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[[caption]] Guest speaker—Dr. Gerald Durley, President, Prospectives International Producer "A Legacy Unfolded", of which Sigma Gamma Rho is a co-sponsor. [[/caption]]

HISTORY 

The story of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority began on November 12, 1922 when the dream of seven noble Black women became a reality. These young women were all students at Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, and teachers in the public schools of the city.

Prior to that date, however, Mary Lou Gardner Little had become literally obsessed with the idea of founding a new organization to raise the standards of teachers in Indianapolis and wherever normal schools, colleges and universities were located. She got in touch with six of her most ambitious and independent friends: Hattie Dulin Redford, Dorothy Hanley Whiteside, Vivian White Marbury, Nannie Mae G. Johnson, Bessie R. Martin and Cubena McClure. They met together every evening and all day every Saturday for some months. Sigman [[Sigma]] Gamma Rho was chosen as the name of the new sorority. Five of the founders are still alive and active. Founders Bessie Martin and Cubena McClure are deceased.

Sigman [[Sigma]] Gamma Rho held in common with other sororities those broad ideals of education and social uplift, but it was unique in that it was a sorority primarily for teachers and educators.

EXCELLENCE IN THE 80'S

From the very beginning members of Sigma Gamma Rho evinced a deep and abiding interest in every phase of education. They recognized that quality education comprises not only good textbooks, an adequate physical plant, equipment and materials, but first and foremost well-trained, dedicated teachers who are capable of creating an environment in which learning can take place. The sorors accepted as "their responsibility the challenge of eradicating traditional barriers to success and providing learning circumstances that would raise the lever of competence and enhance (the student's) self-esteem."

DIAMOND JUBILEE—AND BEYOND

Last year Sigma Gamma Rho celebrated sixty years of unparalleled and uninterrupted service to the Black community. The list of accomplishments was staggering. They included a reaffirmation of commitment to Drop-in, the national undergraduate tutoring program;  inclusion of Ebony magazine's Women's Club and Schenley's Little Black Book as one of the 13 organizations that contribute to the advancement of Blacks in the United States;  adoption of the tunedded national program, Project Reassurance for unwed mothers with the national March of Dimes; rekindling of a feeling of sisterhood—love, peace, togetherness; financial commitment of $50,000 to the NAACP, $10,000 a year for five years to the United Negro College Fund, $6,000 to the March of Dimes, $6,000 to the New York-based Vocational Guidance and Workshop Center and $2,000 to the Mental Health Institute; participation in the Leadership Conference of civil Rights, the national Conference on the Black Agenda for the 80's, Congressional Black Caucus Weekend,  the National Hook-Up of Black Women, HUD Conference, National Association of Media Women, NAACP, National Council of Negro Women Convention and the National Urban League; adoption of AOIP as a national project; celebration of the Diamond Jubilee in Washington, D.C. in August 1982; co-sponsorship of "A Legacy Unfolded," a documentary film which depicts the story of the beginning and growth of Black colleges in America.

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