Historical Highway Markers

AKA Delta Omega

S-77

On 26 Feb. 1921, Delta Omega became the first graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.® chartered on the East Coast, the fourth graduate chapter in the U.S., and the first Greek- letter organization at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute (later Virginia State University). VNII faculty members Pauline Puryear, Pearl Grigsby, Lucy Johnson, Edna Colson, Mae Hatchette, and Louise Stokes formed Nu chapter, renamed Delta Omega in 1922. Puryear later became national president of AKA, the first Greek-letter organization founded by and for African American women. Several buildings at VSU and the building that houses the Ettrick-Matoaca Library were named for Delta Omega members.

Department of Historic Resources, 2020

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Delta Omega Chapter Charter, 1921. Renee Escoffery-Torres, Nine Decades of Timeless Service: Delta Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., 1921-2013 (Petersburg: Dietz Press, 2014). Earnestine Green McNealey, Priceless Pearls: Dimensions of Sisterhood and Service in Alpha Kappa Alpha (Chicago: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., 2017). Barbara W. Davis, The Mid-Atlantic Story: Continuing the Vision (Baltimore: American Literary Press, Inc., 2001). Crisis Magazine, July 1923. Norfolk Journal and Guide, 9 Jan. 1926, 8 Jan. 1927, 23 March 1968.