MBP 2020-21 Book2 - Flipbook - Page 68
What are sororities and fraternities good for? Turns out, plenty
By Charles E. Richardson
Merriam-Webster defines Sorority as “a club of women, specifically: a women's student
organization formed chiefly for social purposes and having a name consisting of Greek
letters.
Likewise, the dictionary defines Fraternity as “a group of people associated or formally
organized for a common purpose, interest, or pleasure: such as a fraternal order; a men's
student organization formed chiefly for social purposes having secret rites and a name
consisting of Greek letters, or a student organization for scholastic, professional, or
extracurricular activities.
Either of the definitions fit the world of black sororities and fraternities — whether you’re a
member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, founded in 1906 at Cornell, or a member of Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority, that is calling for change at CNN because of the lack of African
Americans in its management ranks, the common purpose is fellowship, scholarship and
community service and social activism.
Sigma Pi Phi (the Boulé), is the oldest men’s fraternity, post-graduate, founded in
Philadelphia in 1904. Its purpose was plain from the preamble to its constitution: Whereas it
seems wise and good that men of ambition, refinement and self respect should seek the
society of one another, both for the mutual benefit and to be an example of the higher type
of manhood …”
Howard University in Washington, D.C. is responsible for founding four of the first five black
fraternities and sororities (Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, 1908, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, 1911,
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, 1913, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, 1914 and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority,
1920). The state of Indiana was also in the forefront of the sorority/fraternity movement
with Kappa Alpha Psi (originally Kappa Alpha Nu, formed in 1911 at Indiana University at
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