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| Alpha Eta
Zeta Graduate Chapter PO Box 301407 Memphis, TN 38130-1407 |
National | Alpha Eta Zeta Graduate Chapter
History
of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.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 morals, 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.
From the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. International Website
History of Alpha Eta Zeta Graduate Chapter
Close your eyes and relax as we take you back to the year 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee. African Americans wanted to establish themselves and provide support organizations for those in need. Nine women took it upon themselves to continue a tradition of Finer Womanhood, Scholarship, Service and Sisterly Love, the principles set forth by a sisterhood known as Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. Zeta was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., 19 years earlier. But nine determined young women decided that this was the type of community oriented organization and sisterhood that Memphis longed for. The time had come to form ZETA PHI BETA SORORITY, INCORPORATED in Memphis, Tennessee.
Working from a blueprint, nine women dared to be different and began what later, hundreds of women would eventually join, the ASTOUNDING ALPHA ETA ZETA CHAPTER of ZETA PHI BETA SORORITY, INCORPORATED. Many thanks and much love to those nine sorors:
• Soror Pytee S. Bolden
• Soror Winnie L. Foster Hill
• Soror Myrtle D. Hudson
• Soror Bernice Roberts McClellan
• Soror Ruth Hillard McDavid
• Soror Bernice West Scaggs
• Soror Evelyn Clark Tucker
• Soror Elmira J. Williams
• Soror Carlotta Stewart Watson
The nine charter members were community service oriented and engaged in the fields of education and social work in Memphis, Tennessee. Soror Carlotta Stewart Watson became the first Basileus (President) and guided the members as they utilized their leadership skills and talents to implement the sorority's ideals of Finer Womanhood, Scholarship, Service and Sisterly Love. The chapter became the immediate sponsor of the Pi Alpha Chapter at LeMoyne-Owen College, as also chartered in 1939, and much later the Rho Gamma Chapter at Memphis State University (The University of Memphis) and the Delta Iota Chapter at the University of Tennessee at Martin in Martin, Tennessee.
Alpha Eta Zeta became the liaison with the Memphis Junior League, and began to provide eyeglasses for the needy school children. Today this project is known as the infamous Eyeglass Project. Other charitable projects have included visits and contributions to: Goodwill homes, Orange Mound Day Nursery, Jessie Mahan Center, Children's Bureau, Shelby county Hospital, Millington Naval Base, Veteran's Administration Hospital, Stork's Nest, NAACP, the United Negro College Fund and many more.
The Astounding Alpha Eta Zeta Chapter continues to be a community conscious, action oriented service organization, fulfilling the goals of our founding and beloved sorors. Soror Carlotta Stewart Watson is still financially active at 104 years of age.
Thanks to the the Phenomenal Nine for "Working From the Blueprint."
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