Delta Sigma Theta sorors ready to get to work at Simons Recreation Center on Community Impact Day.
Photo courtesy: Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.
By Constance Garcia-Barrio
The Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., held its 54th Eastern Regional Conference in Philadelphia this past week. Social activism, one of the sorority’s founding principles — along with sisterhood, scholarship, and service — claimed a spotlight at this year’s gathering for professional women of African heritage. More than 5,000 women attended the conference.
Elsie Cooke-Holmes-International President & Chair, National Board of Directors of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated
Photo courtesy: Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.
The emphasis on activism continues a long tradition. Twenty-two women students at Howard University founded Delta Sigma Theta on January 13, 1913. Despite the demands of their studies and an early racist rebuff, the young women took on the hottest political issue of the era.
“Our founding members initially met with rejection when they sought to march with the suffragettes [who fought for the vote for women],” said Elsie Cooke-Holmes, MBA, the sorority’s international president and chair of the board of directors. “However, they persisted, and were finally welcomed into the movement.”
Rosie Allen-Herring, Eastern Regional Director, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated
Photo courtesy: Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.
To Delta Sigma Theta, which has grown to include some 350,000 college-educated women, activism and social justice have remained critical.
“We pressed for anti-lynching laws and we took part in the Civil Rights Movement,” Cooke-Holmes said. “Activism is in our DNA.”
Speaking of life’s building blocks, one might say that Delta Sigma Theta is in Cooke-Holmes’s genes.
“My mother was a member,” Cooke-Holmes said, who was raised in Jackson, Tennessee.
From left: Tonya Eason Ross, Rosie Allen-Herring, Jerra Holdip, Elsie Cooke-Holmes, and Kimberly A. Lloyd helping in the rec center clean up.
Photo courtesy: Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.
Cooke-Holmes watched her mother and other members of the sorority, mentor girls, put on pageants, and provide scholarships for young women.
Cooke-Holmes saw not only the women’s dedication to service, but also the many fields of endeavor they represented. For her, their varied work revealed a world of possibilities, said Cooke-Holmes, a human resources executive with Pepsico for more than 30 years before retiring. She now has her own consulting firm.
Cooke-Holmes pointed out that Philadelphia was the hometown of the late Sadie T.M. Alexander (1898-1989), one of Delta Sigma Theta’s many distinguished members. Alexander was the first Black woman to receive a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and the first Black woman to practice law in this state.
In keeping with Alexander’s activist legacy and Delta Sigma Theta’s tenets of service and social justice, the conference held a Community Impact Day as part of its Safe Haven Project.
Conferees were deeply aware of the havoc wreaked by gun violence in Philadelphia. One hundred sixty-five fatal shootings have taken place this year so far, according to the Office of the Controller. More than 75% of shootings involve Black Americans, according to a Delta Sigma Theta.
From left: Argie Allen-Wilson, Patricia Evans, Jerra Holdip, Rosie Allen-Herring, Elsie Cooke-Holmes, Susan Slawson, Kimberly A. Lloyd, and Timika Lane.
Photo courtesy: Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.
Traditionally, neighborhood recreations centers have served as refuges of peace and refreshment for members of surrounding communities. Given this critical restorative role, Delta Sigma Theta chose to paint, clean up and do needed repairs at five recreation centers in African American communities — Marion Anderson, Finnegan, Tustin, Penrose and Simmons — as a way to support families in neighborhoods affected by gun violence. Plans included creating reading spaces in some centers.
“In several cases, the centers lack adequate funding and basic resources for maintenance,” Cooke-Holmes said.
A total of about 200,000 residents live within a half mile of the chosen recreation centers, and half of those families live below the poverty line, according to a sorority spokeswoman.
Participants in the Community Impact Day kicked off Safe Haven last Wednesday at the Marian Anderson Recreation Center, located at740 S. 17th Street. They rolled up their sleeves and refurbished the playground.
“Professionals helped us as needed,” Cooke-Holmes said, noting that the work included repairing the air conditioning. “We’re excited about the project.”
Delta Sigma Theta sorors reside not only in the U.S., but in the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, and other parts of the world. That global reach translates into projects on different continents. For example, in Africa, the Motherland for Black women, the sorority made a big donation toward the construction of Mary Help of the Sick Mission Hospital in Thika, Kenya.
Completed in the 1960s, the hospital provides maternity care that has meant a drop in postpartum complications and infant mortality in the surrounding area. The hospital also provides dental care for children.
The sorority also played a crucial role in establishing the I Can Fly High School in Kenya. The school educates impoverished children who would otherwise have little opportunity for formal learning.
Delta Sigma Theta also lends essential support to the Adelaide Tambo School for the Physically Challenged in Soweto, South Africa. Most students are orphans being reared by grandparents or disadvantaged families.
While the sorority spearheads international programs that create opportunities for women and children, the conference gave attention to a matter in the U.S. that echoes the concern of the sorority’s founding members.
“We’ve provided election protection training,” Cooke-Holmes said. “We recognize the gravity of this issue.”
Spirituality is also at the heart of Delta Sigma Theta’s work. During the convention, the public had an opportunity to join Delta Sigma Theta members in an ecumenical service for worship at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
To learn more, visit: www.deltasigmatheta.org
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