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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING THE 112th YEAR FOUNDERS DAY OF DELTA SIGMA THETA SORORITY, INC
WHEREAS, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is a Black Greek-lettered sorority founded on January 13, 1913, by 22 collegiate women at Howard University, established to promote academic excellence, provide assistance to those in need, and address social issues; and,
WHEREAS, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was founded by educated women dedicated to public service with an emphasis on programs that assist the African American community; and,
WHEREAS, the sorority’s membership is more than 350,000 strong with over 1,000 chapters located in the Bahamas, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bermuda, Canada, England, Germany, Jamaica, Japan, West Africa and South Africa, South Korea, United Kingdom, and the United States; and,
WHEREAS, Cook County is home to several collegiate and alumnae chapters which are a part of the 125 chapters that make up the “Mighty” Midwest Region; and,
WHEREAS, Chicago was home to Founders Osceola Macarthy Adams and Marguerite Young Alexander. In 1921, seeing the need to establish a chapter for Deltas attending Chicago area schools, Founders Adams and Alexander, along with several members who had been initiated in other chapters, formed a mixed chapter at the University of Chicago, Lambda Chapter. Founder Adams served as the chapter’s first president; and,
WHEREAS, the first public act of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was participation in the Women's Suffrage March in Washington, D.C., March 3, 1913, and has since expanded to programming to improve political, education, and social and economic conditions, particularly within black communities; and,
WHEREAS, of its ever-growing membership, some of the few notable members include: journalists April Ryan and Joy Reid, civil rights activists Dorothy I. Height and Mary McLeod Bethune, former mayor of Atlanta, Georgia Keisha Lance Bottoms, the 18th Secretary of HUD and 21st National President of the sorority Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, the first African American woman Senator and former Ambassador of New Zealand and Samoa Carol Mosley Braun, dancer, choreographer; and artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Judith Jamison, Soprano opera singer, awarded the United States Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson Leontyne Price; locally, Emmy Award-winning news anchor at WLS-TV Cheryl Burton, Cook Commissioner Tara Stamps, President of Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Kari K. Steele, Former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Former Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown, President of Chicago State University Zaldwaynaka (“Z”) Scott, and, and the many women who serve in their respective places within Cook County government; and,
WHEREAS, Delta women transform communities most underserved by implementing impactful public service programs and activities consistent with the National Five-Point Programmatic Thrust: Economic Development, Educational Development, International Awareness and Involvement, Physical and Mental Health and Political Awareness and Involvement; and,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Cook County Board of Commissioners, on behalf of the residents of Cook County, offers congratulations to Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc on its 112th Founders Day and celebrate its legacy of public service; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be tendered to the local alumnae chapters, as a token of the esteem in which she is held by the President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners and the Cook County Board of Commissioners.
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