FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT

Edith Motte Young - an accomplished pianist from North Carolina, Ms. Young was the first Recording Secretary of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Alpha Chapter. Upon graduation from Howard University, she moved to Youngstown, Ohio. Later, Mrs. Young taught at Claflin College in Orangeburg, South Carolina and went on to receive her M.A. Degree in Biblical Literature from Oberlin College in Ohio.

Dr. Betty Shabazz Delta Academy
Dr. Betty Shabazz’s Delta Academy (“Catching the Dreams of Tomorrow, Preparing Young Women for the 21st Century”) is designed for girls ages 11 to 14, who have an interest in developing leadership skills. The program is named in honor of sorority member, the late Dr. Betty Shabazz, wife of Malcolm X.

Participants of this program demonstrate potential for success, but may not have support systems or access to financial resources. The program exposes girls to math, science, technology, and non-traditional careers. The Delta Academy sessions may also include service learning activities, field trips and book clubs. The Delta Academy’s symbol is the dream catcher, which is a Native American culture and symbolizes the power to capture bad dreams and entangle them into a web. Thus, the good dreams pass through the dream hoop’s center into the person.

Born Betty Dean Sanders (May 28, 1936 – June 23, 1997), in Detroit, Michigan, Soror Shabazz was an adopted child and grew up in a fairly sheltered, middle-class household. Her early social life consisted of the local Methodist church with her parents on Sundays, parties on some Saturday nights with church friends, and movies on Fridays. After graduating from high school, she attended Tuskegee Institute and encountered her first racial hostilities, which she didn’t understand, and her parents refused to acknowledge. “They thought [the problems] were my fault,” Soror Shabazz later wrote in an autobiographical portrait printed in Essence magazine. After two years in Alabama, she moved to New York City to attend nursing school at Brooklyn State Hospital.

After the death of her husband, Malcolm X, Soror Shabazz raised and educated her daughters, but still managed to further her education. Between 1970 and 1975, she completed a master’s degree in public health administration and received a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In 1976, she joined the faculty of Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn as associate professor of health administration. Shortly thereafter, she became director of the school’s Department of Communications and Public Relations.

~ ~ ~

Sisterhood is the essence of all the wisdom of the ages,
Distilled into a single word.
You cannot see sisterhood,
Neither can you hear it nor taste it
But you can feel it a hundred times a day.

It is a pat on the back,
A smile of encouragement,
It’s someone to share with,
To celebrate your achievements.

What is a sister?
She is your mirror shining back at you with a world of possibilities
She is your witness who sees you at your worst and best
And love you anyway.
She is your midnight companion,
Someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark.

If you should feel sorrow or pain,
She will share it with you,
If you should feel happiness or joy
She will rejoice
Every tear that you weep,
She shall catch
Every smile that you smile,
Will lighten her load,
And traveling at the speed of light,
Will return to you threefold.

We are joined through sisterhood.
As generations of women gone before,
We are as individual as the sun and moon,
But tempered of the same fire – The Torch of Wisdom
Therefore we are as one.

Our power is in our strengths combines,
We are Delta Women.

By Soror Darrylyn Swift

Two months after posing for the infamous founder’s day picture, our sorors participated in the Women’s Suffrage march that occurred on a rainy day in Washington, D.C., in March of 1913. But because of the legalized Jim Crow laws in place at that time, our founders were required to march at the very back of the line.

Living in these times, could not have been easy for our founders. It’s no wonder that they had social change and service to others on their minds as they founded our beloved sorority, Delta Sigma Theta. And although Martin Luther King had not been born, and it would be decades before he delivered his I Have Dream speech, I’m sure our founders dreamed. I imagine they dreamed of a better future for themselves, their families, and the African-American community. They were Renaissance women who dreamed of change, I’m sure, and dedicated their lives to serving others. I’m sure they dreamed that African Americans would be educated in greater numbers and have adequate housing; that the lynching would stop, and that Blacks would no longer be discriminated against. Like so many others did in 1912, they probably placed their hopes and dreams in the election of President Woodrow Wilson, who promised to help African Americans with their fight for justice, but then changed his mind after being elected and promptly fired most of the African American government supervisors. In 1912, there was an urgency of change in the hearts and minds of African Americans, and I believe our founders wanted the same as they formed Delta Sigma Theta. I believe they decided that by serving others, they would be the change that they wanted.

It’s been ninety seven years since our founders posed for the Founder’s Day picture. There are now 275,000 Deltas and 990 chapters, stretched across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Barack Obama is now the first African American president of the United States. “Yes We Can,” rings from the White House, and our president has called for us all to do our part. Deltas continue to work, individually and collectively, to improve our communities with the Delta ideals of service buried deep in our hearts.

