*HC1035*
Introduced Version
HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION No. ____
DIGEST OF INTRODUCED RESOL UTION
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION recognizing the Divine
Nine chapters of Indiana.
Summers, Jackson C, Smith V,
Burton
_______________________, read first time and referred to Committee on
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2025 HC 1035/DI 140 Introduced
First Regular Session of the 124th General Assembly (2025)
HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION No. ____
1 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION recognizing the Divine
2 Nine chapters of Indiana.
3 Whereas, Black Greek-letter organizations (BGLOs) emerged
4 during the Jim Crow era and were established on the principles
5 of personal excellence, racial uplift, community service, civic
6 action, and kinship at a time when Greek life at predominantly
7 White institutions excluded Black students;
8 Whereas, Black students, whether studying at historically
9 Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) or predominantly
10 White institutions, came together to create these organizations,
11 forging familial ties to one another and outreach within the
12 larger Black community, and those ties endure to this day;
13 Whereas, The nine BGLOs that comprise the National
14 Pan-Hellenic Council, known as the Divine Nine, have an
15 impact on community service and civic engagement, through
16 outreach programs that include literacy, professional
17 development, voter registration, scholarship programs, and
18 health awareness campaigns;
19 Whereas, Membership statistics of these organizations reveal
20 a steady growth in participation, gaining thousands of new
21 members annually, and recent philanthropic initiatives have
22 raised millions of dollars for scholarships and community
23 projects. These figures highlight the enduring relevance,
24 impact, and necessity of these organizations to advance
25 education and equity;
26 Whereas, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., was founded on
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1 December 4, 1906, at Cornell University, and it stands as the
2 sole BGLO founded at an Ivy League institution;
3 Whereas, Alpha Phi Alpha devised programs offering
4 tutoring, financial aid, and heightened educational
5 opportunities for Black youth at a time when most Black
6 teenagers did not graduate high school or pursue a college
7 education, and they organized the Voting Rights Program, a
8 national program that engaged in voter registration drives;
9 Whereas, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., was founded on
10 January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C.,
11 and it was the first BGLO founded by women;
12 Whereas, Ethel Hedgeman Lyle, a student at Howard
13 University who was a founding member of Alpha Kappa Alpha,
14 aspired to create a supportive network for women sharing
15 similar goals in order to uplift one another and leverage their
16 talents for the greater good, and these women assumed
17 leadership roles within the Young Women's Christian
18 Association (YWCA), engaged in activities with the campus
19 chapter of the NAACP, aided southern migrants during the
20 Great Migration, advocated for women's suffrage, and
21 established funds catering to students in need and those
22 wishing to pursue studies abroad;
23 Whereas, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., was founded on
24 January 5, 1911, at Indiana University in Bloomington,
25 Indiana, and it is one of the few BGLOs that emerged among
26 Black students at a predominantly White university rather than
27 an HBCU such as Howard University;
28 Whereas, Elder Watson Diggs and Byron Kenneth Armstrong,
29 who had forged a friendship at Howard University, became
30 students at Indiana University and found themselves socially
31 isolated on campus due to discrimination, inadequate social
32 services, and meager representation of Black students, so they
33 began hosting social events and parties that attracted Black
34 students from across the state, crafting a constitution, rituals,
35 an initiation ceremony, and a coat of arms for their new
36 organization;
37 Whereas, Kappa Alpha Psi created a monthly publication in
38 1921 called the Kappa Alpha Psi Journal and started initiatives
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1 aimed at aiding high school students, and some members
2 became prominent figures in the civil rights movement;
3 Whereas, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., was founded on
4 November 17, 1911, at Howard University by three students,
5 Edgar Love, Frank Coleman, and Oscar Cooper, along with the
6 assistance of biologist Professor Ernest Just;
7 Whereas, At first, administrators at Howard University
8 opposed the formation of Omega Psi Phi as they were worried
9 that secret societies could erode trust among students on
10 campus and lead to immoral behavior, which was the attitude
11 of many colleges and universities nationwide, but after a public
12 relations campaign and negotiations with the faculty by
13 members of the fraternity, they became a nationally recognized
14 organization;
15 Whereas, In 1926, Omega Psi Phi became a life member of
16 the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, a
17 group founded by member Carter G. Woodson who helped
18 establish Negro History Week, a precursor to Black History
19 Month. The fraternity was heavily involved in the civil rights
20 moment, supporting the Joint Committee on National Recovery,
21 which was a coalition of 20 civil rights group, in their efforts to
22 secure fair employment for Black people, and they also
23 contributed to organizations such as the Southern Negro
24 Congress, the National Urban League, the International
25 Brotherhood of Red Caps, and the NAACP;
26 Whereas, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., was founded on
27 January 13, 1913, at Howard University, and they emerged
28 from a division within Alpha Kappa Alpha as members were
29 dissatisfied with the organization's limited focus on campus
30 affairs and wanted to pivot towards addressing broader issues
31 such as public service and women's advancement;
32 Whereas, From its inception, Delta Sigma Theta became
33 active politically, marching with White women in the 1913
34 Woman Suffrage Procession and lobbying the federal
35 government on various matters, including racial justice,
36 anti-lynching laws, and the United States' involvement in Haiti.
