ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA SORORITY INCORPORATED, AN ORGANIZATION THAT IS A PART OF ME IN EVERYTHING I DO. BUT I SOON REALIZED SOME AREN’T FAMILIAR WITH THE DIVINE NINE OR BLACK GREEK LETTER ORGANIZATION. SO WHAT BETTER TIME THAN BLACK HISTORY MONTH TO EDUCATE, EXPLAIN TO THEM THE HISTORY OF ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY
INCORPORATED AND SAY THAT HEY, REVEREND DOCTOR MARTIN LUTHER KING WAS A MEMBER OF THIS FRATERNITY. RIRIGHT? NINE ORGANIZATIONS ALL CHARTING THEIR OWN PATH. IT’S IN MY BLOOD. IT’S IN MY DNA. WHEN I THINK 116 YEARS AGO, 1908, THESE LADIES HAD A VISION FOR ME, BUT STILL COMING TOGETHER WITH A LIKE MINDED GOAL.
WE ALL COME TO DO THINGS FOR THE COMMUNITY, CREATING THE DIVINE NINE FILLED WITH HISTORIC BLACK GREEK LETTER FRATERNITIES AND SORORITIES. THERE WAS A STRONG GROWTH AND MOVEMENT IN OMEGA BETWEEN THE 70S, THE 80S, THE 90S, AND THE 2000. A LEGACY Y THAT DATES BACK TO TE EARLY 1900S, DURING A TIME WHEN
BLACK PEOPLE FOUGHT FOR EQUAL RIGHTS. WE ALSO WANT TO HAVE A COLLECTIVE VOICE IN THE COMMUNITY, PUSH THROUGH RACISM, WHAT THEY HAD TO GO THROUGH JUST TO EVEN BE RECOGNIZED, A TIME WHEN THERE WAS SO MUCH GOING ON IN OUR COUNTRY AND IT, YOU KNOW, AND SO, UM, THEM DECIDING EVEN
THEN THAT THE FOCUS NEEDED TO BE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE, THE FOUNDERS OF THESE ORGANIZED NATIONS MAINTAINING PERSEVERANCE, THEY THEMSELVES PERSONALLY FACED THE KKK TRYING TO STOP THEM FROM GETTING THEIR EDUCATION IN ORDER TO CREATE A SPACE OF THEIR OWN, REGARDLESS OF SKIN COLOR. IT’S ALL ABOUT TRYING TO BE INCLUSIVE.
IT ALL STARTED IN 1906 WITH ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY INCORPORATED ON THE CAMPUS OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY IN ITHACA, NEW YORK. WHEN SEVEN MEN BECAME A CATALYST FOR CHANGE, THE VERY RICH LEGACY OF THE FRATERNITY, UM, THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD. JUST TWO YEARS LATER, IN 1908, ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA WAS FOUNDED ON
THE CAMPUS OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY IN WASHINGTON, DC. THTHE FIRST BLACK SORORITY IN HISTORY TO WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE COMMUNITY. IN 1911, TWO FRATERNITIES MADE THEIR MARK, KAPPA ALPHA PSI AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY. I LOVE IT. I THINK IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I EVER DID IN MY LIFE.
AND OMEGA PSI PHI BACK AT THE NATION’S CAPITAL. FRIENDSHIP IS ESSENTIAL TO THE SOUL IS OUR FRATERNITY MOTTO. DELTA SIGMA THETA SORORITY, INCORPORATED JOINED THE GROWING YARD IN 1913. THERE ARE OVER 300,000 MEMBERS AND WE HAVE OVER A THOUSAND CHAPTERS WORLDWIDE. DIED IN 1914. PHI BETA SIGMA FRATERNITY AND
ZETA PHI BETA SORORITY IN 1920. OUR MOTTO BEING CULTURE FOR SERVICE, SERVICE FOR HUMANITY, A COMMUNITY CONSCIOUS, ACTION ORIENTED ORGANIZATION. THEN IN 1922, SIGMA GAMMA RHO SORORITY INCORPORATED. IT BECAME THE FINAL SORORITY OF THE DIVINE NINE ON THE CAMPUS OF BUTLER UNIVERSITY IN INDIANAPOLIS. ALIGNMENT WITH EDUCATION EFFORTS, HEALTH AWARENESS AND
LEADERSHIP, AND MOST RECENTLY IN 1963, IOTA PHI THETA FRATERNITY FOUNDED. DURING THE HEIGHT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, REALLY ABOUT COMMUNITY BUILDING AND ABOUT UPLIFTING, UM, YOUR FAMILIES AND YOUR FRIENDS. THE DIVINE NINE HAS GROWN INTO OVER 2 MILLION MEMBERS ACROSS THE GLOBE, CARRYING THE BATON SET BEFORE THEM TO REMAIN ON THE
FRONT LINE OF SOCIAL ISSUES. TOMORROW ON FIRST NEWS, HEAR HOW THESE BLACK GREEK LETTER ORGANIZATIONS FORGED A PATH RIGHT HERE IN OMAHA. FROM ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIPS DOWN
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