kappa Alpha Psi after one of the Founder’s, Elder Watson Diggs, overheard fans at a track meet referring to the member as a “kappa alpha nig.” Not long after a campaign to rename the fraternity ensued. The resolution to rename the group was adopted in December 1914, and the fraternity states, “the name acquired a distinctive Greek letter symbol and KAPPA ALPHA PSI thereby became a Greek letter Fraternity in every sense of the designation.” Kappa Alpha Psi has been the official name ever since.
Back on the campus of Howard University, it seems the ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha were left to fend for themselves until the brothers of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated (Ques) came along on November 17, 1911. Even though there were only 4 founding members, they appeared pretty determined to make a name for themselves and take their cause to other Universities as quickly as they could. Being the first male organization to be founded on a historically Black University is more than notable. And I’m sure they had their work cut out for them in the height of public scrutiny.
A year after the Ques came on campus, there was a little bit of discord with the ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha. They appeared to be a dominant force on campus but some of the members began to express concern over a variety of issues and later decided in order to see the growth and political involvement they wanted, they would have to change their name and mission. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated was born on January 13, 1913. They immediately went to work with the 1913 “Women’s Suffrage March.” Their 22 founders felt that Black women needed the right to vote to protect themselves against sexual exploitation, promote quality education, assist in the work force, and racial empowerment. These sisters were not playing. They meant business!
The year after on January 9, 1914, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated joined the Ques on the campus of Howard University. Just like the Ques, they began with just a handful – 3, but that proved to be more than enough. By now, the campus was deep with Black men and women on a mission to protect and serve the community. Some years later, two men of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Charles R. Taylor and A. Langston Taylor, assisted the establishment of yet another sorority on the all Black campus, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated. They came onto the scene January 16, 1920 with 5 founding members. This became THE most unique affiliation within the Black Greek letter community because the Zetas and Sigmas were the first to be officially recognized as a brother/sister unit. Keeping all things in perspective about the climate of the community at large, developing as many alliances as possible was best.
Back on the other side of the East coast, in Indianapolis Indiana, 7 school teachers decided to establish a sorority that would cater to those in the educational field. They all attended Butler University and they all had a mission that we would no longer be enslaved nor limited to what Massa says we can have or not. Through hard work and discipline, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Incorporated was established in the late fall, November 12, 1922.
Members of Kappa Alpha Psi got wind of the SG Rhos and decided to travel the 50 miles to befriend them. It is said that the Kappas used to bring their “canes” onto Butlers campus to help escort the ladies to class. Although it was JUST a cane, it symbolized a readiness to protect their sisters. The SG Rho’s created a “call out” to pay homage to their Kappa friends for helping make sure no one attacked them on this all White campus. The call has changed courses over the years but I get it now…it will forever be “EeeeYo” to me.
Let me add this piece too…I had the distinct privilege to come to know one of our last living founders, Vivian White Marbury. I can’t tell you for the life of me how it is that I got her phone number but I did…and I called. We would talk regularly for hours and she would share countless stories of the struggles that they endured just so that we could call Sigma Gamma Rho our own. I would ask her, “Soror Marbury are you tired of me yet?” She would reply, “No baby! Are you tired of me?” When she died, I felt like I lost a friend. I also had the rare opportunity to attend the funeral of our founder Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little. She was the mastermind behind the organization. I can remember walking into Angeles Funeral Home bewildered. I couldn’t believe I was there at her funeral. Those memories I will cherish forever. It was as if I had somehow befriended Harriet Tubman and learned a little about the measures taken to provide freedom for the masses.
In the height of the civil rights movement came yet another Black Greek letter organization, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Incorporated. There were 12 brave men who came together on the campus of Morgan State University on September 19, 1963 and decided that they too needed an outlet of brotherhood – one different than the 4 established. Together they created a unified front that again provided a means to survival. Through community involvement and social interaction, these brothers did whatever was necessary to stay alive and relevant to the needs of Black men/people during this time. With the assassination of Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other prominent Black or Black supporters, the 60’s was rough. The Iota’s formed alliances with the Black Panther Party, SNCC, participated in sit-ins and whatever else they could in order to make an imprint in history.
