Presidents Detailed Flashcards
1
Q
Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1919-1923)
1st National President
A
- 1st Black to be awarded Ph.D
- 1st Black woman to be admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar
- Served as the official legal advisor to the Sorority
- Elected to the office of Grand President four times
- Alpha Chapter (Howard U.), Gamma Chapter (University of Penn), Epsilon Chapter (The Ohio State University) attended 1st National Convention
- Chapters were established on college campus in Cincinnati, Syracuse, Ithaca (NY), Berkley (CA), Chicago, Pittsburg, Ann Arbor, and Omaha
- Graduate chapters were authorized at the 2nd National Convention in 1920, (New York City and Washington, D.C.)
- Kappa Chapter was established at the Univ. of Cali., 1st Greek letter organization for Negro college men and women on the Pacific Coast (Charter Member- Vivian Osborne Marsh)
- Initiated May Week
- Established The Delta official journal of the sorority
- Idea of establishing the Housing Fund, Sinking Fund, the Scholarship Award Fund, and a College Tuition Fund
- Title of Omega Chapter reserved for deceased sorors
- Became First Honorary Grand President of DST
2
Q
G. Dorothy Pelham Beckley (1923-1926)
2nd National President
A
- Use of printed forms for reports, applications, and other formal Documents
- Delta Sigma Theta Bulletin published
- “Delta Hymn” written and composed by Big Sisters Alice Dunbar Nelson and Florence Cole Talbert
- New nomenclature system for naming chapters was authorized
- Jabberwock adopted (Iota Chapter)
- Emphasis on Internal Development
- Regional Conferences established
- Established Omega Omega as memorial chapter, resulting from the chartering of Omega Chapter at Western Reserve University (revised nomenclature system)
3
Q
Ethel Lamay Calimese (1926-1929)
3rd National President
A
- Allowed each region to elect their own Regional Director
- Biennial Conventions approved at 9th convention (1927), would began with the 10th convention in 1929
- Issue of exclusiveness was finally addressed
- National Vigilance Committee was established to keep in touch with political and civic activities of the country as they affected the Negro race in general, became political mouthpiece for sorority. Activities include: pleas for academic freedom at Howard U., appealed President to allow a qualified Negro to investigate the conditions in Haiti, set up the passage of the Anti-Lynch Bill.
4
Q
Anna Johnson Julian (1929-1931)
4th National President
A
- Offices of Grand Secretary and Grand Treasurer bonded
- Grand Chapter incorporated
- National Pan-Hellenic Council formed (Julian served as Treasurer)
- Former Grand Journalist and chaired the Committee on Regional Conferences
- Urged local chapters to form their own vigilance committee to protest against unfair, un-American, and discriminating practices in their own immediate vicinity
- “Jubilee Year”, established to reclaim inactive members and encourage them to rededicate themselves to the ideas of the sorority’s
- Appointed a committee to develop the ways and means by which an executive secretary might be secured and be paid a salary commensurate with the services required of such a person (11th National Convention)
5
Q
Gladys Byram Shepperd (1931-1933)
5th National President
A
- First formal Delta Directory published
- National boards as a component of organization structure created
- Central region established (12th National Convention)
- Instrumental in stabilizing the finances of Grand Chapter and expanding Delta Sigma Theta into the South
- Constitution was revised to permit the acceptance of schools accredited “B” by the national known college rating agencies
6
Q
Jeannette Tripplett Jones (1933-1935)
6th National President
A
- 1st National Handbook
- Revised printed release of the National Constitution
- Awarded the Silver Loving Cup (awarded biennially to the chapter that best interpreted the organization’s national programs to its community)
- National Headquarters established (13th Convention)
- Office of Executive Secretary created, Edna Johnson Morris (1st time an honorary office was bestowed on a member of DST, served for 10 years) (13th Convention)
7
Q
Vivian Osborne Marsh (1935-1939)
7th
A
- Revision of the sorority ritual (1939)
- National library authorized, traveling library in areas of the South where facilities were unavailable to Negroes (1st books were distributed to underprivileged communities in North Carolina)
- Study of purchase of a National Headquarters building
- Promoted the sorority’s philanthropic interest
- 1st regional chairman
- 1st national officer from the west
- Established Delta as the 1st collegiate Negro organization recognized by the University of California and west of Mississippi
8
Q
Helen Elsie Austin (1939-1944)
8th
A
- 1st black woman to graduate from the University of Cincinnati Law School
- “JOB ANALYSIS” endorsed as national project, experimental centers were set up in each of the six regions of the sorority. Program dedicated to increasing the representation of Negro women in the job field (Chair person- Dorothy Irene Height) (16th National Convention)
- Approval of the purchase of $5,000 work of US Gov’t War Bonds, 1st large purchase made by a national organization of Negro Women (16th National Convention)
- Decision to meet annually instead of biennially (16th National)
- Victory Book Drive, national book drive for servicemen
- Addressed discrimination in the armed forces
- Created the Office of Undergraduate Chapter
9
Q
Mae Wright Peck Williams (1944-1947)
9th
A
- Focus on voting and equal rights for women and minorities and fair employment practices
- Purchase of war bonds and ambulances
- Emphasized education
- Significantly and financially, was involved in founding of Roosevelt College (University) in Chicago, IL (1945)
- Contributed to the NAACP, Urban League, Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF)
- Sponsored performances of talented young women at the National Convention providing a large audience in a time when such were limited
- Traveling Library was formally opened in Franklin County, NC on December 8, 1945
10
Q
Dorothy Irene Height (1947-1956)
10th
A
- Purchase of national Headquarters building
- Revision of nomenclature
- 1st Executive Director hired (Patricia Roberts Harris)
- Graduate chapters to be known as Alumnae chapters
- Member-at-Large category proposed
- Delta Five-Point Project (library service, job opportunities, community service, the international project and mental health)
- Delta Women in a Decade of Decision (1954)- 23rd National Convention held in New York City at the Roosevelt Hotel, 1st African-American organization to hold its national meeting in a major hotel.