Now the year is 2009. Yet, still, these are disturbing times: Over 50 percent of the homeless population is African American. Over 50 percent of the prison population is African-American. Over 50 percent of the new Aids cases are African American. HIV/AIDS is the leading killer of African American women ages 18 to 35, and African Americans are 21 more times likely to die from HIV/AIDS as non-Hispanic white women. Our teens are 50 times more likely to drop out of school. In 2009, I, like our founders, want the lives of African Americans to improve. It gives me comfort to know that I’m not alone: That 275, 000 Deltas, near and far, have the same values of sisterhood and service buried deep in their hearts. I just pray that we all understand that the call to service is urgent. These are disturbing times. Let’s continue to make our founders proud.

Sisterly,
Soror Meme Kelly

About the author

MEME KELLY is President of JGS Communications and Sisters Supporting Sisters, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit, whose mission is to SHOUT (Shine Your Light, Have Hope, Overcome, Use God’s Power, and Take Charge) for disabled young adults, women facing severe challenges and at-risk youth.

Meme is also an author and publisher of several books and playwright of Shout, a play. The SHOUT is also an inspirational seminar designed to unleash one’s power during challenging times and has been presented at homeless shelters, transition and juvenile detention facilities, community based organizations, churches, bookstores, retreats, and at inner city schools.

Meme received her B.A. degree from UCLA, is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and says her life mission is to inspire and entertain with the written word and to serve others. She is the wife of Rennie Kelly and the mother of three sons, Rennie Jr., Corey, and Austin.

Visit Meme on-line:
Website: www.memekelly.com

About the book

As readers turn the pages of Shout Out Above Life’s Storms I have Wings to Fly, they’ll share an exciting journey with Emma Kurtail, Esq., and her friends Joan, Marla and Shelly “the Wing girls — as they face betrayal, overcome addiction, hold on to hope, and heal child hood wounds. And live the principals of the SHOUT — Success, Have Hope, Overcome Obstacles, Use God’s Power and Take Charge.

They are women determined to fly above life’s storms, knowing that regardless of the difficulties they face, their strength will be renewed. Emma faces a crisis, Shelly, a secret, Marla, low-self esteem, and Joan, the ghost of her past, putting them On Edge (the beginning of the trilogy). Yet, still, they JUST GOTTA SHOUT and put on their Wings to Fly.

FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT

Madree Penn White – was the driving force and inspiration behind Delta Sigma Theta. She is originally from Atchison, Kansas but moved to Omaha, Nebraska. Mrs. White drafted the constitution and set of by-laws. She also selected the Greek letter symbols and created the initiation ritual. She was the first female to be on the Howard University Journal’s staff as editor. She also was the Founder and President of the Triangle Press Company in St. Louis, Missouri.

The title of my blog entry is an attempt to capture in one long phrase, kudos and praises as well as a slight nudge of warning. It is meant to highlight the very rich legacy, strides, and contributions that Black Women have made in the United States and beyond. But it is also meant to warn that there is indeed no rest for the weary. History has shown us that there will always be injustices to rail against, struggles to fight and win. But the contemporary times that we live in are telling us with resounding clarity that our current battles have to be fought even more diligently or there won’t be any lives left.

Black women have been the backbone, the base, the foundation, and the rock for every single moment for Black freedom in the United States. Freedoms have been won based on our hard work and endurance. And as all my sorors know, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated and the strong individual women who make up this illustrious sisterhood, have been there as well, working with their sisters and brothers, fighting for justice and fighting against injustice. From the inception of our organization we have been about doing the work. That is why it doesn’t surprise me that the sorority’s “Healthy Lifestyle: Fit for the Future Initiative” has started to heed the call of the HIV/AIDS crisis in our communities. The HIV/AIDS epidemic is a threat we can no longer ignore. Our health as black women is not an issue that we can ignore. When we look at the roles that black women have played in the black community in making sure that the community remains whole and strong, we realize all the more how truly important our health is.

While I am of the mindset that Black women make up the backbone of black communities, I also realize that when we are not as careful and mindful about our own lives as we are about the many causes we rally behind; both we and the community stand to lose more than we can risk right now. Cancer, obesity, and the many health risks from heart disease to high blood pressure to diabetes that can be the fallout of obesity, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic are all threats that we can no longer stand to ignore. Delta Sigma Theta’s recent “Healthy Lifestyle: Fit for the Future Initiative” is commendable and much needed. When I think of the women warriors we have lost to cancer, women such as Shirley Anne Williams, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, and Beverly Smith, my heart truly breaks.

