LaConnie Taylor-Jones

Black Women in the Frontlines:
Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going and
What We Should Be Concerned With Once We Get There

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.

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A Thread in the Cloth of Sisterhood

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.

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Answering the Call

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

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I have a confession to make: When I left for college in 1981 I didn’t know what a “fraternal organization” was. So it follows that I knew nothing about greekdom, pledging or Delta Sigma Theta. During my first months on campus, the women bonded by red, white and community service remained an awe-inspiring mystery to me that slowly unfolded my freshman year and led me to seek them out the next.
I pledged in the spring of 1983 at the University of Missouri-Columbia, with nine other young women. Like them, I learned the history of our sorority and the lives of its founders. In the years since, I’ve looked to both the strength of our first 22 and the successes of others who have followed in their footsteps.

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

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It has taken me a long time to write this blog. The weight of the subject was a bit daunting. “Renaissance Women 1913-2010: A Sisterhood Called to Serve.” Wow!

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

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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.

When I hear the names of the founders of my organization, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated – Osceola McCarthy Adams, Marguerite Young Alexander, Winona Cargile Alexander, Ethel Cuff Black, Bertha Pitts Campbell, Zephyr Chisom Carter, Edna Brown Coleman, Jessie McGuire Dent, Frederica Chase Dodd, Myra Davis Hemmings, Olive C. Jones, Jimmie Bugg Middleton, Pauline Oberdorfer Minor, Vashti Turley Murphy, Naomi Sewell Richardson, Mamie Reddy Rose, Eliza Pearl Shippen, Florence Letcher Toms, Ethel Carr Watson, Wertie Blackwell Weaver, Madree Penn White, and Edith Motte Young – I immediately think of my pledgeship and how my line sisters and I had to learn those names…in alphabetical order. I remember the days and nights studying who they were and why they were so important to us. I also remember the pride that I felt knowing that I would be a part of an organization founded by such illustrious women of color.

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.

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The Bond of Sisterhood

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

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FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT

Jimmie Bugg Middleton - Jimmie Middleton was the President and National Treasurer of the National Association of College Women. She also served as Dean of Girls at the Black High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was an active supporter of Delta from Lynchburgh, Virginia. She helped lobby Delta Sigma Theta to participate in the march for Women’s Suffrage. In 1936, she received her Master’s Degree at Howard University. By 1938, after years of effort, the Raleigh Alumnae Chapter, Alpha Zeta Sigma, was established in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1944, she was appointed to the Scholarship Board of New York’s 22nd Congressional District.

May Week
May Week was created at the second national convention of Delta Sigma theta Sorority, Inc. in 1920, at Wilberforce University. Since its conception in 1921, May Week has been observed by local chapters around the world. The purpose of May Week is to emphasize the importance of higher education in the community, especially for Black women. The slogan “Invest in Education” was adopted, and a week in May is set aside for programs highlighting academic and professional achievement.

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‘Renaissance Women 1913-2010: A Call to Action’

Deltas can do it all, parent, work a job, run a committee meeting, serve in a leadership role at church, juggle a number of other organizations, and still manage to whip up dinner and carve out a few minutes of family time at the end of the day to spend with hubby and kids. As authors, we even have the nerve to extend the day by throwing in a chapter or two on whatever books we’re currently writing. Busy, busy, busy, taking charge, making things happen, that’s what we do…but in this hectic world and intense times, the question becomes is that what we need to do? So often we’re pulled, more like stretched in many directions, often too thin to be truly effective at any one project unless we’re willing to pay the price of exhaustion and potentially burn out. Haven’t we all seen the super Delta who is asked to serve on multiple committees, numerous fundraisers, and on and on, until she gets tired and moves to an inactive status.

Sorors, stop for a second, take a breath, regroup and let’s be focused. There is work to be done and we must be at the top of our game. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” – Luke 10:2. The causes deemed noteworthy to a group of twenty two poised young women in 1913 still exist today: promoting academic excellence, boldly addressing injustice, and helping others in need.

As we ebb towards the end of a decade marred with social unrest, wars, global economic destruction, and political history, the need for Delta Sigma Theta involvement is great. Every soror is needed as we move into 2010. For those who’ve taken a rest and are sitting on the sideline, this is your Call to Action. We need you recharged, revitalized, restored and ready to do the work we aspire to do as members of our illustrious sisterhood. For those working tirelessly and at times feeling overwhelmed, we need you to reduce the load, scale back enough to preserve your health so that your contributions are fruitful for years to come. For those who are carrying their share, keep on keeping on in the name of Delta, recognizing that you are impacting your community, but as a collective, united, sisterhood, we are impacting the world.

Sisterly,
Soror Patricia Haley-Glass

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