Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. was founded on November 12, 1922 on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana by seven young school teachers: Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little, Nannie Mae Gahn Johnson, Vivian White Marbury, Bessie M. Rhodes Downey Martin, Cubena McClure, Hattie Mae Dulin Redford and Dorothy Hanley Whiteside.

Sigma Gamma Rho is the only Black Greek-lettered sorority founded on a predominantly white campus. The founders envisioned the need to pull minority women together into the bonds of sisterhood; especially since minority women were excluded from white sororities.

At a time when education for African Americans was difficult to attain, the founders of Sigma Gamma Rho became educators. They believed that the self-respect, knowledge and discipline gained through study would help individuals recognize their duty and responsibility to their society.

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. was founded on the precepts of high scholastic attainment, greater service to all mankind, and true sisterhood.

Academic excellence, moral responsibility, political involvement, social awareness, and community outreach were built into the ongoing thrust of the sorority as it concerned itself with civil rights, human dignity, moral decency, and the strengthening of a new breed of poised and informed women.

Since its birth, the sorority has grown into an international non-profit organization of women with over 80,000 members in over 500 chapters throughout the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. Sigma programs include Project Reassurance, Project Africa, Wee Savers, and Project Mwanamugimu. In addition to Sorority programs, Sigma Gamma Rho holds membership in and participates in programs sponsored by the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the NAACP, the National Council of Negro Women, the Southern Christian Leadership Council and others.