Black feminist Deborah McDowell writes, “If the headlines can be trusted, the state of black women’s bodies gives great cause for alarm. Breast cancer is on the rise among African American women as are their mortality rates from the disease. Epidemic numbers of black women have hysterectomies because of rampant rates of fibroid tumors. According to a recent report, African American women are stricken with them at ‘two to five times the rate for white women, develop them earlier and have more severe symptoms.’ The number of newly reported cases of AIDS shows equally epidemic rates among African American women. And these are just a few examples of a progressively worsening trend.”

Are we coming from a glorious and righteous past only to head into a future of disease and death? It is time black women begin to think proactively about health issues and the epidemics waiting to literally take us out. Delta Sigma Theta’s recent efforts couldn’t have come at a more pressing time. The situation is dire. And it needs to expand into our work with the younger generation as well. The young women that we hope to one day join our sisterhood, won’t be there if we continue to lose young women of color to HIV/AIDS and the prison industrial complex. Combining the initiatives set out in the recent summits with the on-going Delta GEMS programs can do more good than we know.

As I have tried to show, Black women have been there and done that in ways we have yet to truly recognize and acknowledge. We need to continue to document the work they’ve done and the good work that we are still doing. But we also need to be certain to take care of ourselves and make sure that the community that we are fighting for remains healthy and whole. Audre Lorde is often cited for her famous quote, your silence will not protect you. We must continue to do the good work we are doing. But we must also speak out and spread the word. The silences surrounding HIV/AIDS in our communities have given the disease the traction to spread the way it has. Our sorority’s dedication to becoming vigilant and vocal about the health issues that plague our community is a positive step. And it is also in the tradition of the black women warriors who made their presence known in the public sphere in the past. As we celebrate the Renaissance Women of our dynamic sisterhood, we should do so knowing that these health initiatives put Delta Sigma Theta firmly in the frontlines of progress, change and perhaps our most important battle yet, the battle for our very lives. Given our rich history and legacy, where else would we be?

Thanks for listening to me sorors, continue to fight the good fight and be the renaissance women you are!

Sisterly,
Soror Gwyneth Bolton

About the author

Gwyneth Bolton was born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. She currently lives in Syracuse, New York with her husband Cedric. When she was 12-years-old, she became an avid reader of romance by sneaking her mother’s stash of Harlequin and Silhouette novels. In the 90s, she was introduced to African American and multicultural romance novels and her life hasn’t been the same since. While she had always been a reader of romance, she didn’t feel inspired to write them until the genre opened up to include other voices. And even then, it took finishing graduate school, several non-fiction publications, and a six-week course at the Loft Literary Center titled Writing the Romance Novel; before she gathered the courage to start writing her first romance novel. Gwyneth has a BA and an MA in English/Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in English/Composition and Rhetoric. She teaches classes in writing and women’s studies at the college level. She has won several awards for her romance novels, including four Emma Awards and the Romance In Color Reviewer’s Choice award for new author of the year. When she is not teaching or working on her own African American romance novels, she is curled up with a cup of herbal tea, a warm quilt, and a good book.

Visit Gwyneth on-line:
Website: http://www.gwynethbolton.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Gwyneth-Bolton
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/gwynethbolton

About the book

Some like it hot…

Firefighter Patrick Hightower will take any risk in the line of duty. Risking his heart again? That’s something he’s vowed never to do. He prefers scorching affairs—the briefer, the better—though he might make a temporary exception for smart, sexy teacher Aisha Miller. But Aisha isn’t interested in exploring their instant, searing connection-no matter how much she feels the heat.

Aisha has had enough of dominant men trying to control her life, and the gorgeous firefighter who visits her kindergarten class is alpha male through and through. Yet the gentler side Patrick shows, especially around her young son, gradually melts her reserve. As shadows from Aisha’s past resurface, she’ll discover just how far Patrick will go to prove she’s found her real-life hero.

FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT

Wertie Blackwell Weaver - was from Kansas City, Missouri. After graduation, she was also appointed to teach in East St. Louis. Ms. Weaver published a novel entitled The Valley of the Poor, which focused on racism and poverty in the South and was a strong supporter of the Alpha Chapter’s activities.

The Founder’s of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority were exceptional women. Frankly, anyone who dared to assemble together to increase the strength of individuals for the betterment of the community at that time, was exceptional. Each Founder represented a thread of values, ideals, principles, convictions and character that, when combined with the others created a sisterhood that has endured for almost 100 years.

Delta Sigma Theta, to me, is like a big beautiful quilt which is held together by the individual ‘threads’ that are the sorority sisters. Each of us contribute to her enhancement and longevity and in return, she gives us cohesion, solidarity, a pattern to follow, standards to uphold, comfort and all other things a physical quilt might. The quilt needs each thread to grow and thrive. Her splendor and beauty is made more apparent by each strand that weaves together and creates a new panel. The contribution of each thread varies in its unique talents, aspirations and circumstances. But, when brought together it changes the shape, color and outlook of things.

