Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is jam packed with “devastating divas” who proudly represent the sorority. Founded on Jan. 13, 1913, at Howard University, the organization boasts several notable members who have gone on to do amazing things in art, politics, business and more.
Although big names including Aretha Franklin, Angela Bassett and Soledad O’Brien are considered honorary members, we’re taking this Founders’ Day to celebrate women who actually pledged the sorority either as undergraduate or graduate school students. From singers to civic leaders, here are Delta Sigma Theta members who were truly about that Greek life.
Roberta Flack
The future “Killing Me Softly” singer pledged Delta Sigma Theta as an undergraduate student at Howard University. Check out a photo of Flack with her sorors in 1965.
Roberta Flack and her Delta Sigma Theta sisters at Howard University, 1965. #BlackGirlsRock pic.twitter.com/EdzL8Wzo8p
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 23, 2017
Natalie Cole
After enrolling in the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Cole briefly transferred to the University of Southern California (USC) where she pledged the Upsilon chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. She later returned to University of Massachusetts, where she majored in Child Psychology and minored in German. She graduated in 1972, just three years before she won Grammys for Best New Artist and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female for “This Will Be.”
T’keya Crystal Keymah
The In Living Color and That’s So Raven actress pledged Delta’s Beta Alpha chapter while attending Florida A&M University’s School of Business and Industry.
Barbara Jordan
Although Barbara Charline Jordan initially wanted to attend the University of Texas at Austin, the institution was segregated at the time. She instead attended Texas Southern, where she pledged Delta Sigma Theta. Jordan graduated magna cum laude with a double major in political science and history.
She went on to become the first African-American elected to the Texas Senate since reconstruction and the first Southern black woman elected to the House of Representatives.
Betty Shabazz
In the early 1950s, Shabazz attended Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama to study education. The Detroit native, however, couldn’t stand the Jim Crow laws of the south and soon decided to move to New York City to study nursing, where she met future husband Malcolm X.
In 1969, she completed her undergraduate degree in education at Jersey City State College. She went on to earn her doctorate at the the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she pledged Delta Sigma Theta in April 1974.
Keshia Knight Pulliam
Best known for her role as Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show, Pulliam pledged Delta Sigma Theta while attending Spelman College. She graduated with honors in 2001 with a bachelor of arts degree in sociology and a concentration in film.
K. Michelle
The southern songstress attended Florida A&M University on a music scholarship, pledging FAMU’s Beta Alpha chapter in the fall of 2001. Check out the singer and reality star strolling with her sorors below.
