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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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