Like the Founder’s, we are all “Renaissance Women Called to Serve” using our individual talents for the betterment of ourselves, our families and our communities. When I think about that fact, the sense of personal responsibility to continue the legacy can be overwhelming. I challenge myself to demonstrate the principles of the sorority and of the oath that we pledge to uphold and execute. I make it my goal to always see myself as someone who would have been deemed fit to be counted amongst the Founders, regardless of the decade. Do I remain a brilliant, strong, un-frayed fiber in the cloth of those who had a vision and took their activism beyond the walls of Howard University into the world?

As Delta’s, we continue to have a blueprint of standards that we have and always will have access to. As an African American, female Mystery Author, I try to merge everyday with the tenacity and fearless confidence that the Founder’s displayed. There is a big difference between the challenges a civil rights activist faces and those that I face as a writer. Just as it may seem a far stretch to compare writing to Women’s Suffrage, it is equally ridiculous for any of us to hold back and not pursue what has been put in our heart to pursue. Expressing your God-given talents and desire is a form of service to the world.

As I complete my first novel, GENE KILL: CONCEPTION, and a memoir about being a caregiver to my mother with breast cancer called PINK RIBBON, PURPLE HEART (as well as several other works), I look to fellow authors and colleagues who’s thread of experience and expertise help me to develop my craft and to stay accountable to my dream and my readers. It is easy to think that what we have to contribute is not significant and won’t be missed if it is never brought to light. In reality, it is our duty to serve others in the many ways that we are uniquely capable. When we don’t pursue our dreams or fail to respond to a need, society is the poorer for it. As ‘Renaissance Women Called to Serve’, as threads in the Delta quilt, we have the opportunity to wrap ourselves in the quilt of our sisterhood as a reminder of our mission, our power and our destiny.

Continue to bob (adversity) and weave (those threads), my Sorors!

Sisterly,
Soror Tanaiia Hall

About the author

Tanaiia Hall has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles and received her MBA in Seoul, South Korea where she became familiar with Korean culture and the deployed military community. After graduating, Tanaiia traveled throughout Africa and Central America 98% of the year as an Auditor for an international relief organization. It was through that experience that she conceived of the idea to take her detailed journals of the places she had been (and some she had not) and to write novels by drawing loosely on those experiences. Family and friends encouraged her to write more as her description and voice grabbed her readers and left them wanting to hear more.

Tanaiia has taken creative writing courses and also enjoys reading, photography and fashion as creative outlets.

Tanaiia currently writes a blog on various topics and newsletters for an alumni organization and a small business. She is currently working on the sequel to her debut novel, Gene Kill: The Conception, which is a Milauna Porter mystery series and she has completed a draft of her memoir as a caregiver for her mother who passed away from breast cancer in 2008. She lives in Los Angeles with her turtle, Dexter.

Visit Tanaiia on-line:
Blog: http://tanaiiahallthenomad.spaces.live.com/

FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT

Ethel Carr Watson - was from Parkersburg, West Virginia. During the historic march for Women’s Suffrage in 1913, Mrs. Watson confided that her family told her not to participate. However, she was forced to defy the order because she was selected to hold the banner since she was the tallest. Ms. Watson pursued her teaching career over a period of thirty years. After retiring from the education field, she began a second career as a dramatic performer.

As a little girl I would watch in awe as my mother dressed for the annual Delta Ball. Beautiful she was. I could not wait to grow up so that I could be a Delta, get dressed up, and wear a fabulous red evening gown.

During my teenage years in the 70’s, seeing the positive response and respect that the community had for what was to be my sorority, I began asking my mother questions about what she, my aunt, and that group of women did and why they sometimes called each other soror. She told me how twenty-two women in 1913, college students at Howard University, felt the call of sisterhood and came together to form Delta Sigma Theta sorority. This organization was dedicated to making a difference for African-American women, bringing rebirth to the pride of being a woman of color. So no longer did I think that being a Delta was just about wearing a red evening gown.

There was a call to sisterhood to bring about change and make a difference, to be a Renaissance woman. When my mother became president of her local chapter, I was able to see first hand what it really meant to be a Delta. The dedication my mother had to the causes the sorority supported in the community moved me to a new level of understanding. Here on earth God made us keepers of each other and responsible for seeing to humanitarian needs. By the time I was pinned by my mother, I was more than just a legacy – I had joined a force of women in a position to bring about change and new birth. I too was a Renaissance woman.

