Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Norfolk Alumnae Chapter | Sargeant Memorial Collection
Name: Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Norfolk Alumnae Chapter
Historical Note: Delta Sigma Theta Sorority officially began in January 1913 when twenty-two African-American female college students from Howard University in Washington, D.C. founded the private, not-for-profit organization. Their mission was to create a sisterhood of African-American female college graduates who encouraged academic excellence, promoted community development, and sponsored those in need primarily within the African-American community. Mu Sigma Chapter, chartered in September 1929 in Norfolk, Virginia, was the first chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority to be formed in the state of Virginia. Mu Sigma Chapter consisted of eleven members from Norfolk, Hampton, and Newport News in Virginia and Elizabeth City in North Carolina. In response to a growing number of sorority members in the Tidewater area during the 1940s, the chapter was reorganized to consist of only Delta members from Norfolk, and thus changed its name to the Norfolk Alumnae Chapter.