What’s up y’all welcome to in the wild and joining us today for a very special episode in the Lucy C Laney museum for black history is two very special guests for our from our community first up we have the vice bass list for Omega Sci-Fi fraternity Incorporated Mr Joe Moore and
We have the president of the Augusta alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority Incorporated Miss Danita miler welcome so welcome and thank y’all so much for being here how’s it going okay for inviting us yes um this is my first time here in uh the Lucius Museum and I’m loving it
Um but today uh we wanted to talk a little bit about your experiences of being a fraternity a sorority member of a black lettered Greek organization um but get us started tell us a little about a little bit about your undergraduate experience Joe you went to pain and you went to
Georgia Tech yes okay well actually I did attend Payne College uh graduated in 1968. of course uh at pain we did not have a great letter organization until 1970 so I had a chance well I missed that opportunity um and uh but I did join a graduate
Chapter later on South Omega chapter uh in 1998 uh of course I I can say that our College was a was a kind of a Methodist supported institution and the focus of primary on educating afro-americans for service to their communities and of course uh fraternities were something that they
Worked on over time but of course in 1970 they did initiate allow Greek letter organizations on campus and those other things are thriving at this point sure okay so I graduated from Georgia Tech and our Delta chapter started in 1978 and I was part of the charter line
That started the uh Alpha chapter we started because all of the black Greek organizations were trying to get started Omega Psi Phi was the first one on campus and it took them a long time to finally get there but they were there and we started after them um
We the women were asked to support them with pearls being pearls uh and I just had a problem with that because that wasn’t our organization it was just supporting somebody else’s organization that’s fine for some but if it wasn’t going to be our thing I wasn’t interested so when some friends of mine
Got together we went on and it took us two years to get our chapter started but it finally started so in 1978 we were established on Georgia Tech campus so how did you know you wanted to be a part of that particular organization versus another well I really didn’t at the time um
I wasn’t exposed to sororities at all um I was kind of except for my aunt the only one that had gone to college fortunately my friends had selected the correct one so you know I went with him and that was the best decision that we could make and
Once I got started we are a service organization as uh Omega Psi Phi is and all the other organizations so our Focus has always been service to the community and that’s very important to me so I I fit in with the dreams and the goals of our founders
And I can say that a great friend of mine was a member of Omega Sci-Fi fraternity and um well anyway his brother uh invited us to one of their main social events and something called the Mardi Gras and uh so it’s a kind of a very well-funded social event that
Occurs during the Spring of the year and during that event with by lots of people from the community to come together and celebrate and of course during that event we choose a a queen is elected and of course I enjoyed that event and of course that sort of uh initiated
My interest in joining of course after I joined later on I found it wasn’t just about that event also I guess I might have been uh attracted to the fraternity by the colors and about their paraphernalia that I that I saw but I realized later on that that those issues were just just
A partial pieces of it the main thing is when he has said is that we are in place to serve our communities so what would you say are some or how was it received when you joined your organization especially since you were at that time the first four uh Georgia Tech
Um it was well received uh at Georgia Tech blacks are the minority there so it was something it was an organization that we could get together and express our common interests and to determine what we can do on campus and in the community besides having to study all the time well
When you when you think about the needs of the community uh think about mentoring we think about providing blood uh providing tutoring uh encouraging people to get out to vote uh encouraging folks to participate in um in Civic activities communities become good or great by citizens again becoming engaged in those kind of
Things and I think this is the kind of thing that that makes our Omega Brothers work hard we’re putting long hours and put in time uh after work uh and other and come together and plan to support our communities so I think that’s that’s that’s the thing and and
That’s uh that kind of effort is generally received in the community I think a minute if I recognize who we are regardless of which uh group we’re in well we’re Deltas uh aka’s sigmas our orders uh cameras or whatever uh the community recognizes those symbols and and most of these organizations are
Trained in place to do the same thing this improved not improve our communities the whole community that we that we live in uh when you think of some favorite memories from your time serving your respective organizations in the community what first comes to mind the favorite yeah some of your favorite memories or
Highlights of your experience being involved in your organization um I’m kind of a worker okay so an uh organizer so I tried I tried to work especially being president now uh with our local chapter to get our information out my greatest joy was working on the 2020 election and getting the community out
