Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. was founded on November 12, 1922 by seven young brave African American women educators in Indianapolis, Indiana. On December 30, 1929, a charter was granted to the Alpha chapter at Butler University making the organization a national college sorority. It is the only one of the National Pan-Hellenic Conference sororities not founded at Howard University, site of the Alpha chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, and Zeta Phi Beta.
Sigma Gamma Rho’s founders are Nannie Mae Gahn Foster Johnson, Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little, Vivian Irene White Marbury, Bessie Mae Downey Rhoades Martin, Cubena McClure, Hattie Mae Annette Dulin Redford, and Dorothy N. Hanley Whiteside.
Below are links to posts about previous #WHM profiles. I invite you to learn more about these interesting women.
Evelyn Hawkins Hood became a member of the Eta Sigma Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated, in 1950.
Evelyn Hawkins Hood, Sigma Gamma Rho, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2024
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LaRona J. Walls Morris, Ph.D., was an initiate of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville chapter.
LaRona J. Walls Morris, Ph.D., Sigma Gamma Rho, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2023
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Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Chapter.
Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry, Sigma Gamma Rho, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2022
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Lydia Eudora Ashburne, M.D., was a member of the Delta Sigma Chapter.
Lydia Eudora Ashburne, M.D., Sigma Gamma Rho, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2021
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Lorraine A. Williams, Ph.D., Sigma Gamma Rho, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2020
Lorraine A. Williams, Ph.D., Sigma Gamma Rho, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2020
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Ruth Whitehead Whaley was a frequent speaker at Sigma Gamma Rho regional meetings and Boules.
Ruth Whitehead Whaley, Sigma Gamma Rho, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2019
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Maritza Correia McClendon became a member of the sorority in 2013.
Maritza Correia McClendon, Sigma Gamma Rho, #WHM2018, #notablesororitywomen
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Edna Mae Douglas was a charter member of Sigma Gamma Rho’s Theta Sigma chapter in Little Rock, Arkansas.
On Founders’ Day, Edna Mae Douglas, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
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Alice Dunnigan on Sigma Gamma Rho’s Founders’ Day
Alice Dunnigan on Sigma Gamma Rho’s Founders’ Day
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Hattie McDaniel was a founding member of the Los Angeles chapter.
Sigma Gamma Rho Founders’ Day and the Hattie McDaniel Cancer Awareness and Health Program
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Gertrude Burch Murchison was an initiate of the Atlanta University chapter.
Gertrude Burch Murchison on Sigma Gamma Rho, Sorority, Inc.’s Founders’ Day
