Auburn Avenue Research Library Digital Exhibits

Items

• Undergrads pose with Founders, The Archon, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority
  Magazine page from The Archon featuring the article “Accent on Undergraduates,” published in December 1966. The page highlights the participation and achievements of undergraduate members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., emphasizing the organization’s commitment to leadership development, scholarship, and sisterhood among college students. The lower photograph shows undergraduate members posing with sorority leaders, including founders and national officers, during the Atlantic Regional Conference held October 14–16, 1966. The caption notes the presence of Grand Basileus Bradham and other leaders, with the Epsilon Omega Zeta Chapter serving as host. The page reflects the intergenerational mentorship and leadership structure that connects undergraduate members with the sorority’s national leadership.
• Program booklet: Epsilon Pi Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Community Service Directory and First Annual Fashionetta
  Program booklet produced by the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Epsilon Pi Omega Chapter, for a community event held on October 25, 1959, at the St. Albans Ballroom Terrace in St. Albans, New York. The booklet accompanied the chapter’s Community Service Directory and the First International Fashionetta, a fundraising fashion show organized to benefit sickle cell anemia research. Fashionetta programs were widely used by Alpha Kappa Alpha chapters as community-based fundraising initiatives that combined fashion, scholarship support, and public service. The event documented in this program reflects the sorority’s commitment to civic engagement, health advocacy, and community uplift during the mid-twentieth century.
• Sigma Gamma Rho Article, The American Front Magazine
  Magazine page from the June 1947 issue of The American Front Magazine, featuring the “Atlanta Society Front” column. The article reports on several social events within Atlanta’s African American community, including a dance hosted by members of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. as part of a series of National Pan-Hellenic Council activities. The column describes the event held at the Top Hat club and highlights the participation of members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council and other Black Greek letter organizations. It also references prominent sorority leaders and visiting guests, documenting the vibrant social and civic networks cultivated by Black collegiate organizations during the mid-twentieth century.
• Elliot Travis's Twins, Laura & Louise at Delta Pro [Delta Sigma Theta Sorority], West Virginia State College
  Outdoor photograph of twins Laura and Louise Travis, students at West Virginia State College, standing side by side during Delta Pro activities in 1936. The young women are dressed in long coats over light-colored dresses and each holds a small bouquet of flowers, indicating their participation as new probationary members (“Delta Pro”) of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. The sisters pose together on the campus lawn with college buildings and hills visible in the distance. Their matching posture and similar attire highlight both their twin relationship and the sense of unity associated with sorority initiation traditions. The photograph reflects moments of friendship, sisterhood, and collegiate life among African American women during the 1930s.
• Deltas on Pro [Delta Sigma Theta Sorority] (Louise Maxwell and group), West Virginia State College
  Outdoor photograph of four young African American women standing on the campus of West Virginia State College in 1936. The women are newly initiated members on probation (“Pro”) in the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, including Louise Maxwell and three fellow sorority sisters. Each woman holds a bouquet of flowers and wears a light-colored dress with a dark jacket, standing side-by-side on the lawn with campus buildings visible in the background. The image documents an early stage of sorority membership, when new initiates participated in ceremonies and campus traditions marking their entry into the sisterhood. Their coordinated attire, flowers, and formal posture suggest a celebratory moment tied to initiation activities and the welcoming of new members into the organization’s collegiate community.
• Margaret Bowen with other Alpha Kappa Alpha Members, University of Cincinnati, 1922
  Group portrait of African American women affiliated with the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. at the University of Cincinnati in 1922. The photograph includes Margaret Bowen (front row, left) seated among fellow members of the Omicron Chapter. The women are arranged in a studio setting, seated and standing around a small table, dressed in fashionable early-1920s attire including tailored dresses, necklaces, and carefully styled hair. The portrait reflects the importance of Black sororities as spaces of sisterhood, scholarship, and leadership for African American women in higher education during the early twentieth century. Through organizations like Alpha Kappa Alpha, college-educated Black women built networks of mutual support while advancing academic achievement, civic engagement, and community uplift.
• Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority - Beta, Gamma and Delta Chapters, The Aurora, 1928
  Pages from the 1928 issue of The Aurora, the official magazine of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., featuring photographs and reports from several collegiate chapters. The pages highlight members of the Beta, Gamma, and Delta chapters, including group portraits of sorors posed together and accompanied by captions identifying individual members and officers. The articles describe chapter activities, leadership roles, scholarship initiatives, and social events organized by members. These images and texts document the early growth of the sorority and the important role African American women played in higher education, professional development, and community leadership during the 1920s. The photographs capture the pride, camaraderie, and intellectual engagement of young Black women building networks of sisterhood and service in the early twentieth century.
• Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Debs, 1964
  Group photograph of members of the Eta Sigma Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority posing with debutantes during the 1964 Debutante Ball. The women are arranged on a decorated stage beneath a banner reading “Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Debs 1964,” dressed in formal evening gowns and gloves. Soror Evelyn Hood stands in the front row (left) beside a debutante and her mother. The image reflects the ceremonial elegance and mentorship traditions through which African American women’s organizations supported the presentation and development of young women.