This is an essay that I wrote during my last year of undergrad, January 2021, for an English class. Hope you enjoy.
Black Greek Letter Organizations came into existence over a century ago and are also known as the Divine Nine. These organizations are Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Incorporated, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Incorporated, and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated. These organizations bring together individuals from all walks of life, all over the world, to partake in improving the lives of the community through acts of philanthropy, entertainment, and (maybe best of all) hope.
I joined Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated on October 10th, 2020. I am new to the ropes, but I still grip them as if I have been about this life for my whole life. Maybe it is the familiarization of the people that I have met since I have joined, but it could also be due to the fact that joining such organizations has existed in my family for a while now. Since older family members have attended Historically Black Colleges/Universities (HBCUs), such a luxury wasn’t a second thought. It wasn’t a second thought for me either. I just figured that I would join eventually and I would do my research until then: looking each sorority up on Google and figuring out who I was aligned with the most. However, I neglected to check to verify if such organizations existed on the campus I would be: Northern Arizona University, a PWI (Predominantly White Institution).
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated was found by five women who we call the Five Pearls on the statues of Scholarship, Service, Sisterhood, and Finer Womanhood, or so I learned. After you research all of these organizations, you might express interest in one or two by attending their events including socials or volunteer service. Like dating, as an advisor once explained to me, BGLOs, or Black Greek Letter Organizations, are feeling you out as you feel them out. ‘Is this the right one for me?’,’Do I like how I feel when I am with them?’ are both questions that you might ask yourself during this time. Eventually, there will be an event that is either by invitation only or offered to the public, but both will have a specific time, date, dress code, and if necessary documents that must be brought upon entry. After that, an interview will be announced to further validate the individual, their academic and extracurricular works, and their interests. Just like a job interview, questions vary and one person might only be among three people, but another might be among ten. What is important during this process is knowing the reason why. Why this organization? Why are you doing this? Do you see yourself in this organization for the rest of your life or for a season? If it is the latter, you might turn into one of the documents I mentioned earlier and fold under pressure.
Most people know of Black Greek Letter Organizations from the loud calls and responses that they make to one another. Others may know of these entities, or the people that represent them, from two things called stepping and strolling. Stepping, rooted in Africa, is the act of using your body to produce complex sounds with clapping, spoken word, and the step, or stamp, of the feet in a percussive manner. Strolling is using a song to perform a kind of dance in a uniform manner as a group. Not that stepping isn’t uniform, but strolling is more of a way to show off the organization and its members in dance while a song is playing. Sometimes chants erupt from the members, but other times, they might be vibing.
Call and response is a great theme in these organizations. It might show up as strolling or stepping, as mentioned, but it might also show up as actions taken by an organization or their people. This includes Zeta Phi Beta Sorority’s partnership with March of Dimes and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity’s partnership with the National Society of Black Engineers (which I am also President of this campus’ chapter), and it include Vice President Kamala Harris’ membership of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. All of the aforementioned being responses to a distinct call. I suppose “call and response” is what made me type this essay. Initially called to write about Founder’s Day, which just passed January 16th, I ended up writing about Black Greek Letter Organizations. The day of Founding for ZPHIB is January 16, 1920. Similar to their situation, the environment back then was experiencing a pandemic (or panoramic) and committing to more social justice and activism as we still engage in today, even more so last summer/fall.
Black Greek Letter Organizations, although limited in Northern Arizona, thrive beyond the mountaintop. These international organizations seek to uplift, engage, improve, and sustain their communities through acts of service, leadership, and engagement. While important to know about, I also believe that these organizations are of significant importance to join if welcomed the opportunity to do so. Now that I called you, how might you respond?
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