Five coeds dared to depart from tradition.
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., predicated on the precepts of Scholarship, Service, Sisterhood and Finer Womanhood.
Howard University, Washington, D.C.
On January 16, 1920, five coeds established a new organization for Black women — one built not on social coalition, but on principle.
These women dared to depart from the traditional coalitions for Black women and sought to establish an organization predicated on the precepts of Scholarship, Service, Sisterhood and Finer Womanhood. The trail they blazed has been traversed by thousands of women dedicated to the emulation of the objectives and ideals of the Sorority.
Arizona Cleaver Stemons
Viola Tyler Goings
Myrtle Tyler Faithful
Fannie Pettie Watts
Pearl A. Neal
The Five Pearls · Founders, 1920
“Scholarship, Service, Sisterhood and Finer Womanhood.”
The four principles that have guided every chapter of Zeta Phi Beta since 1920.
Four words, held to for a century.
Scholarship
Academic excellence as an obligation — endowing the National Educational Foundation and putting students through school.
Service
Untotaled hours of voluntary service to educate the public, assist youth and support organized charities.
Sisterhood
A bond of women dedicated to the emulation of the objectives and ideals of the Sorority.
Finer Womanhood
The standard by which Zeta women carry themselves in every room they enter.
First,
and still singular.
1948
First chapter chartered in Africa
Zeta Phi Beta became the first Greek-letter organization to charter a chapter on the African continent.
Firsts
First adult and youth auxiliaries
The Sorority formed the Amicae, Archonettes, Amicettes and Pearlettes — the first auxiliary structure of its kind.
Bond
Constitutionally bound to a brother group
Zeta is the only sorority constitutionally bound to a fraternity — Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated.
Service, endowed and organized.
Zeta’s national and local programs include endowment of its National Educational Foundation, community outreach services and support of multiple affiliate organizations. Chapters and auxiliary groups have given untotaled hours of voluntary service to educate the public, assist youth, provide scholarships, support organized charities and promote legislation for social and civic change.
A nonprofit organization, Zeta Phi Beta is incorporated in Washington, D.C. and in the state of Illinois. The Sorority is supported by the dues and gifts of its members.