How the Divine Nine Helped Shape Black History and the Civil Rights Movement

When the average person is asked about fraternities and sororities, their responses are often not positive. They are organizations that many parents (especially if they didn’t attend college) would prefer their children avoid. To those parents, the organizations are the same be they black or white. Asking about the Divine Nine would only get you funny stares.

However, the strides that have been made in the African-American and Latino
communities, from Jim Crow to today, would not have been possible without the Divine Nine.

The Divine Nine is made up of the nine black fraternities and sororities. They are:
 Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. founded at Cornell University (Ithica, NY)
on 12/4/1906
 Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. founded at Howard University
(Washington, DC) on 1/1/1908
 Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. founded at Indiana University
(Bloomington, IN) on 1/5/1911
 Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. founded at Howard University (Washington,
DC) on 12/15/1911
 Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. founded at Howard University
(Washington, DC) on 1/13/1913
 Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. founded at Howard University
(Washington, DC) on 1/9/1914
 Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. founded at Howard University (Washington,
DC) on 1/16/1920
 Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc, founded at Butler University
(Indianapolis, IN) on 11/12/1922
 Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. founded at Morgan State University
(Baltimore, MD) on 9/19/1963

These organizations were created to strengthen the African-American community. They have different mottos, but their principles are essentially the same. The actual impact they have had cannot be documented here because it is so vast.

• For example, in 1925, one of the first museums of Black History and Research was created by Arturo Schomberg in New York City. Schomberg was a Puerto Rican historian who specialized in the African Diaspora. He was also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

• A year later in 1926 Carter G. Wilson created Black History Week (now Black History Month). His success can be attributed in part to the financing he received from his fraternity brothers of Omega Psi Phi.
  

In many ways, the entire Civil Rights Movement was organized, led and financed by the Divine Nine.

• Anyone with a basic knowledge of Black History knows about Thurgood Marshall and the Brown v. the Board of Education case. What most people don’t know is the success that Marshall had was financed by his fraternity brothers – the men of Alpha Phi Alpha.

• Probably the most iconic event of the Civil Rights Movement was the famous March on Washington in 1964. It was where The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
  

The march was organized by Bayard Rustin and A. Phillip Randolph. It was supported by the “Big Six” of the movement. The Six consisted of King, Randolph, John Lewis, Roy Wilkins, James Farmer, and Whitney Young.

Rustin was a civil rights organizer and his planning, organizational, advising and leadership skills were critical to the success of the movement. He was a member of Omega Psi Phi.

Randolph was a labor leader and activist. Though it is almost never mentioned, the march was his idea. However, he is best known for his efforts in organizing “100 Black Men Named George,” the pullman porters. Randolph was a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.

Also a member of Phi Beta Sigma was Congressman John Lewis. He was a stanch believer in equality, played a prominent role in the Civil Rights Movement and served as a United States Congressman from 1987 until his death in 2020.
James Farmer was the founder of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and a
member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

Roy Wilkins was a dedicated advocate for racial equality. He served the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for 22 years. He was the organizations national secretary from 1955 to1963 and its national director from 1964 to 1977. He was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

Whitney Young, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, served as the director of the National Urban League from 1961 to his death in 1971. Under his leadership, the organization exploded. It grew from 38 employees to well over 1,500 and raised the budget from $325,000 to $6,100,000.

Dr. King, also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, was the face of the Civil Rights Movements. His accomplishments and contributions are far too many to list here. Other Divine Nine members who made contributions to better society are:
 First black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall was a member of Alpha
Phi Alpha Fraternity.
 First black woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson
was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
 First Black female presidential candidate, Shirley Chisholm, as a member of
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

 First black Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She was also the first Black woman Democratic nominee for president of the United States

The contributions of the Divine Nine are so vast that one article would be too massive. They touch every aspect of our society. Thus, there will be a different profile on the organizations throughout the years. Please let us know what you think.

Thanks for reading the whole story!

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