And getting the community to understand that your vote does count and there are so many misconceptions that were out there and it was like we we value what you’re saying and what you need but if you don’t get out then you just have no voice so it was just very
Rewarding to see that we got so many people out and we were working from so many different areas to get them out all those many times with the runoffs and and all of that because it was like yes you voted need you to vote again and uh
That that was just so rewarding to see that they could they could come out they started to understand that their voice does count so and I really did just appreciate that we worked very hard to try to do things within the community and with the social action with our young people because we
Have various programs for them too and when you can see young people Blossom that they come in all shy and all of that and towards the end of the year their handling programs and doing things and they don’t need our help as much and
We can send them out to be better in the community to help their families and the other students that they go to school with so it it’s just a blessing when you see things Blossom and really come out there and work and just what pick it back up what
Bonita has said uh all of us are in place to support our communities and my particular organization works with the Boys and Girls Club uh and we also have adopted school I think uh Hornsby Hornsby K-8 school we have our guys go there and work with the students there
Um and also as Anita said I talked about about the election um when you deal with uh with with uh with the election process it’s not just going out to vote uh but the issue of being arrested the vote and then being being educated or what are the issues uh some
Make sure that our folks know what the issues are and then the other thing is mobilization actually going to the polls and Care being committed to go into the polls to vote and so those that that’s very very very uh essential again we can’t do enough uh to prove uh
To improve our community that’s so much there’s homelessness uh there there’s Unemployment uh there’s gun violence uh there are so many things that that so many needs in our communities that that we need to need to address and it’ll take everybody not just the Greek organization but every citizen needs to
Be involved and certainly we want to make sure we do our part to make sure we have a great great Community a great Community to live in make sure that our that our children are doing what they do in school um trying to get a good quality
Education so they can become a gainfully employed and become great parents and uh and great citizens and so all that’s a part of what what we’re really trying to trying to do as a Greek organization I’m sure the Community Values all of your service but Switching gears a little bit
And thinking more so about some of the younger Generations uh what do you think are some misconceptions that would maybe dissuade people from joining or being interested in Greek life well it’s still out there that uh a lot of degree organization party hard and we do however we work hard too um
Service is our main function and people may not see all the things that we’re doing in the background that we are out in the community we are doing various we’re donating we’re collecting we’re educating we’re having Summits we’re doing a lot of work so we kind of feel
Like we uh we have earned being able to party but sometimes that’s all people see and then we also unfortunately have some people that want to be in the organization and they want to wear all the leather letters and they have all everything head to toe but they’re not doing anything
And that’s not that that’s not our purpose and if you’re just interested in partying then stay out there and party but if you’re going to come in our organization we’re expecting you to work and it’s it’s expensive and it’s a lot of work and and if you can’t do that but there
Are other things that you can do but we really do focus in on uh the work that we have to do and it’s voluntary and everybody has obligations but you still you’ve got to carve out that time to get things done because if we work together more can be accomplished
So you know we we just keep trying to uh get the young people to understand if you start off young and you understand what some of the causes are and the things that need to be done it’s easier as you get older that you have a focus
Of what you want to do and what you want to accomplish and and to add on what Bonita said uh Greek uh letter organizations are not poor women or poor men clubs uh it it requires time commitment and resources to do the things we we we do she mentioned you know
Services like let’s say blood drives we you know we support uh food drives and just the time we all we have families children and grandchildren and besides supporting them we also try to support children in the neighborhood students in the neighborhood where there’s where
There’s a need where we can fit in uh I think that’s an important piece um again that’s plenty of work to be done and it’s it’s for example it takes a lot of time and and initiatives to make sure we’re coming up for example we had a
An event campaign to bring in the candidates meet and greet the candidates we we we invited quite all of the local campus we’re running for various officers in in our particular fraternity to share their platforms and allow some of our individuals to add to ask questions
Provide a meal for them and so forth and several of the other organizations have had those kind of things so people they can be aware of the issues and get a chance to see the Canada’s close up and asking the questions getting the right having the right