I had always known our stories were well woven, but this paints the picture pretty nicely. We were all on the same mission with different names, colors, call outs, mascots and campuses. We were all trying to survive the hell of racial tension and murderous backlash. We all wanted to graduate. We all wanted to live. We were survivors. We spread the mission of Black unity through the world in the span of 19 years despite Jim Crow, despite the civil rights movements, despite segregation and imprisonment, despite death and lies. We endured til the end. Our founders gave us the richness of every last one of these experiences to be remembered and used to bring glory…not to ourselves…but to God. If I had to do it all over again, the only thing I would change is the maturity of my perspective. I would have loved to know what I know now so that I could have lived with more substantive value during my college years.
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Comments
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Re Commment posted by DA_GEORGETOWN_MAYOR
Everything on this earth orginated in and came out of Africa.
Every race of people can trace their geneology back to Africa.
Soooooo why you trippin’? Either study before you let your fingers
go to the keyboard or open your mouth up about that which you know nothing about. That my friend is called ignorance, ignorant, ill advised,
uneducated, stupid, and there are even more adjectives and verbs that will cover what it really is, but I won’t go there.
I got friends that have been in white and black frats at different institutions and it’s all the same bs. Some of them had a good time and what not, but it all comes down to sex and partying. To answer the question posed by the article, Black Greek Letter Organizations are important if you’re black, and want to pay for a social life. We strive to excel in a white country on white terms, but even when a lucky few of us do – we aren’t white….sooooo, when will we wake up and carve out and develop our own culture? We don’t have a duty to live by white standards, and whites don’t have any duties to us – and they live like it. We need to be our own, and have our own.
Some people get into to this kind of stuff, I don’t, i was begged all through out college to pledge kappa, and I never did! I saw wut they were going thru…and I was good wit dat! To each its own…
I WANNA KNOW WHAT DOES THE GREEKS HAVE TO DO WITH YOU AFRICAN AMERICANS?
A lot of you are bashing black people for being apart of a Greek organization but, you probably didn’t know some of the same black people you know and love are in Greek Fraternities and Sororities. Such as, Wilt Chambelain: Kappa Alpha Psi, Felicia Rashad: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Michael Jordan: Omega Psi Phi, Cicely Tyson and Mary McLeod Bethune: Delta Sigma Theta. Also, Dr. Martin Luther King was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha. Bottom line, the ignorance I’m seeing in this thread is beyond imagination. How can you talk so bad about Greek Letter Frats and Sororities based on an experience in your area alone? There are bad Greeks that treat people badly. But trust me, the good out weighs the bad. Also, community service is requirement in some colleges for Frats and Sororities.
I don’t understand y they have 2 b greek? However, I do think they are good and necessary – they build networks, pride, brother and sisterhood, community involvement and take on even more importance after college. I think they’re awesome (especially Alphas – lol!) and not just bcuz of the awesome parties but because I saw after college how much more significant they were for those who were members. My prejudiced college didn’t even allow fraternities so u had 2 have some bootleg offshoot crap and there was no way I was pledging that type b.s. Some parts I dont approve of like hazing and f**king them up while they’re tryna do well in school but there was nothing even comparable 2 what they had so I support! If they call themselves greek, I’m kool w/that n if they call themselves afri-greeks I still don’t care – go yall!
Not to be mean but looking at the images of the brothers & sisters wearing Greek letter shirts it looks foolish, do you see Greeks rushing to wear African anything. When these organizations were created are you telling me African letters wasn’t, how are you really taking pride in GREEK LETTERS? African Americans are the only ones so dis-attached from our race & place in our TRUE AFRICAN HISTORY. African American history is nothing more then a negative ink spot in the rich history of our race.
I think that the “Confused Negro’s” are the ones who do see and respect our history. Yes some organizations take it too far. Yes some organizations have lost the meaning. But you would be a fool to judge everyone by the limited knowledge you have. Unless you have been around the US, pledged in every organization, then your opinion is biased. In statistics, a biased opinion is not valid. I guess all you haters are educated in black America history and are all omniscient of thing you can’t see. Lmao, so who’s the “Confused Negro”.
