SISTERHOOD. SCHOLARSHIP. SERVICE.
“We cannot stand still in the present. We are continually moving towards the future.”
- Founder Hattie Mae Annette Dulin Redford
about Sigma Gamma Rho
how it started
Sigma History
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. was organized on November 12, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana, by seven young educators: Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little, Dorothy Hanley Whiteside, Vivian Irene White Marbury, Nannie Mae Gahn Johnson, Hattie Mae Annette Dulin Redford, Bessie Mae Downey Rhoades Martin, and Cubena McClure. The group became an incorporated national collegiate sorority on December 30, 1929, when a charter was granted to the Alpha chapter at Butler University. Since its inception, the dynamic women of Sigma Gamma Rho have built and sustained a well-known and well-respected reputation for leading positive change to help uplift the community.
our amazing legecy
The 'Notable' Northeastern Region
The Notable Northeastern Region of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. was organized on Friday, December 29, 1939, during the 14th Boulé, which took place in New York City and was hosted by the Kappa Sigma Alumnae Chapter. More than 100 delegates and visitors across 13 states and the District of Columbia were in attendance, where the decision was made to redistrict the two-region sorority into four regions.
The original chapters of the newly-created Northeastern Region were:
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Alpha Zeta – Virginia State University, Petersburg, VA
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Alpha Pi – Hunter College, New York, NY
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Alpha Phi – Howard University, Washington, D.C.
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Tau – Virginia Union University, Richmond, VA
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Iota Sigma – Richmond, VA
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Kappa Sigma – New York City, NY
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Phi Sigma – Washington, D.C.
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Omega Sigma – Newport News, VA
Soror Edna F. Browne
the mother of the northeastern region:
At that same Boulé, Soror Edna F. Browne fondly referred to as “The Mother of the Northeastern Region” was elected as the first Northeastern Regional Syntaktes. She called the first meeting of the Northeastern Region to order 133 days after its birth, on Saturday, May 11, 1940, on the campus of Virginia Union University in Richmond, VA, with Iota Sigma serving as the host chapter.
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Syntaktes Browne built quickly. The first chapter organized in the newly-formed region was the Alpha Alpha Sigma Alumnae Chapter in Baltimore, MD. Additional chapters chartered under her leadership included Alpha Beta Sigma (Portsmouth, VA), Alpha Eta Sigma (Philadelphia, PA), Upsilon (Cheyney University), Alpha Nu Sigma (Wilmington, DE), and Beta Lambda Sigma (Raleigh, NC). Her subsequent elevation to Grand Syntaktes (1944–1947) set an early and unmistakable precedent: the Northeastern Region produces leaders for the entire sorority.
