DominikaKouassi

Sororities and Fraternities are a common social group that promote service, community and brother and sisterhood and are found at many colleges and universities in America. To some, these are a vital part of the college experience, especially during undergraduate school. To others, these groups have very little significance to their lives.

In 1880, Kappa Alpha Theta was the first organization established as a Greek-Letter fraternity, and in 1882 Gamma Phi became the first to label themselves as a sorority. However, despite the numerous sororities that continued to be founded after them they were white only.  For many years, Black women and men were left in the dark and excluded from joining these organizations. 

“Community and sisterhood, it’s something that lives on forever.” 

Caroline McDonald ’25

On Dec. 4, 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha was founded, marking the first-ever Black fraternity. Shortly following on Jan. 15, 1908, Ethel Hodgeman and a group of 15 other young Black college women banded together to form Alpha Kappa Alpha who are known more famously as the AKA’s. Inspired by their bravery, eight other Black sororities and fraternities formed and then banded together to create the National Panhellenic Council otherwise known as the Divine Nine or “D9.”

These nine Greek organizations are Alpha Kappa Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, Alpha Phi Alpha, Phi Beta Sigma, Sigma Gamma Rho and Iota Phi Theta. 

These nine fraternities and sororities have had an immense influence on Historically Black Colleges and Universities while also being available at some predominantly white universities. For example, Creighton University has a Zeta Phi Beta chapter. At Marian, though girls are too young to cross into a chapter, they have mothers who have crossed into a D9 sorority.

What differentiates these organizations is the initiation process. All organizations of the D9 are strictly against hazing but they do have pre-initiation rituals called a probate, which is an initiation ceremony into the sorority. Senior Caroline McDonald has witnessed these firsthand as her mother Christie McDonald has been a part of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority since December of 2021. 

Surprisingly, McDonald didn’t know much about her mother crossing into the AKA chapter because it’s a private process. “One day she sat me down and explained that she is going to have a lot more events to be going to and a lot of new people are going to be in her life,” McDonald said. However, something that is allowed to be shared is what happens at the probate ceremony. “At the probate, they list a lot of facts while doing their strolls and chants.” Strolling is a practice and group formation that varies from one Greek organization to another. It is like dancing but with their hand symbols and chants or calls that signify what sorority they are from. 

However, these practices are sacred to each organization and should never be done unless one is a part of said organization. McDonald explains, “These things [chants and strolls] are copyrighted from AKA themselves so it is not appropriate if you are not a part of the society to be doing them, because it’s their culture.” This goes for all other chapters of the D9.

Sophomore Arie Jackson’s mother, Donna Stewart-Jackson, is a part of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. “I know a lot of them and most of them probably watched or babysat me.” In contrast to McDonald, Jackson’s mother has been a Delta since college. Her earliest remembrance of her mom’s sorority are at events. “I would hear their chants all the time as a kid and think they were cool,” Jackson said.

Though the connections are through her mom, Jackson also has a lot of support from her mom’s sorority sisters who “keep me notified on scholarships,” Jackson said. Growing up with a Delta mom, Jackson feels she has always had a good example of community. “I could go to Atlanta right now and my mom could call some of her Delta friends and I would have somewhere to stay.” Though crossing into a sorority isn’t something Jackson is interested in at the moment, it is still something that she highly respects and admires because of the values that she grew up seeing in her house.

“Community and sisterhood, it’s something that lives on forever,” McDonald said. McDonald is confident that she will rush into an AKA chapter when she gets into college because of the valuable principles she learned from her mother being an AKA.

The Divine Nine and their history is vital to not only Black culture but to the prominence of Greek life. Joining these groups has become a popular trend among the new generation going to college, and as the interest grows, so should the knowledge about their history.