People in place uh to lead our community uh in our nation will help us to become the kind of community and the combination that we can become when you think about your experiences what has kept you involved over the years because you’re both involved in your respective organizations today
Um so yeah why did you decide to stay so active to this day um it was the the service work and the uh Sisterhood it’s always nice when you come in to a place that people know your name so when you find like-minded people it’s easier to get things done to bounce
Ideas off each other to see well what do you think will work how can we get this done do we need to collaborate with another organization to have better bang for our buck what do we need to do so you just when you start off young then
You can just start seeing the benefit of it and we all have conferences and conventions that we go to and of course we get all the raw raw speeches and all of that and and that helps too that you you meet other people from all over the world really that are like-minded that
Are they’re trying to do the same thing you’re trying to do so that just keeps you motivated to stay within your organization and and to keep going okay and as the need has said we we have monthly chapter meetings we have a business meeting uh second Wednesday and then we have a
Social meeting on the fourth Wednesday uh and um we received information from us State organization we have a state organization where all the chapters in Georgia are linked to that and so they provide information that’s going on uh within uh the paternity and the initiatives that are going on in our state
Uh then there’s a district we have a Seventh District where we have organizations uh in Georgia Florida Alabama I think Mississippi uh and then so we also have a state meeting I’m in a district meeting in fact this year it’s in Huntsville around a lot of part of
March and we come together to talk about all the things that are going on in those States how to relate to those then every two years we have something called it conclave which is a uh you know as a meeting where where everyone in this return in the fraternity will come
Together to look at where we’re going what kind of things do we need to be working on uh in terms of making sure brothers are trained properly and makes you know what we need to be doing in the community how to present ourselves and what’s the business like what can we do
For our community what else can we do I think with the um with the conclave we’re all together and get a chance to meet last Benin has said uh individuals from because we’re an international uh fraternity not just a national maternity we have uh we even have chapters in in
In Africa and other countries yeah yeah when you look at uh uh younger generations and newer members would you say that they’re living up to the Legacy that your Founders started the organization for I think I think they are um we have two collegiate chapters here in Augusta uh Muse eyes at Augusta
University and we’re reactivating Ada Theta at pain College um there’s always an interest shown among the Collegiates and they have to meet the standards to get in our sorority so that they already have to show that they have some leadership skills that they are trying to get good education
That their focus is correct um it it it’s just good to see that so many are interested in Payne College really worked hard for us to try to reactivate their chapter back and that just helps them focus on their education and the work that we’re trying
To do so that we teach them what our 22 Founders started us off with and with their first uh event that they did was the Women’s Suffrage March and the women didn’t really want our sorority to be in it they were going to stick Us in the back
And we didn’t stand for that and we’re all up amongst people but we started off doing work doing social action so we try to entice those young ladies that are interested in the same things that are willing to do the work of Delta for the community we have four Mega chapters in Augusta
Area uh we have gamma-bated pain college omega-8 at 8 Omega at Augusta Augusta University we have uh Usman gamma gamma which is considered the paint the fort Garden chapter and we have uh salomega child versus the oldest chapter in the area it was founded in 1925. um
I think I think we’re we’re growing we’re getting better one of one of the reasons why we’re better now is because we have uh more devices for Communication email um and all the Zone we can you know we can meet if we can’t meet face to face we can meet uh
Uh you know who made by other means conference call or we have the calling posts we have all kind of tools um that we didn’t have many many years ago many years ago everything had to be copied give people pieces of paper but now they can have it on their phone or
Whatever on their computer so so well but anyway prior to pandemic you know that that new technology helped us to become better and because we have a we have a young bright new members uh who are good with technology many of us came along during the typewriter age and so
Uh and copying machine so now you know we are we’re able to communicate much better and getting information out it’s all about getting the information out and um uh and if there’s a for example for this meeting today I’ve got a call from my boss saying that he couldn’t be here but
Because he was able to text me otherwise he wouldn’t have been to get me uh they sent me a brother Jerome Ross is my my president bosses he was able to communicate with me send me and tell me send me the list of your questions so and you know some years ago that
Wouldn’t have been possible so I and then we used to have a young bright new people people in in the fraternity that are growing because we can’t um we can’t not that our our guys have been around for a minute we have very we have a uh some great
