Arizona Cleaver, along with her four friends, Pearl Neal, Myrtle Tyler, Viola Tyler, and Fannie Pettie, are the five pearls of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. They are the organization’s founders. The idea for the organization happened several months earlier when Cleaver was walking with Charles Robert Samuel Taylor, a Phi Beta Sigma at Howard University. Taylor suggested that Cleaver consider starting a sister organization to Phi Beta Sigma.
Although there were already two sororities on the Howard University campus, Cleaver and her four friends were interested and started the process. They sought and were granted approval from university administrators. The five met for the first time as a sanctioned organization on January 16, 1920. They named their organization Zeta Phi Beta. It is the only National Pan-Hellenic Council sorority constitutionally bound to a fraternity; that fraternity is Phi Beta Sigma.
Below are links to posts about previous #WHM profiles. I invite you to learn more about these interesting women.
Martha Broadus Anderson Winn, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2024
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Alice Dugged Cary, Zeta Phi Beta, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2023
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Arizona Cleaver Stemons is a Founder of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
Arizona Cleaver Stemons, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHW2022
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Annie Turnbo Malone was an Honorary Member.
Annie Turnbo Malone, Zeta Phi Beta, #NotableSororityWoman, #WHM2021
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Maggie L. Walker was an Honorary Member.
Maggie L. Walker, Zeta Phi Beta, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2020
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Madame Lillian Evanti, Zeta Phi Beta, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2019
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Violette Neatley Anderson, Zeta Phi Beta, #WHM2018, #notablesororitywomen
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Zora Neale Hurston and Zeta Phi Beta
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An Honor for Julia Carson, a Loyal Member
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Dr. Deborah Cannon Wolfe on Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.’s Founding Day
Ophelia Settle Egypt was an initiate of the Howard University chapter.
Ophelia Settle Egypt and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
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Sallie Wyatt Stewart, Zeta Phi Beta, on Founders’ Day