37 The organization also sponsored various social programs for
38 Black people, creating the National Library Project in 1937
39 that sought to combat illiteracy, and they created one of the
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1 nation's first bookmobiles to serve Black people in some of the
2 most isolated parts of the country;
3 Whereas, Delta Sigma Theta's emphasis on the importance of
4 being politically engaged attracted notable members such as
5 former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, former Atlanta
6 Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and civil rights activist Dorothy
7 Height;
8 Whereas, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., was founded on
9 January 9, 1914, at Howard University, but it was first
10 conceived years before by A. Langston Taylor, who aspired to
11 create a new BGLO as a high school student in Memphis,
12 Tennessee. Taylor, along with his former college roommate
13 Leonard Morse and fellow Howard student Charles I. Brown,
14 established the organization in a Washington, D.C., Young
15 Men's Christian Association (YMCA) building;
16 Whereas, During the 1920s, Phi Beta Sigma actively engaged
17 in advocacy efforts, supporting anti-lynching legislation,
18 launching the Bigger and Better Business national program to
19 address the imperative for Black economic empowerment, and
20 opposing United States military intervention in Haiti;
21 Whereas, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., was founded on
22 January 16, 1920, at Howard University by Arizona Cleaver,
23 who was approached by Charles Taylor of Phi Beta Sigma
24 about her interest in forming a sister organization;
25 Whereas, The founders of Zeta Phi Beta promptly crafted a
26 constitution that mirrored Phi Beta Sigma's structure, marking
27 the birth of the first brother-sister organization, and their
28 constitution emphasized advancing education among college
29 women, fostering uplifting projects, embodying the spirit of
30 sisterly love, and promoting the ideals of finer womanhood;
31 Whereas, Zeta Phi Beta began a publication called Archon,
32 formerly titled X-Ray, instituted the tradition of Finer
33 Womanhood Week, aligned itself with the NAACP and the
34 National Negro Congress, and embarked on the Zeta Housing
35 Project of 1943, identifying housing vacancies and registering
36 them with the National Housing Association to shelter war
37 workers during World War II;
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1 Whereas, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., was founded on
2 November 12, 1922, at Butler University in Indianapolis,
3 Indiana, by seven educators: Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little,
4 Dorothy Hanley Whiteside, Vivian White Marbury, Nannie Mae
5 Gahn Johnson, Hattie Mae Annette Dulin Redford, Bessie Mae
6 Downey Rhoades Martin, and Cubena McClure;
7 Whereas, Sigma Gamma Rho became nationally incorporated
8 in 1929, actively supported civil rights, and worked to empower
9 families in such areas as education and health;
10 Whereas, The sorority organized literary contests to provide
11 books to young Black students, established the National
12 Vocational Guidance program to help launch careers, founded
13 the Sigma Gamma Rho Employment Aid Bureau to assist
14 members in finding employment, and launched Sigma Teen
15 Town to address juvenile delinquency;
16 Whereas, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc., was founded on
17 September 19, 1963, at Morgan State College (now Morgan
18 State University) in Baltimore, Maryland, marking the final
19 addition to the National Pan-Hellenic Council, and it was
20 founded amidst the civil rights movement by twelve men, most
21 of whom were non-traditional students, making it difficult to
22 recruit undergraduate members at first;
23 Whereas, Aligned with the civil rights ethos, members of Iota
24 Phi Theta actively supported the boycott of a segregated
25 shopping mall in Baltimore and collaborated on community
26 service projects with organizations such as the NAACP, United
27 Negro College Fund, and the Southern Christian Leadership
28 Council; and
29 Whereas, The first Divine Nine Day will be hosted at the
30 Indiana Statehouse on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, to celebrate
31 these organizations and their contributions to their campuses,
32 local communities, and the Black community as a whole:
33 Therefore,
34 Be it resolved by the House of Representatives
35 of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana,
36 the Senate concurring:
37 SECTION 1. That the Indiana General Assembly recognizes
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1 the Divine Nine Chapters of the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
2 SECTION 2. That the Indiana General Assembly recognizes
3 March 25, 2025, as Divine Nine Day at the Indiana Statehouse.
4 SECTION 3. That the Principal Clerk of the House of
5 Representatives shall transmit copies of this resolution to State
6 Representative Vanessa Summers for distribution.
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