Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated was organized at
Howard University on January 16, 1920 by our five founders: Arizona Cleaver
Stemmons, Pearl A. Neal, Fannie Pettie Watts, Mytle Tyler Faithful, Viola
Tyler Goings. Encouragement was given to these women by Charles Taylor
and A. Langston Taylor, members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. These Sigma
brothers felt the campus would benefit by the development of such an organization
as sisters to the fraternity. Thus, Zetas and Sigmas became the first official
Greek-letter sister and brother organization. The five founders dared to
depart from the traditional coalitions for African- American women and
sought to establish a new organization predicated on the precepts of scholarship,
service, sisterhood, and Finer Womanhood. For eighty years, the trail blazed by the founders has been traveled by thousands of women dedicated
to the emulation of the objectives and ideals of the sorority. Since its
inception, the sorority has expanded to encompass more than 500 graduate
and collegiate chapters. These chapters are locaated throughout the continental
United States, Alaska, Hawaii, the Bahaman Islands, West Africa, and West
Germany. The sorority is the first organization to charter a chapter in
Africa (1948); to form adult and youth auxiliary groups, the Amicae, Archonettes,
and Amicettes; and to be constitutionally bound to a brother fraternity.
Zeta's national and local programs include endowment of its National Education
Foundation; community outreach services; and support of multiple affiliate
organizations. Zeta chapters and auxiliary groups have given untitled hours
of voluntary service to educate the public, assist youth, provide scholarships,
support organized charities, and to promote legislation for social and
civic change.
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