Twenty-five years later I pinned my own daughter, another one to carry the torch for the next generation of our family answering the call. For the fourteen women forming the “Crimson Tide” of our family, we are more than legacy. For three generations we have been true to the call to serve our communities, to bring about social change, and stand at the forefront of issues for the betterment of our nation. It is that energy that makes me proud to wear crimson and crème. No longer is it just about an evening gown.

Sisterly,
Soror JA Adams

About the author

JA Adams, author of three psychological suspense novels, uses personal and professional experiences to bring awareness to the epidemic of domestic violence in hopes of saving other young women by letting them know they too can move from victim to survivor. Along with extensive experience working with victims of violence in a therapeutic setting, her writings allude to healing the spirit and soul of victims. Experience include, therapeutic counselor for child victims of violence, court advocate for victims of domestic violence and violent crimes, Child Protective Service investigator, Training Coordinator for Educare Training Institute writing curriculum for educators working with traumatized children.

In 1995 she traveled with the Institute to Oklahoma City to provide assistance to educators in working with traumatized children and their families following the aftermath of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. In addition she has served as Executive Director of two nonprofit child intervention programs, and director of her church’s youth ministry. Presently, in addition to her writing, she volunteers with the Ortralla Mosley Foundation promoting awareness on teen dating violence. And the most important thing she is proof one can find love again after trauma.

Visit JA on-line:
Website: www.jaadamsauthor.com

About the book

When murder, jealousy and revenge come together, there is always unfinished business. Jimmy Dupree is back with vengeance having carefully plotted the punishment for the family he thinks made him loose everything. Family secrets unfold as the Darhling family wake up to their worst nightmare.

FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT

Florence Letcher Toms – a native of Washington, D.C. was presented her diploma and scholarship by William Howard Taft upon graduating from Howard University. Active in many civil rights organizations, Ms. Toms presented First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to an audience of parents at her church. Later in life, she became a member of the Board of Directors of the Family Welfare Association and the Federation of Parent Teachers Associations. As her accomplishments grew, and so did her hobbies. Ms. Toms collected elephants, which has become a hobby to Delta’s all over the world.

As a creative soul, I’ve been drawn to the artistry of poet Nikki Giovanni, dancer Judith Jamison, singer Roberta Flack, and athlete Wilma Rudolph. I have leaned on my own line sisters over the years for uplift in life’s hard times and to celebrate its goodness.

Perhaps my most eye-opening moment as a Delta came recently when my son, now a college junior, decided to pledge a fraternity. Unlike me, he left for college with some knowledge of Greek life. Yet, true to the stubbornness inherent in our family, he approached becoming a member as a privilege and conducted in-depth research into how and where he felt he best fit – focusing first on community service.

He’d also seen the recent movie Stomp the Yard, which portrayed one young man’s struggle to find himself and how that evolves through fraternity. Yet, once my son had made his decision and the time came to begin his personal journey, he came to me: “Mom, what was pledging like?”

For the first time in many years, I had the chance to reflect on days and nights, words and dreams, recitation and singing, from a wholly different perspective. I recounted my memories not from the seasoned perspective of a woman fully grown and 25-plus years removed, but as an anxious coed, stepping into and unknown but welcome future.

I closed our conversation by reminding him that though subsequent years have scattered us, many of us remain in touch today and the experience continues to sustain me. “I wouldn’t trade those days for the world,” I told him.

Sisterly,
Soror Stefanie Worth

About the Author

Stefanie Worth enjoys writing stories about everyday women facing supernatural dilemmas and writes stories that give her characters the second chances life sometimes doesn’t allow. Her debut novel, Where Souls Collide, won the Science Fiction category of the 2008 African American Literary Awards Show. Her other works include novellas Can You Believe in The Holiday Inn anthology and current release HeavenSent.com in the Holiday Brides anthology. She’s now hard at work to meet the deadline for her 2011 release The Wicked and the Wonderful.

She is a former news anchor for National Public Radio affiliate KBIA and ABC-TV affiliate KOMU (both in Missouri) and WJLB radio in Detroit. Stefanie has also been published locally by the Metro Times and Michigan Chronicle newspapers, and nationally by Class, Black Excellence and Upscale magazines. Her writing honors include winning first place in the 1993 Paul Laurence Dunbar poetry contest sponsored by the Detroit Writers Guild; having a poem featured in the Metro Times 1992 annual Summer Fiction Issue; and being recognized by the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) for the Michigan Chronicle’s Compositions section.

Visit Stefanie online
Website: www.stefanieworth.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/stefanieworth
MySpace: www.myspace.com/stefanieworth
Twitter: www.twitter.com/stefanieworth

About the Book

In Holiday Brides, the holidays aren’t so festive when you’re celebrating by yourself. But with a little luck and a lot of love, three single women find their soulmates and get the holiday weddings of their dreams.

