National History

SIGMA GAMMA RHO Sorority Inc. was founded on November 12, 1922 by seven young black women on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. In a time when education for African-Americans was difficult to attain, the founders of SIGMA GAMMA RHO SORORITY Inc.; Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little, Nannie Mae Gahn Johnson, Vivian White Marbury, Bessie H. Downey Martin, Cubena McClure, Hattie Mae Dulin Redford and Dorothy Hanley Whiteside, became educators. They saw the need to promote greater service to all people, excellence in education and fellowship among all women. They believed that self-respect, knowledge, and discipline gained through study would help individuals to recognize their duty and responsibility for their society.

"Greater Service, Greater Progress" was to become the slogan and call of the organization that made November 12, 1922, a significant date in the history of the Black Greek system, for this date would mark the establishment of the first sorority of Black women on a predominantly white campus, Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Three other sororities of Black women, all founded at Howard University, had already been established in the early 1900s. Because Black students could not join the all-white Greek sororities at Butler, a tough and determined Black female, Mary Lou Allison Little, envisioned the need to pull Black women together into the bonds of sisterhood. Six other Butler students who had chosen teaching as their profession joined Soror Little in laying the foundation for a new sorority and further advancing the Black fraternal movement.

The torch of leadership passed through several hands during the 1920s, and the goal of involving women from various regions of the country was reflected in the selection of leaders from coast to coast. The Roaring Twenties ended with the sorority poising itself and moving aggressively to charter more chapters on Black college campuses, particularly the land grant colleges that were experiencing considerable growth in enrollment. The first West Coast chapter was established in Los Angeles and a charter member of that chapter, Soror Hattie McDaniel, became the first Black Academy Award winner in 1939, when she received an Oscar for her performance in Gone with the Wind.

From that cold November day in 1922 when the Alpha Chapter sank its roots into the campus of Butler University, Sigma Gamma Rho has progressively evolved into a thriving sister hood that comprises more than 75,000 college-trained women across the United States, and in Bermuda, Africa, the Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas.

1994 © Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
(This review was submitted by Soror Dr. Katie Kinnard White to Carlson Publishing, Inc. for the 1993 edition of "Black Women in America-An Historical Encyclopedia". It is a non-tradition historical account of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority-a focus on Issues, Involvement, Philosophy and response to problems in the society rather than a history drawn around dates, names and places. There was a limitation to portray 70 years of continuous community service.