Every semester students come to the Albert and Shirley small special collections library to find out about black Greek fraternities and sororities at the University of Virginia because of their frequent visits we’ve created a guide to find these materials this guide refers them to the university archives which include information from
1973 to 2004 on black Greek organizations black Greeks at the University of Virginia the early years will give a snapshot of some of the growth accomplishments and struggles of these Collegiate organizations during their first decade and a half on grounds in a 1973 letter assistant dean of students Linwood Jacobs writes Charles
Chambliss congratulating him on the founding of Omega Sci-Fi fraternity he States now that the cues have been established it seems natural that the alphas kappas and sigmas and others will follow your lead there’s little doubt in my mind that Founders love Cooper Coleman and just would be proud of your
Efforts to bring to the young men of the University of Virginia an opportunity heretofford not available in fact he was right the dean of students records include letters from most black fraternity and sororities National and Regional Offices inquiring about the possibility of establishing Chapters at the University during fall 1973 Jacobs writes another
Congratulatory letter this one is to Sheila Hardy President of uva’s Delta Sigma Theta sorority chapter it states it is my feeling that your organization has the potential to make a major contribution and perhaps add a dimension to Student Life not previously realized by black women at the University
Over the next seven years eight of the nine panhellenic councils historically black fraternities and sororities were represented on grounds in two of these cases zeta phi beta and sigma gamma rho sororities we see the evolution of the sororities founding in full recognition at the University in the latter case
Young women were part of the Aurora Colony for probationary period and then finally Sigma gamma Roth sorority Theta Lambda chapter from the onset of their National foundings these organizations valued Service as one of their tenants Services literally infused in many of their mission statements purposes and mottos the records show that from their
Existence at the University of Virginia black sororities and fraternities have created programs and projects to help the Charlottesville Albemarle and University communities in 1975 Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity was chosen as co-winner of the inter-fraternity council’s community service award the next year Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity was
The recipient of the same award and won several more years in a row in 1985 Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority was awarded both the outstanding chapter service and outstanding chapter programming Awards here are more examples of service foreign ‘s black Greek organizations were committed to service that commitment did not preclude fun these organizations
Served as an important social function for the black student Community through discos and black shows discos of course were DJ’d parties and block shows were the showcasing of fraternity and sorority colors step performances and chants block shows were so big that the winners received official congratulations from the office of dean
Of students according to the record block shows including practice and the actual performances initially occurred in the chemistry building however this Arrangement was not without problems it seems that the beakers and gas burners of the chemistry lab cannot hold up to the heavy and Loud reverberations of black show practices
And performances in a letter from the dean of students to the chair of the chemistry Department he States thank you for your letter of June 24 1980 in which you informed me that the chemistry building would no longer be available to student activities such as block shows I
Can understand the feeling that the chemistry building is first and foremost an academic building and any activity that takes away from or disrupts the academic Pursuits should cease students and non-students alike Jam discos thrown by black Greek organizations many went off without a hitch but sometimes there were conflicts
Between fraternities and an anonymous letter to the dean of students evidence of a fraternity fight is revealed Dean Canterbury the Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi fraternities have recently engaged in gang-like fights I’m speaking about the incident that occurs Saturday September 28th at the Disco outside of Newcomb Hall after the
Party the captains and the queues fought over an incident that happened the night before on Friday of Omega sci-fi in of Kappa Alphas I had an argument in exchange fist in a head-on fight that’s why Saturday night both members from both fraternities had a bra their chapter Charter should be a suspended immediately
Challenges arose as black Greek organizations took root at the University of Virginia there were misperceptions by some on grounds that these organizations were discriminatory because they were labeled black in an undated letter by Charles chambliss of Omega Sci-Fi fraternity he voices his frustrations with these reactions and refutes the charge he
States while there has been no conscious effort to exclude whites the appeal of organizations to blacks may be attributed to several very obvious factors these organizations have in common many strong ties with the black community to explain black Greek culture to their white counterparts and diminish misunderstandings they formed a black
Greek subcommittee and held an informational workshop on pledging the documents shown here give just a glimpse of the early years of uva’s black Greek letter organizations one can only imagine what a researcher a hundred years from now will think when they look back at these records how will they judge and interpret the
Records how will they influence the Legacy how will they write history’s Tale and who will bear witness to it
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