How about African letter organizations. Until we learn to take pride in where we came from, until we learn to join together as both African & African American how can we move forward. As African Americans we need to realize we are a people without a country. We can take pride in Greek letter organizations but not in finding out our true African roots.
Black people separating themselves from other Black people based on colors and symbols, hand gestures, etc., beating pledges, having disputes with other in different colors from opposing groups, branding their skin with symbols.
I live in L.A. and this description could be applied to any number of street gangs although granted the kill rate during Black fraternal hazings is exceeded by that of the Crips n Bloods.
The false idea that the founders of these organizations were Black heroes and heroines is laughable. When racism prevented them from joining the white fraternal organizations, they did the next best thing and tried to emulate these same white racists by forming organizations not based on their own proud African history and traditions but instead the history, symbols and imagery of their oppressors.
Yes, let us all stand and cheer and honor the proud history of the confused Negro.
I hate playing follow the leader. If you’re a follower, then join the group. But know this, aside from college, who cares?
ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS “YOU CANT SERVE 2 MASTERS”! I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST GREEKS, BUT A LOT OF FOLX THAT JOIN THEM DO IT “JUS TO BELONG.” IT CAUSES DISCRIMINATION IN A WAY AS WELL. IF I WENT IN FOR A JOB AND SUMBODY’S FELLOW GREEK WENT IN FOR THE SAME JOB, MORE THAN LIKELY I WONT GET HIRED! AND FROM WHAT I LEARNED FROM FRIENDS OF MINE THAT ARE GREEKS TELL ME THAT IN THE JOB WORLD, ITS HOMO SHYT GOING ON BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, AS WELL AS AT SUM OF THE MAJOR CONFERENCES IN ATLANTA! NAW, I’LL PASS! BEING IN A GROUP ISN’T THAT SERIOUS! “WIDE IS THE GATE…”
I think that after reading some of these comments, I feel like some of you don’t understand the meaning of sister/brotherhood because you don’t want to get it. You don’t join an organization because of what they can do for you! You join it because of what it meant when it was founded and if you see something that you don’t like in the org, you work hard to change it! Having that bond meant something to the founders and it should mean something to those that pledge. If it’s not your cup of tea, then it’s not your cup of tea. Don’t talk about those who wanted something different! If you don’t like it, then don’t knock it, just accept it and keep going. You don’t know the struggle and true meaning until you go through it, that’s with anything. Wearing those letters on a jacket after you went through a true bonding with your ls or lb’s you feel proud. Letters shouldn’t make you, you make your letters. Words my grandparents told me, who are BOTH greek and the best people I know who live by what their frat and sorority stood for.
most of the comments i’ve seen so far on this article come from a very uneducated stand point. Its very easy to hurl insults and tear down the respective organizations when from the outside looking in. I also see many people judging the entire organization from the action of a few brothers or sisters and from historical traditions they don’t have knowledge of. Black Greek organizations do have certain mystique and status and some people allow this to go to their heads and act as though they are better than other people. But in reality that tends to be par for the course when dealing with black people. For example the educated look down on the uneducated the light skinned look down on the dark the men look down on the women and so on and so forth. Regardless of what affiliations we may have all of us are tasked with the job of creating a environment for our people and the Divine 9 Greek Lettered Organizations do extensive work within the communities where they are present. So rather than throw shade get to know them and the work they do and im sure some of you will modify your stance. Conversely yall can continue to be divisive. Either way the Black Greek Lettered Orgs will keep it pushing b/c after all None of Us joined to please anyone.
Isaac Holloway
Phi Beta Sigma
Spr 2006
Delta Upsilon Chapter
There are some good brothers and sisters in these organizations, who’s hearts are in the right place…but in the early 1900s alot of us didn’t know who our mothers and fathers were, didnt know anything about OUR history and OUR culture so we followed the Europeans…
the Greeks got their knowledge from the black-Egyptians just like the Masons/Shriners got their knowledge from the black-Moors…..but it is what it is, to each their own……
ps- Ausar(osiris) aka Heru(horus) aka Hiram Abiff aka Lazarus is about OUR PEOPLE in a ’sleeping’ or mentally-dead state…. but we slowly waking up….
look at the Pope’s sheild, he knows wassup!!!