In HeavenSent.com, Brenna Campbell checks off all her life’s accomplishments year after year but one: snagging Mr. Right and tying the knot. Evan Shephard’s last date convinces him that he hasn’t found the right woman because he’s fishing with the wrong bait: Maybe he should consider the “M” word.

The Detroit co-workers know enough about each other for friendly banter and a one-night stand, but don’t have enough in common – they think – for anything close to love.

It’ll take a pair of guardian angels and the help of an online dating site to turn Brenna’s New Year’s resolution into her dream come true.

FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT

Eliza Pearl Shippen – the Washington, D.C. graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from the Howard College of Arts and Sciences. She went on to receive her M.A. from the Teachers College of Columbia University and the only founder to pursue a Ph.D. and one of the two who never married. She strongly believed in the public service of Delta.

In our day to day life, it is sometimes easier to look ahead – to pay attention to things that lay before us, rather than take the time to consider things that came before us. We spend time on goal setting and planning. We make resolutions. We make lists. For many of us, what we are going to do tomorrow is just as important, if not more important than, what we are going to do today. Once yesterday has passed, we tend not to look back.

Writing this blog has given me an opportunity to look back. I have a chance to look back at all the women who came before me who said, “Just because we’ve always done it this way, doesn’t mean we have to keep doing it this way.” I have a chance to look back at the women who came before me who decided they wanted to make a difference, not just in their communities, but in the world. These women are woven into every fabric of my life. That drive, that passion, that strength, that determination, that fortitude was present in both my grandmothers and in their mothers. I was an adult before I recognized it in my mother, but it’s there. I see it blossoming in my daughters. I’ve seen it in my teachers and in the women they taught me about in school. I wanted to be one of “those” women when I grew up.

Little did I know that in the fall of 1991, on the campus of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX, I would have an opportunity to become one of “those” women. I was initiated into a legacy of change, service, sisterhood and “righteous rule-breaking.” If you don’t like the system, change the system. The desire to change is not always equal to the ability to change, nor is it always met by a system that is open to change. It is this struggle that helps develop character. Romans 5:3-4 (NKJV) says it this way, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

It is the perseverance, character and hope of the 22 founding women of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority that makes me proud to follow the trail they blazed. I appreciate the opportunity to look back. I invite you to look back with me. Be thankful for all the trailblazing women in your life who prepared an opportunity for you long before you ever existed.

I also invite us to look ahead. What are we leaving on the trail we set that people will celebrate 97 years from now?

Sisterly,
Soror Tracie Jae

About the Author

Tracie Jae is best known to readers as Tracie J. Scott. Tracie was initiated into the Kappa Mu Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. in the Fall Semester of 1991.

During the years since her first novel, The Puzzle, was released, Tracie’s life has changed as much as her name. She is newly remarried and co-parenting five children. She and her family reside in Houston, TX.

In addition to The Puzzle, Tracie also has a collected work of poetry called Freedom’s Verse. Unfortunately, neither book is currently in print, but there are plans to reprint both upon the release of her second novel which is currently in the pre-writing stage.

In the meantime, readers can follow Tracie Jae online on her blog, Sermons in my Head.

Visit Tracie on-line:
Blog: Sermons in my Head http://sermonsinmyhead.blogspot.com
Life Mill: http://lifemill.ning.com/profile/traciejae
Facebook: www.facebook.com/traciejae

About the book

The Puzzle is an intriguingly complex story that takes a realistic look at romance in today’s society and pushes the envelope in discussing relationships between men, women and family.

Vergie’s parents taught her to make practical decisions. As a result, she married a man who provided for her financially more than emotionally. When circumstances reunite her with her first true love, she is forced to sort through feelings she was sure no longer existed.

Just when she thinks things could not possibly get more complicated, her family throws her a curve that may be too hard to bear. It seems her parents did not always practice what they preached.

Laugh and cry with Vergie as she tries to assemble the pieces of the puzzle she calls life.

FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT

Mamie Reddy Rose - the most warm and gentle of the twenty-two Delta Founders, was from Beta, South Carolina. Although she graduated, she did not pursue her career objective further. Instead, she married and became a homemaker. Later, Mrs. Rose received an award for her outstanding talent as a dramatic reader.

FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT

Naomi Sewell Richardson – a native of Washingtonville, New York, Ms. Richardson was extremely involved in social activism and civic service. She was appointed to the East St. Louis public school system after graduation by Dean Lewis B. Moore. Later, she taught in Illinois, Princeton, New Jersey, and New York City. Mrs. Richardson was the last surviving founder when she died in 1993.

