HerStory is OurStory

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated was founded on January 16, 1920, when the Klan was active and, the Harlem Renaissance was acknowledged as the first significant movement of Black artists and writers in the U.S. This same year, the Volstead Act became effective, heralding the start of Prohibition and Tennessee delivered the crucial 36th ratification for the final adoption of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. The worst and most prolonged economic recession to hit the U.S. would define the end of the decade

-The Great Depression.

Within this environment, five coeds envisioned a sorority that would directly affect positive change, chart a course of action for the 1920s and beyond, raise people’s consciousness, encourage the highest standards of scholastic achievement, and foster a greater sense of unity among its members. You might say that their collective presence on the campus of Howard University at the same time was a divine occurrence intended to be the foundation of what the sorority and the work of its members represent today.