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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