Uh members who’ve been around for a minute and started at this hbcus and they are they they bring a lot to the table those of us who are new to the chapter uh chances we don’t uh you know we have a lot to learn still let’s say
It that way but but again it’s uh it’s a uh it’s a it’s a growing thing uh and uh and there’s all they always knew there there’s all there’s always new things to do there are new initiatives that we need that we need to do so we’re
Always going to be lifelong Learners as we are in education lifelong Learners what are the new things we need to do okay all right last question uh if you could tell your younger sales something right before you joined your organization what would it be like right before you join some advice
Or some inspiration get ready for the ride okay it’s a lot of work but it is rewarding um just just keep keep your eyes on the prize and it’ll be okay um I would say a lot of individuals are attracted to the various uh uh attire like when he’s wearing a Delta
Red and she has a triangle and she and the pearls around what I’m saying is it’s not about uh and make us the purple and the cap of the red and the signals the blue and AKA is the pink and green all those colors I ordered their colors um
If you’re wearing the coast not doing anything I think she said that it’s not about that it’s about the world certainly not about the about the about the parties but but join uh become involved uh make a commitment to service of your community uh and that’s that’s the key
Thing it’s not just going to the parties and not just running around with your tag on your car or whatever none of that really matters you’re not doing anything and you don’t do anything for uh for recognition you do it because it needs to be done
Well regardless of who does it as long as it gets done thank y’all so much for being here um I feel so inspired and I know everyone watching this will be inspired as well thank you for the opportunity and thank you thank you for inviting us Hi so I’m Dr Lorraine Evans and I’m the executive director of the academic success Center Augusta University wants all of our students to be successful inside and outside of the classroom and the academic success Center is for that inside of the classroom part we want all
Of our students to be able to reach their goals and their academic potential at the academic success Center we have peer tutors and these are students who have taken the classes that you are now visiting them for so they can help you learn the strategies and skills and
Things that you need to do for that course we also have peer coaches and peer coaches are going to help you with time management and a new study strategies for those courses that you haven’t had before and then we have our workshops and so once or twice a week we
Have workshops that are about topics specific to that week so we’ll have exam preparation workshops or we’ll have workshops about how to you know manage your final schedule type thing the academic success Center is here to help you be successful in your classes and we hope to see you here We’ll come back out to in the wild and joining me on our Black History Month episode is a charter member in the first president of the Muse side chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Authority and we have the current vice president of ADA Alpha for the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity
Quentin Taylor and it’s Aubry uh spry how’s it going good how are you thank y’all so much for being here um getting us started tell well because you are a charter member and the first president of the first black sorority on campus which I thought was super uh
Amazing could you tell us a little bit about your experience at what was Augusta college and why you decided to go here well coming into uh Augusta College was definitely a great experience for me um I decided to I first went off to college and I guess I got homesick so I
Decided to come back home and go to school and my parents were so kind to buy me a car so getting my Bachelor’s degree there in English okay um what about you Clinton why did you decide to come to EU oh that’s a lot of reasons um I guess University wasn’t really my
First choice in going to college I originally went to Payne College my freshman year and I transferred to Au my sophomore year um I just saw a big and bad opportunities for murriet Augusta University and I feel like it was a place that was meant for me at the time
I still feel like that at the moment okay uh so what did campus look like when you were a student and how has it changed since uh you left campus okay well remember that I was there in the 70s okay and so at that time there were Army
Barracks for the classrooms and the the professor offices and so that’s what we went to class in were Army Barracks so you know that’s a extreme change to now the campus is I think a much more open campus a much friendlier campus and it’s just simply beautiful so what
Did those Army bears look like being turned into classrooms and offices and what oh gosh it was just long buildings okay and um like I said the classrooms were in there sort of like in the center of the buildings where the office is and I even had
Employment on campus where I worked in the foreign language lab and we had reel to real tapes where I would have to pay the tapes for students to come in for their foreign language labs and so not a lot of I would say not a lot of
Technology of course but but they were able to get the job done with us uh what did you think of Campus before you came on as an au student um before I came on as Au student um I would always like look at August University and be like man this is a
It’s a big institution and I saw more opportunities out there for me at Advance University um I didn’t really think I was going to transfer to the school when I first saw because I thought it was like too big I thought I wasn’t really going to fit in
