centennial Archives - After the Altar Call

Hello World,

As you can see just from the home page of my blog, I love my DST! Being a part of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated has enriched my life more than I anticipated when I became a giddy member of DST in Spring 1995! And that is hard to imagine! The day after we were presented to the University of Georgia campus, I proudly wore a Delta baseball cap, a t-shirt with two hands formed in a huge pyramid, dangling golden elephant earrings and the matching necklace and Delta socks (if I am remembering correctly). Although my line name is “Comet,” I was nicknamed “Triple Nalia” by line sisters because of all the Delta paraphernalia I wore that day and the days afterward. It was a fun time…Since then, however, my understand of sisterhood has grown much deeper beyond all of the hype that comes with being a Delta!

Soror Ruby Dee

And this year, the year of Delta’s centennial, I am especially proud to be a member of a sorority that is just as committed to sisterhood, scholarship and service as it was when it was founded in 1913 by 22 women at Howard University! And to commemorate our centennial, some of my sorority sisters joined together to create An Anthology of Sisterhood: A Compilation of 22 Shades of Red. The anthology is the brainchild of my Zeta Psi Chapter Soror Dr. Francene Breakfield. The book sprang forth from her dissertation in which she conveyed the meaning and importance of Delta sisterhood in her life from the “big sister” that mentored her as a high school student to a high school student that eventually became a “little sister” because of her influence. In fact, sisterhood has so inspired Breakfield that she formed a “support group of dissertation-challenged Deltas called ‘Doctoratebound.'” In the anthology, Breakfield, along with her co-editor L.D. Wells, coalesced 22 Deltas from 10 states who contributed more than 100 original poems, essays, short stories and lyrics. And Soror Ruby Dee, the world renowned actress, wrote the foreword and contributed a poem of her own!

“Each chapter of the book highlights a different author and allows her to share her voice and unique experience of sisterhood. Topics include positive relationships among women, spirituality, friendship, sorority life, sibling rivalry, and gender equity,” says Breakfield.

From left to right, Sorors Francene Breakfield, Neicy Wells and Katreisula Bryant Graham, contributors, along with Soror Taria Ellis Brittian, center

One of my favorite stories is about the “Sistagurl” that all women have on the inside…This is the woman that warns us when we are dealing with no good or trifling man but we continue to entertain his foolishness anyway, hoping that somehow he will change or we will change him…In this story, the author recounts morphing into a CIA agent to spy on her man to make sure he was not seeing another woman. “I would get out of my car and lay on the pavement to look under the small crack at the bottom of his garage door to see if I could see another set of wheels next to his truck. I jumped his fence to see if I saw shadows in his bedroom window.” I’m not proud to say I have been an CIA agent a time or two in my dating career…LOL…

If you would like to buy your own copy of An Anthology of Sisterhood: A Compilation of 22 Shades of Red, join contributors at Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Southwest Branch, 3665 Cascade Road, Atlanta 30331, this Sunday, April 7 at 3 p.m. for their book launch! Books are $22. If you cannot make the book launch, you can also buy the book at sisterhood.biz, barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.

Any thoughts?

Hello World,

Usually my posts are about my thoughts, but today, I truly couldn’t express my sentiments about this momentous occasion any better than Soror Melissa Harris-Perry, host of MSNBC’s “Melissa Harris-Perry,” did, so I won’t…

From Melissa Harris-Perry

One hundred years ago today–on Jan. 13, 1913, twenty-two young women at Howard University established Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.The Deltas were founded at a time when women did not have the right to vote. When African Americans were second-class citizens. And when black women were concentrated in the exploitative drudgery of domestic work. As college students, these young women understood that their education meant they had relative privilege.

And founding Delta Sigma Theta was a response to that opportunity–a chance to nurture social bonds between one another and serve their broader community.

For those of you unfamiliar with the traditions of African-American Greek letter organizations I know it might seem odd to talk about a sorority centennial on a political show, but Delta Sigma Theta is not exclusively, or even primarily an organization for college women. Delta, like the other historically black sororities and fraternities of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, has a history rooted in social, economic, religious and political engagement.

Delta is the organization that first introduced me to the accomplishments of many black women in American politics. Patricia Roberts Harris the first African-American woman to be appointed to a Presidential cabinet. Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. House and the first to run for President. Barbara Jordan, the first black woman elected to the U.S. House from the South. Carol Moseley Braun, the only African American woman U.S. senator.

All women who chose to affiliate with Delta. Delta is the organization where I had my first opportunity to practice leadership. As an undergraduate chapter president I learned basics skills like Robert’s Rules of Order, honed more intangible abilities, like forming consensus among extremely diverse points of view, and had a great time at my share of step shows. Women take many paths to leadership, Delta was the one I first followed.

It is no perfect organization. Like many of our counterparts, Deltas have been complicit in the excesses of college hazing and have sometimes squandered, rather than mobilized, our political and economic resources. But perfection is not the standard.

Commitment is. I make no claim that this organization is better than any other, but I believe the commitments of the more than 200 thousand college and graduate members to making ourselves, our communities, and our nation better is a story worth noting.

Today, Delta Sigma Theta is one hundred years old. Happy birthday, sorors

Any thoughts?