Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington D.C. on January 16, 1920. The founding members, also known as the Five Pearls, were Arizona Cleaver Stemons, Pearl Anna Neal Myrtle Tyler Faithful, Viola Tyler Goings and Fannie Pettie Watts. These five women believed in the need for a new and different type of Greek-lettered organization and acted upon that need. To these women, Zeta was more than an organization-it was a movement, a belief system that reflected, at its core, the desire to provide true Service, to embrace Scholarship, to set a standard for Sisterly Love and to define the noble concept of Finer Womanhood. This belief has sustained and encouraged Zetas around the world to hold fast to the ideals initiated and developed by its earliest members.

The Founders of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated were strong, principled coeds who possessed a great deal of modesty, strength of character and pride in academic achievement. They envisioned a sorority which would directly affect positive change, chart a course of action for the 1920s and beyond, raise consciousness of their people, encourage the highest standards of scholastic achievement, and foster a greater sense of unity among its members. Their ideals are reflected in the sorority’s national programs for which its members and auxiliary groups provide significant volunteer service, financial capital, and professional talent to educate the public, assist youth, enrich community outreach programs, fund scholarships, support organized charities and promote legislation for civic and social change.

Since its inception, Zeta has continued its steady climb into the national spotlight with programs designed to demonstrate concern for the human condition both nationally and internationally. The organization has been innovative in that it has chronicled a number of firsts. It was the first National Pan-Hellenic Council organization to centralize its operations in a national headquarters, first to charter a chapter in Africa, first to form auxiliary groups, and first and only to be constitutionally bound to a fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated, to name a few. The sorority takes pride in its continued participation in transforming communities through volunteer services from members and its auxiliaries.

Although Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated has chartered hundreds of chapters worldwide and has a membership of 100,000+ women, the sorority to continues to grow and excel. As the sorority moves toward its centennial, it retains its original zest for excellence. It espouses the highest academic ideals that have resulted in its members serving in groundbreaking roles in all fields of endeavor. Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated is poised for perpetual service to mankind into her second century and beyond.