And stuff like that but once I actually like stuck my foot out there and actually like tested the waters a little bit I realized that it was a perfect fit for me so it was I was just this big school that I wanted to go to
Did you feel like it took you a while to fit in or how did that come about oh no I didn’t take me like long to fit in at all um especially like during covert I feel like it took me around like a month or two actually get involved in clubs and everything
Um I first saw the African-American Edition program um Jerry Oliver he has sent me an email saying Hey I want you to get involved in this program I feel like this best fit for you and that’s how I’m still involved in La Ami but it didn’t take me
Long at all to get involved with anything I felt like the student body was very welcoming established very welcoming I just got really comfortable really fast so Switching gears a little bit um why did you decide or how did you decide that you wanted to uh join a sorority
And how did that sorority become Delta Sigma Theta okay opposite to his experience coming in we had one organization on campus that was um really open and accepting black students and that was the black student union so several young ladies and I got together and
Um decided that it would be good to have a sorority on campus and we had relatives that were Deltas like my godmother some of the other my of my line sisters had relatives that and we like the values that Delta had and so we pursued
Delta and it took us 13 weeks to get that chapter on campus yeah it took a long time also I would say that might have been a quick turnaround though for 13 weeks right right it doesn’t seem like it when you’re doing it um and I guess quitting for you how did
You know you wanted to join us for fraternity and how uh did you decide on joining your uh specific fraternity I can’t speak um well it took a lot of research on a lot of research to see what was meant for me what fit my personality what fed my motives
Um let me well maybe want to be a part of fraternity I realized like I wanted to be some a part of something rather than myself I wanted to be a part of something that’s in our history something that’s in our black history so some of most of out of Alpha’s
Motives and modern admission statement were who I am now um develop leaders I’m a leader um love all mankind I love everybody love all the income and we upload Womanhood so that’s something that my mother is starting me since I was a little child so I feel like this return
Is perfect fit if I’m perfect for the Titans oh what has it been like to see other organizations come after Delta so now we have I want to say seven out of the divine nine I believe that we have on campus so what has that been like to see like
More fraternities and sororities since she’s left yes oh that that is awesome I think that um you know I feel good that we led the way and we led the charge in doing this um the omegas came on the very next year after us and um I don’t know the years
That the other uh organizations came on board but it really is good that you now have um an option more of an option and that there are more organizations on campus now for the African-American student do you feel at the time uh when you were a student that it was real well received
Uh for you being adults on campus yes oh yes it was it was it really was and um now um the year that the chapter was established the very next year is when I graduated so I only had a short time to really enjoy being a Delta on campus but
Yeah it was very well received yes uh do you think and I guess this can go to YouTube uh Quentin do you think nphc organizations have changed over time and if so how I think that the organizations have basically stuck to the values that were established by the founders of those
Organizations so I would think that you know each uh organization on campus is still carrying out those values yeah I mean I haven’t really been on the yard that long I crossed the last ball of all 22. um I can’t say we lean more towards
Social media which is a good thing so we can like broadcast uh that we are out here and broadcast National issues and stuff like that so it’s just my experience so far um so some people will say that because we’re in a time of making America like
This Melting Pot that is not necessarily A need to have like black specific organizations what are y’all thoughts on having uh black fraternities and sororities and them remaining primarily black well I have um I do think that the organizations are needed because of the focus of the organization’s scholarships uh community
Service and you know other issues that are very uh needed by our especially our young black students coming up now yeah I mean I feel like we could have more participation when it comes to black student body at address University when it comes to joining clubs and just being involved and
Supporting one another so yeah um what do you or how would you say the impact of those organizations have had over the years for I guess the Augusta community at least because both of y’all uh came from an Augusta chapter I would say um and I have worked within
The education system here and I have seen many students get scholarships from the various organizations and I know that’s been a big help in the community and again the public service that the organizations do whether it’s in a nursing home or just helping a family in need that the organizations focus on uh
Helping and and that I don’t think will ever change it should never change um do you think the younger Generations I’m not that call you back because you just uh it’s okay it’s okay do you think the younger Generations are living up to the legacies that you I guess and your last
