The year was 1920. It was the start
of the decade, shortly after World War One, and a time of
great prosperity for the country. Women were called dames,
dolls, or the cat's meow. At the beginning of the decade,
women still wore long skirts but the "Roaring 20s"
brought a new look of short skirts and smartly coiffed shorter
hair. Racial tensions were high and quotas set for immigrants
coming into America. The Klan was very active during this
period. The Harlem Renaissance was acknowledged as the first
important movement of black artists and writers in the US.
On January 16, 1920, the Volstead Act became effective, heralding
the start of Prohibition and on August 18th of the same year,
Tennessee delivered the crucial 36th ratification necessary
for the final adoption of the 19th Amendment, giving women
the right to vote. The worst and longest economic recession
to ever hit the United States would define the end of the
decade-the Great Depression.
It was within this environment that
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority was founded. Zeta Phi Beta Sorority
was founded on the simple belief that sorority elitism and
socializing should not overshadow the real mission for progressive
organizations - to address societal mores, ills, prejudices,
poverty, and health concerns of the day. Founded January 16,
1920, Zeta began as an idea conceived by five coeds at Howard
University in Washington D.C.: Arizona Cleaver, Myrtle Tyler,
Viola Tyler, Fannie Pettie and Pearl Neal. These five women,
also known as our Five Pearls, dared to depart from the traditional
coalitions for black women and sought to establish a new organization
predicated on the precepts of Scholarship, Service, Sisterly
Love and Finer Womanhood. It was the ideal of the Founders
that the Sorority would reach college women in all parts of
the country who were sorority minded and desired to follow
the founding principles of the organization. Founder Viola
Tyler was oft quoted to say "[In the ideal collegiate
situation] there is a Zeta in a girl regardless of race, creed,
or color, who has high standards and principles, a good scholarly
average and an active interest in all things that she undertakes
to accomplish."
Since its inception, the Sorority has
chronicled a number of firsts. Zeta Phi Beta was the first
Greek-letter organization to charter a chapter in Africa (1948);
to form adult and youth auxiliary groups; to centralize its
operations in a national headquarters; and to be constitutionally
bound to a fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated.
Zeta's national and local programs
include endowment of its National Educational Foundation,
community outreach services and support of multiple affiliate
organizations. Zeta chapters and auxiliary groups have given
untotaled hours of voluntary service to educate the public,
assist youth, provide scholarships, support organized charities
and promote legislation for social and civic change.
A nonprofit organization, Zeta Phi
Beta is incorporated in Washington, D.C. and in the state
of Illinois. The dues and gifts of its members support the
Sorority.
Over the years since the sorority's
inception, Zeta Phi Beta has chartered hundreds of chapters
and initiated thousands of women around the world. Zeta has
continued to thrive and flourish while adapting to the ever-changing
needs of a new century. Despite the Great Depression, discrimination
and segregation and a host of other challenges, Zeta has continued
to hold true to its ideals and purpose, for, as stated by
one of the Sorority's founding members: "…I believe
that no [other] organization could have been founded upon
principles that were so near and dear to all of our hearts."
(Founder Myrtle Tyler)
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