11
Q
Dorothy Penman Harrison (1956-1958)
11th
A
- Established the Delta Newsletter (April, 1957), designed to keep the membership better informed of announcements and communications of general interest
- First Delta Christmas Party- December 1957 to the “Little Rock Nine” express sincere appreciation for the valiant efforts and personal sacrifices of people.
- “Burn the Mortgage” on the First National Headquarters
- Pressed the issue of women in the labor force, mental health, integration, and the expansion of civil rights
- Membership grew with 247 chapters and 22, 000 members
12
Q
Jeanne L. Noble (1958-1963)
12th
A
- 1st African American woman to become a tenured professor at New York University
- One of the two youngest women to be elected to the office of National President
- Golden Anniversary of DST was celebrated
- Participated in March on Washington (1963)
- Sorority participated in National Organization of Women for Equality in Education Conference (1960)
- The Social Action Commission was established at 27th National Convention in New York City (1963)
- “Crucible of Social Action”- labeled the sorority’s commitment to their increased their public service activity.
- Believed that Deltas have a responsibility to lift as we climb and elitism has no place in the Delta House
- Theme included that women needed to become less social and more social actions and issue oriented.
- AFTER PRESIDENCY, aided in defining the goals and objectives of the Arts and Letters Commission and with sorority member, Nancy Randolph, conceptualizing and co-authoring the new Membership Intake Program in the early 1980s
13
Q
Geraldine Pittman Woods (1963-1967)
13th
A
- Membership grew from 8,835 members in 274 chapters to 10,000 members to 316 chapters
- 1st African American woman appointed to the National Advisory General Medical Services Council (1964)
- The mortgage on the National Headquarters was paid on July 21, 1966
- Delta Teen Lift was established (1963)
- Conference for Counselors in cooperation with the University of California -Berkley (1964)
- Donation of the DST Collection of Books written by and about Negroes to the Omaha, Nebraska Public Library (1965)
- Cancer Fund
- Delta Research and Educational Foundation [DREF] (1967)
- Focus on social and education betterment
14
Q
Frankie Muse Freeman (1967-1971)
14th
A
- Civil Rights Attorney
- 1st woman appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
- Social Justice
- Named to the U.S. Civil Rights Walk of Fame Atlanta, GA
- Delta sponsored a Conference for Women held in East Africa (1970)
- Increased Delta’s activism during the civil rights movement
- Implemented Project: DST (Discover Scholastic Talent)- volunteers worked with small groups of students and shared information for goal setting beyond high school
- Delta Teen Lift Program was restructured- to represent a broader cross section of the general population
- Enhanced the public service image of the Sorority
- Delta devotes resources to fighting poverty (2nd Term)
- Worked to prevent further division of the races, one such program was the expanded communications between Black and White women through workshops initiated by local Delta Chapters.
15
Q
Lillian Pierce Benbow (1971-1975)
15th
A
- New Headquarters located at 1705 1707 1709 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC (1972)
- Delta Right to Read Program established, the 1st nationally coordinated effort to help the functionally illiterate (1973)
- Implemented the National Commission on Arts and Letter—Lena Horne and Leotyne Price as Honorary Co-Chairs
- Direct Search for Talent- program designed to identify, encourage, and assist minority youth in financial or cultural need in completion of secondary education training
- Worked to reduce the size of national committees: (a) reduce expenses of annual meetings (b) encouraging continuous leadership, increasing the feasibility of committee members with expertise
- Launched DST Telecommunications, Incorporated- invested the largest amount of money in a Black film “Countdown at Kusini” filmed in Nigeria
- Invested heavily in the production of the album, “Roses and Revolutions”- designed to change negative media images of Black women and to move the organization into a ownership posture that would allow Black control over public representation of Black people, especially Black women in media
- Osceola Award was established, for artistic excellence
- $10,000 made to Tougaloo College, library area of civil rights papers named Lillian Pierce Benbow Room of Special Collections
- 1st Sadie T.M. Alexander Award, scholarship for law student, awarded to Patricia Martin at Vanderbilt University
