CORRECTION: According to DST's history, all 22 of their founders are AKAs
"The Three Musketeers" ((Coleman, Love, Cooper<--- Omega founders)) were heavy influences in the founding of Delta Sigma Theta via Myra Davis Hemmings. Note: They were NOT the primary reason Delta was founded. I'm sure we all know that story...
Before founding Delta, Myra Davis Hemmings was president of Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
The Deltas acknowledge all 22 founders as being members of AKA prior to starting DST. AKA recognizes that 7 "dissenters" left to start Delta.
Now, this is what we know [as published by Soror Parker]:
* in January 1908, 9 women -- seniors of the Class of 08 & juniors of the Class of 09 -- founded Alpha Kappa Alpha.
* in February 1908, 7 sophomores of the Class of 10, joined the group to become the "Revered 16"
* in 1909, there was a line of 6, however, we may assume that they were the Class of 11, since freshmen were not allowed to join and since all upperclass women, except 1 were members of the Sorority. At the time of their initiation, these women must have been sophomores.
* we have no information on the lines of 1910 or 1911, but we do know that 7 women were initiated in the SPRING of 1912.
Now....Let's move on to DST. In their history book, "In Search of Sisterhood" [hereafter referred to as ISOS], Paula Giddings does NOT indicate when any of their founders were initiated into AKA, but she tells their "class".
Based on ISOS, we know that the DST founders were in the following classes:
* Class of 12 = 1
* Class of 13 = 15
* Class of 14 = 5
* Class of 15 = 1
NOW, my first thought is "How can a member of the Class of 1912 be a FOUNDER of an undergraduate organization that started in 1913?" And yes, I know about Dr. Just and the 3 undergrads -- Cooper, Coleman, & Love -- who founded Omega, but even they knew that at their beginning it was going to be an org for undergrads and grads. The sororities were specifically told that their groups were for undergraduates only and that they could NOT expand to other campuses.
Even if Ms. (dare I say Soror) Shippen was involved, she graduated with Soror Nellie Quander, and according to DST's logic should not have been around in the Fall when the changes were being proposed. Most certainly, she should not have been eligible to be a member of DST in 1913 when she was "so far removed". If Ms. Shippen WAS ELIGIBLE, then DST canNOT say that Soror Nellie had no business getting involved in the split.
Ok, my next thought is, "Was there some type of 'baby boom' at Howard in 1909?" because there must have been in order for 15+ women to be in the Class of 1913. Looking at the records we have access to, there were maybe 23 women total [in four classes] AT HOWARD in 1908, and we know that there were not more than 7 in any one class at that time.
So now we move on....the 15 DST founders in the Class of 1913 were eligible to join AKA in the spring of 1911 (since freshmen seemed not to be admitted and lines were held in the spring), with the next 5 in the Class of 1914, eligible to join in the spring of 1912. Are there any records to indicate WHEN and/or IF these women joined AKA? We know that Myra Davis [Hemmings] joined b/c she was president in the Fall of 1912, so, she may have been on the 1911 line.
Now the question is exactly WHO was on the 1910 line and WHO was on the 1911 line? and WHICH of the DST founders were on the 1912 line of 7 just before the split? Any takers?
Hmmmm.... thats a lot of stuff to ponder.... :?
*backs away slowly*
If im not mistaking, all of the Temptations so ive been told are Sigmas
Also heard Patti was a Zeta and i know Whitney Houstons mother is a Zeta