{"id":2438,"date":"2022-04-18T02:49:18","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T06:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nnpa.org\/education\/?p=2438"},"modified":"2023-05-29T15:12:07","modified_gmt":"2023-05-29T19:12:07","slug":"black-sororities-have-stood-at-the-forefront-of-black-achievement-for-more-than-a-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nnpa.org\/education\/2022\/04\/18\/black-sororities-have-stood-at-the-forefront-of-black-achievement-for-more-than-a-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Black sororities have stood at the forefront of Black achievement for more than a century"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tamara\u00a0L. Brown, University of North Texas<\/p>\n

In her speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention<\/a> Kamala Harris saluted seven women who \u201cinspired us to pick up the torch and fight on.\u201d<\/p>\n

All but two of them, one of whom was her mother<\/a>, belonged to Black sororities<\/a>. Harris also mentioned her own Black sorority, saying: \u201cFamily is my beloved Alpha Kappa Alpha.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many Americans may have wondered why Harris would invoke sororities on such an occasion. But not me. Like her, I am a proud member of a Black sorority: Delta Sigma Theta<\/a>, which I joined as a student at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. If I were in Harris\u2019 shoes, accepting such an unprecedented leadership role, I, too, would have paid homage to my sorority as a way to thank those on whose shoulders I stand.<\/p>\n

This shoutout also resonated with me because I have researched the history of Black sororities and fraternities<\/a>, including their dedication to combat discrimination and the lifelong family-like bonds they create.<\/p>\n

The forerunners of Black sororities<\/h2>\n

The nation\u2019s four Black sororities have always differed from white sororities in several ways, in part because of their historical roots.<\/p>\n

Their origins are tied to the Black women\u2019s clubs and mutual aid societies that first emerged with the Colored Women\u2019s Progressive Association<\/a>, established in 1880.<\/p>\n

In 1892, after the author and activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett distributed her historic anti-lynching speech<\/a> as a pamphlet, Black women\u2019s clubs sprang up throughout the U.S. in major metropolitan areas and small cities.<\/p>\n

These clubs focused on issues of interest to all American women at the time, including education, health and voting rights. But they also sought to combat racism and discrimination<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A call toward service<\/h2>\n

Young Black women who liked the groups\u2019 insistence on equality and racial justice responded by creating Black sororities at their colleges. Students at Howard University in Washington, D.C. \u2013 Harris\u2019 alma mater \u2013 created the first one, Alpha Kappa Alpha<\/a>, in 1908. Female white students by then had begun to form similar groups on other campuses<\/a>, many of which barred Black members<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Five of the \u201cDivine Nine\u201d<\/a> Greek organizations Kamala Harris mentioned in her speech are fraternities, created in response to Black men not being included in traditionally white fraternities.<\/p>\n

I believe that African American women created their own sororities as communities of resistance that would allow them to survive and achieve in an oppressive society, refute stereotypes, celebrate their own cultures<\/a> and fight sexism and racism \u2013 including gendered racism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 6 women Harris saluted<\/h2>\n

The historically significant Black women<\/a>, aside from her mother, whom Harris thanked in her speech were:<\/p>\n