-”Heru”
To me Black Greeks treat non-Black-Greeks like dirt. They have the same mentality of gangs and KKK in my opinion.
I was at a club and an Alpha asked one of his fraternity brothers was I an alpha. Once he found out I wasn’t, he didn’t speak to me.
I wonder does he treat his white co-workers the same as he treated me.
Black people are the only people in America, they have so much self-hatred, they only accept Blacks based on something OTHER than being Black.
In the Jewish community all you have to be is a Jew for them to accept you.
Blacks Greeks do more harm than good.
Hmmm… being Greek. Well honestly after reading this article, you may understand and know the history of what these organizations were founded on, but sorry sweetie, times have changed! When you have to get your ass beat just to wear a f**king jacket, be real! People talk about it’s for the brotherhood or sisterhood, yeah it may start out like that but it never stays that way. Honestly being Greek isn’t worth s**t anymore in my book. After you graduate college like I did, all you have left is a jacket and maybe a car banner. I come from a family full of Greeks and they all say the same thing, their frat or sororities haven’t done s**t! I wouldn’t waste my time again nor encourage anyone to ever join a NPCH. Save yourself the money, time and plenty of ass beatings to go around. Someone should create new organizations that are REALLY about helping others, not hazing like all NPCH DO!
I have not heard some of the most ignorant comments coming from black people until I read some of the comments on this article. I know and see that today some fraternities and sororities have lost sight of what they were intended for. But the principle behind standing together, shoulder to shoulder with a fellow brother and sister is deeper than “barking like a dog”. I’m part of Forte Lambda Sigma Fraternity out of Houston, and I’m proud of my organization. We are a frat that is involved in community services and helping the youth. Our step team is a way to improve unity in a positive way. One can support their community in other ways than a frat or sorority, but tearing them down is just stupid. If you don’t have anything good to say, keep your mouth shut. If the things you say are makes you sound more like and uneducated “negro”, best you don’t give in to the stereotype.
Black fraternities/ sororities are some of the silliest things I have ever seen!!! The Greeks were not black. Everytime I see a fooly-as$ Negro hootin n hollerin and barking like a dog, I call them stupid monkeys!!!
Greek Letter Organizations whether black, white, multicultural…the one’s that i affiliate with do a lot and/or as much as they can do for their communities…they don’t do it for the praise and recognition they do it because it is something they’re passionate about…I am in a local sorority and we do what we can to give back to our communities.
I have not cross, Doing so grad. But I was looking at the travel channel and they were in Johannesburg or Soweto I 4got. But I saw the origin of stepping. It was done in the cave that Africans were mining, to tell other miners where they were.
Now it is told on the street as stories there. I saw this tuesday and I was knowledge of it not.
I get that they are good as far as their original missions.. but nowadays.. women will f**k frat brothers just so they can get in their sorority, dudes will spend money and get their ass whipped for letters just to feel like they are better than other people.. if the organizations would get off of the whole hazing tradition.. it wouldn’t be bad.. which is why i never got into that s**t… period
ALSO,eye have NEVER witnessed ANY of these organizations do ANYTHING for the community!!!
devine my a$$. a bunch of stupid negros doing whatever to get a jacket with a GREEK letter on it. can we “get back to Africa”?!
N!GGAS worship EVERY other culture but our OWN! and FUKC the A.K.A!!! soror. was based off how light you were. that kind of bullcrap will NEVER be forgotten or forgiven!!!!!!!!!!
BOULE! BOULE! BOULE! How did the divine 9 really elevated the community??? does anybody in the divine 9 realize the poignant point and symbolism of crossing over the sand????
The buffer for the secret societies and white supremacy.
SoRHOr, this is so poignant. So often people focus on the stereotypical “role” of NPHC that they forget why we were founded or how important we our to the ENTIRE history of African Americans.