Delta Days in the Nation’s Capital
In 1989, the National Social Action Commission instituted Delta Days in the Nation’s Capitol. Delta Days is an annual legislative conference to increase sorority members’ involvement in the national public policy-making process. The annual conference includes legislative briefings, issue forums, and developing advocacy skills. Featured speakers include key policy makers, members of the United States Congress, staff members, and national policy experts.

In 2009, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority celebrated their twentieth anniversary of Delta Days in the Nation’s Capital. The theme was “Advocacy in Action: Strengthening Our Legacy”. Topics included empowering membership to be effective social action advocates in the areas of quality education, affordable health care, Census 2010, and economic viability.

Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer (October 6, 1917 – March 14, 1977) was an American voting rights activist and civil rights leader.

Mrs. Hamer was instrumental in organizing the Mississippi Freedom Summer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She later the chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and attended the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Her plain-spoken manner and fervent belief in the biblical righteousness of her cause gained her a reputation as an electrifying speaker and constant champion of civil rights, with the phrase: “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired,” becoming her epitaph.

These women have inspired me to go on to higher heights. As a Delta, you are expected to be better, know more, and do more. When you read what our founders accomplished in their lifetimes, it makes you want to aspire to greatness.

The founders were great educators, well organized, and artistic. The reason we exist is because of service. Several of the founders were dissatisfied with the lack of service in the organization they left to found Delta. Being a Delta means you are willing to give back to your community in an inventive and innovative way. Many great Sorors are known because of their service – service to their country and service to their craft. Sorors like Shirley Chisholm, Ruby Dee Davis, Dr. Dorothy I. Height, Barbara Jordan, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, Gwendolyn Boyd, Vashti McKensie, Natalie Cole, Wilma Rudolfph, Cicely Tyson, and our own illustrious president, Cynthia M.A. Butler-McIntyre, to name a few.

Being a Delta also means financially supporting the organization that has given you the clout to say, “I’m a Delta.” For a couple of years I myself was inactive, but I always felt so guilty saying I was a Delta and not being able to admit to being an active part of an alumnae chapter. The reason I wanted to be a Delta and never even looked at or considered any of the other organizations was the respect that I had for those who were Deltas, the respect I felt I would have as a Delta, and the community service they participated in. I have often wondered why one would become a part of an organization and not support it or participate in it in any way possible. Yes, there may be extenuating circumstances, but the bottom line is that we became a part of this great organization with the full knowledge that it was a service organization and that our affiliation would be for life.

I love Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. I have made some great friendships doing the work. To this day, I continue to respect the organization, the people involved, and the work that we do. Yes, we do a lot, and we are involved in much. But the work is important enough for us to take the time to do it, and to be thankful for the opportunity.

“To whom much is given, much is required.”

Sisterly,
Soror Annetra Piper

About the Author
Annetra Wagner Piper began her career as an educator and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Houston and a Master of Education degree from Prairie View A&M University.

Annetra was raised in Houston, where she developed her love of words and of writing. Annetra’s novels are Christian-based and would fit in the genre of Christian fiction, although they are full of drama! The characters are so real they make you wonder if Annetra has been around your family.

An avid traveler and reader, Annetra Piper is married to her college sweetheart and has three awesome children. She released her most current novel, Living With No Regrets, in collaboration with her mom, Earnestine Bryant Wagner, who provided the delicious recipes of foods mentioned in the book.

Her first novel, a love story entitled When You Think of Me, was well received. Annetra Wagner Piper continues to work in an administrative capacity in the field of education. Between taking care of her family and working with non-profit organizations and her church, she is extremely busy and fulfilled. Annetra lives in the Houston area. She is an active member of the Houston Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Visit Annetra on-line:
Website: www.annetrapiperbooks.com

About the book
Cherrelle Elliot has been betrayed by both family and friends. On the day of her wedding, her fiancé jilts her at the altar and marries her first cousin. She is devastated to find that her family members have accepted the relationship without regard to her feelings when she sees her ex-fiancé, cousin, and their new child being admired at the family reunion. Her grief and embarrassment cause her to leave her home city of New Orleans and move to Houston.

After years away from New Orleans, Cherrelle’s grandmother asks her to chair the family reunion committee, but she refuses. Reassigned to New Orleans to work on a new project for her company, she is forced to take a matured look at her family, and Cherrelle realizes that some things have changed. Her grandmother is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, her sister is being abused by her husband, and her father is missing to name a few. The only things that make life in New Orleans bearable are the foods that remind her of the love of her family and an unexpected reunion with Cory, a childhood friend she secretly had a crush on.

Her grandmother’s disease forces Cherrelle to take over the family reunion, but plans are interrupted when Hurricane Katrina roars through, causing havoc for the family as members are separated from one another.