Sisters have left for them I get on our campus but also just in general I think that they are now I’m not familiar with a lot of what goes on now but um I have been on a used campus and I do know that the Deltas there are doing a
Lot of their community service work um and what do you think are some misconceptions that people still have about black fraternities and sororities yeah we’re party organizations and that’s all we want to do is party but and I do think that’s that’s probably the number one misconception
What to say yeah I would say that and like not being as welcoming but Open Arms will talk to people love giving to other people uh we love people getting to know us all right so just taking that first step that’s really the tough part okay and what would you say to someone
Who may be interested but is not sure how to express that interest because I know discretion uh for those who are interested in joining organizations is still uh highly valued um it’s a ton of ways to go about it um you can one just try to get to know
Somebody start a random conversation or you know if social media is out here now too we have advanced technology different ways you can get in contact with somebody like you can call somebody on Instagram that’s wild so you know here tomorrow DM saying hey you know I see the work y’all do
Um we’re interested or I’m just trying to get to know you as a person or just go through our Pages our pages are open or public so you can see the work we do even individual Pages you can see the work we do individually where it’s like
School work or just anything you have in common with anybody who can relate to anybody so it’s the most text call see I’m struggling when they help me out with a box or something you know it’s really simple um earlier uh my interviewee mentioned that there’s still a lot of work to
Work in uh black fraternities and sororities uh so I wanted to ask y’all what do you think some of that work looks like for uh your respective organizations in terms of service seeing the community service in the campus what do you think that’s a good question yeah it really is a good question
But there’s always you know there’s always a need and there will always be a need and so um uh maybe just a organization’s trying to Encompass a larger territory to provide uh the services that they provide um and like again I don’t know what it’s like on campus now because I know that
Uh a lot of the students work as well as going to school and it’s difficult to find time to do a lot of activities but like I said with social media a lot of things can be done through that is uh and then last question that I asked
Them earlier as well if you had to tell your younger self something before you joined your organization what would that be wow that’s a good one all right um I personally I would not have done anything differently okay that’s for sure um you know I’m very very glad that we
Were able to start this organization and that is still going on today almost 50 years later and you know I just think that um that we do have a reunion once a year among the uh the members that have come through the chapter and so for me it’s
Just a great feeling when I get to meet the Sorrows that have come um after me and to see that the wonderful works that they’re doing everywhere I mean we have you know doctors lawyers of a lot of different professions and not only that even our advisors that have served the chapter
One of our advisors Sarah rice even went on to become two-term National president and so it’s just nothing that I would change differently that’s for sure well you know for you for my youngest kids I can’t really back all that up but um I would say for me is to get more involved
Get more involved before I join my organization because I didn’t realize like when how important it is to be involved in the community as an African-American is to bring awareness to that and let’s see how fun it is because you meet different people different opportunities out there you
Never know what you’ll come across so just to be more involved before I had anything so yeah thank y’all so much for being here super inspired to hear from both of you I know everyone watching this will inspired and thank you for making this a very special episode thank you for having me Hi I’m Rebecca Berger director of testing and Disability Services TDS determines and provides accommodations for students with disabilities disabilities are conditions that include learning disabilities ADHD physical psychological and sensory disabilities as well as medical conditions such as severe allergies diabetes and chronic illnesses if you’re a student who received accommodations in
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To have those conversations we are here to help every step of the way you may think TDS only provides classroom and testing accommodations but we’re actually advocates for our students and can provide a lot more assistance than extra time on exams testing a disability services works with offices throughout the University
Scaps academic advisement and the academic success Center to name a few we’re a bridge for our students to connect to campus-wide resources we are also here to help you strengthen your self-advocacy skills learn how to connect to faculty and build a foundation of support in your academic
Program so you can forge and follow your own pathway remember TDS has a lot more to offer than extra time on exams or making sure you have accessible textbooks and class materials our mission is to empower students with disabilities and to ensure every student has equal access to an education and all
Aspects of life here at Augusta University if you have any questions please contact us at TDS augusta.edu or 706-737-1469 or even stop into the office to see us we’re located on the ground floor of Galloway Hall in the Summerville campus I’d love to see you there soon Foreign
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