Twenty-two women formed the Alpha Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta at Howard University in 1913.
The sorority is a part of the Divine Nine, a group of recognized Black Greek-letter organizations that are National Pan-Hellenic Council members. D9 organizations prioritize service and social justice.
An 11-member charter line planted the Delta roots on the University of Delaware’s campus in 1975, establishing the Mu Pi chapter. Now, they’re celebrating 50 years on campus dedicated to public service and social justice, according to Mu Pi charter line member Terry Bayard Joyner.
“That's ingrained in the founding of [D9] sororities and fraternities,” Bayard Joyner said. “Delta Sigma Theta –right after its inception in 1913 – participated in the Women's Suffrage March, the only African Americans in the suffrage March.”
Delta alum and Mu Pi charter line’s advisor Phyllis Joyner said from the very beginning, Deltas have embraced causes that uplift. (Bayard Joyner and Joyner are not related.)
Social justice and public service from the very beginning
“What we offer and what we bring together is a collective umbrella, if you will, that supports our community across the United States and abroad,” Joyner said.
Joyner was initiated in the spring of 1971 at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, N.C.
Bayard Joyner added the Alpha Chapter had to fight to take part in the March because of segregation.
“They put the Deltas in the back of the line, but we were there…” Bayard Joyner said. “So we go back. Pretty much to the inception of sorority in 1913, we've always been taught that our sorority is not a social sorority, it is a service sorority. And that's the difference.”
And that was just the beginning. Deltas followed the Big Brother Big Sister model at their UD inception, becoming mentors to young girls. They also participated in and ran public service events like canned food drives.
But Bayard Joyner clarified a Delta’s community service only begins at school, with many members still attending meetings in their 90s.
The Deltas faced a number of obstacles: “That just wasn’t going to work”
“When we are initiated into Delta Sigma Theta, we are making a lifetime commitment to scholarship, service, social action and sisterhood,” Bayard Joyner said.
And that lifetime commitment came with more than a few obstacles. Even establishing the sorority in Delaware came with its challenges.
“The students weren't prepared… and they didn't know what to expect with black females coming on campus,” Joyner said. “And so I think that whole cultural absence now finding its way on campus through a D9 organization was revolutionary, if you will.”
Bayard Joyner said the charter line largely battled subtle racism on campus. Once the line was initiated and acknowledged by the national organization, they struggled to obtain a student account from the UD administration.
They spent their first few months on campus using Omega Psi Phi’s account, which was the first D9 organization and first historically Black fraternity to come to UD.
“We're just going to use it until we get our own student account,” Bayard Joyner said. “But that proved to be a little more difficult and challenging, and I think it had some racial undertones. Specifically, we were told that we had to get the approval or the membership of the white Panhellenic Council… And they said, well, in order to recognize you as member, you have to rush with us.”
But Bayard Joyner said that just wasn’t going to work. White fraternities and sororities are at their core inherently different from Black organizations. While the students choose National Panhellenic Conference organizations, Black Greek organizations choose the student.
That dragged on for months, Bayard Joyner said, until a Paul Revere-esque moment struck their small-but-mighty organization.
“My roommate Denise Hayman remembers when we were actually loading up our cars to go to Washington, DC, and someone ran out because at the Pan-Hellenic house was in the same parking lot as where we were loading to leave,” Bayard Joyner said. “And they ran out with a letter saying saying that we had been approved and would be recognized on campus as a student organization.”
UD is a predominantly white institution, and that sometimes resulted in more road bumps for the sorority.
That was most evident in campus culture, according to Joyner.
“There really was not a black culture there, other than what was sort of birthed out of [Dean of Students Agnes Green] really being the one to sort of establish the Black Student Union,” Joyner said.
Green was largely responsible for getting a student account for the Deltas. Bayard Joyner said she remembers Green threatening to bring the issue to the Delta’s national organization if they were not recognized.
Overall, it took 10 months to secure a student account for the Deltas. And the charter line didn’t just sit around in that time. While initiation has its secret processes, Bayard Joyner said a lot of it involved learning and memorizing the structure of the sorority, its founding members, the oath, and the hymn.
“Everything had to be taught to us because we were the charter line, and it was our responsibility to teach that to lines that followed us,” Bayard Joyner said.
The Mu Pi legacy persists at UD
It was Joyner and her fellow advisors that brought that culture to UD to be passed on to 43 more lines leading up to today.
“It was very beautiful,” Bayard Joyner said. “It was beautiful. It was a beautiful process. And part of the process also was to solidify the group so that we were truly sisters. So the sisterhood was not a word. It was us.”
Looking to the future, Bayard Joyner said she wants to see the Mu Pi chapter continue the legacy. And in that moment, Bayard Joyner began to tear up.
“I know the challenges of the last couple of years, the Covid years…” Bayard Joyner said.
The Deltas today face a new obstacle, once again coming from UD administration. UD’s Registered Student Organizations and recognized fraternities and sororities must meet a minimum membership requirement of six full-time matriculated undergraduate students.
Bayard Joyner said that’s an issue of proportionality.
“It's not difficult when you're on a predominantly white campus for white fraternities and sororities to meet their numbers,” Bayard Joyner said. “But on a predominantly white campus for a Black fraternity or sorority to meet the numbers, it's more challenging just because there are fewer Black students coming on that campus. So proportionately, I think that regulation should be adjusted.”
Joyner encouraged potential members to look inward when deciding to become a Delta.
“I was interested in becoming a Delta because I was introduced to them at nine years old,” Joyner said. “And it was all about what I saw these women doing in my community and seeing them – they were school teachers, they were the Black women who were the professionals and they came to us. We didn't have to come to them.”
They were fixtures and participants in their communities. That’s at the heart of all D9 organizations, including the Deltas’.
“Scholarship is one of our cardinal principles,” Bayard Joyner added. “And we would study together, we would help each other… We were also proud that we were making an impact in the community and on campus.”
The Mu Pi chapter will celebrate its 50th anniversary with members Oct. 24-26.
“We are here to just really make an impact on the social problems that that are increasing and increasing and increasing,” Joyner said. “So it is about scholarship. It is about community service. It is about mental health, and it is about wanting to join forces. So you got to be ready to be a doer and to balance.”
More information on the Mu Pi chapter can be found on their Instagram page or at UD’s website.