Living With No Regrets is a story of how Cherrelle and her family deal with betrayal, forgiveness, family, love, reunion planning, Alzheimer’s, and spousal abuse. Recipes to the meals that routinely bring the family together are included.

FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT

Vashti Turley Murphy – a native of Washington, D.C., graduated from M Street High School, which later known as Dunbar High School and was the first public high school for Blacks in the United States. After graduation, Ms. Turley attended the Minor Normal School, which was associated with Howard University. In 1908, she was appointed to teach in Washington public schools. Mrs. Murphy was also an ardent supporter of the major political issues of the day-voting rights for women. Later in life, she married Carl Murphy publisher and editor of the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper was an active member of the Baltimore Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the National Association of College Women. Her granddaughter is Soror Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie.

Recently, I attended the Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City. Having achieved the goal of being both a self-published and traditional author, I was there to learn how to build my marketing platform to take my writing career to the next level. The buzz word was social media. According to Joseph Thornley, CEO of Thornley Fallis, Social media are online communications in which individuals shift fluidly and flexibly between the role of audience and author. To do this, they use social software that enables anyone without knowledge of coding, to post, comment on, share or mash up content and to form communities around shared interests. As I sat there listening to the oral presentations, my mind drifted back to over forty years ago when I was a young student at Howard University on the threshold of my career.

In the sixties, we didn’t have computers and social media. But we had something that was just as powerful, if not more so—sororities and fraternities. I was in my senior year when I pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and several months later I graduated. Forty years later, the Tantalizing 28, met for their fortieth reunion during the 2007 Howard University Homecoming. I hadn’t seen most of my line sisters since 1967. I was excited about the reunion, but also apprehensive. Would they remember me? I wondered. I was only with them such a short time.

When I walked through the door of my soror’s home for the Friday night meet and greet, I cried as so many arms reached out and embraced me that no amount of online social media networking could accomplish. A weekend of activities gave us the chance to get acquainted again, but always knowing that the bond was still there as evident by the next day’s event. My book signing at the Howard University Bookstore was overflowing with sorors in their red and white. I know that social marketing has its place in today’s high tech world. But it is the human contact and bond of my sorors that has touched my heart.

In 2013, Delta Sigma Theta will be celebrating its 100th anniversary. I look forward to seeing my line sisters again. I am grateful for the 22 women who probably never heard of the phrase social media, but knew that the bond of sisterhood could never be a broken link.

Sisterly,
Soror June Michael

About the Author

JJ Michael (aka. June Michael) is the founder of Pathtotruth.com and publisher of Path2truth ezine, a newsletter that promotes spiritual awareness, self-development and world peace. Ms. Michael is the author of Path to Truth: a Spiritual Guide to Higher Consciousness, iUniverse.com, 2000; Life is Never as It Seems, Genesis-Press, 2005 and It’s Not Over Yet, Genesis-Press, 2007.

Ms. Michael just completed Secrets Unraveled, the third in the series to be release in 2010. A renowned numerologist, Ms. Michael appeared in CNN’s segment, “A Wrinkle in Time,” local Virginia Cable Television and has been featured on National Public Radio (NPR). Her formal education includes a BA from Howard University and a MLS from the University of Maryland. For over thirty years, Ms. Michael worked as an administrative librarian for the District of Columbia Public Library System. Besides writing and being an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Washington D.C. Alumni Chapter, Ms. Michael loves spending time with her family, traveling to sacred sites, playing chess and reading.

Visit June online:
Website: http://www.jjmichael.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jjmichael.author
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jj_michael_author
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JJMichael

About the book
They’re back! The women of the most powerful city in the world, Washington D.C., are sassier than ever. Lindy is no longer an innocent young girl, but a vivacious woman who has one thing on her mind. Betty won’t let her marriage or the marriage of her lover keep them a part. Diana destroys anything and anyone who stands in her way to the top. Margaret, Lindy’s mother, flips between being the loving first lady of Mt. Olive Baptist Church and being the scalawag preaching her own brand of Christianity. Grace Perry, the newcomer to the pack, snoops around finding out the dirt on everyone while hiding her own deep dark past. And lastly, the mysterious healer with her ancient healing secrets holds the key that will either make or break them. And if you don’t think that is enough wait until you find out what the men are up too.

FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT

Pauline Oberdorfer Minor – Ms. Minor, an excellent musician, was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. While attending Howard University, she became the first treasurer of the Alpha Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. In 1914, she graduated valedictorian of the Teacher’s College and went on to become President of the Teacher’s Club. Mrs. Minor taught school in Alabama, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Her published book entitled, “Soul Echos” features forty of her own compositions as a renowned mezzo-soprano recitalist.