Fraternity History & More

One hundred years ago, the battle for women’s suffrage was almost won. Victory was so close. Many sorority women were involved in the effort. Historically, there was a strong foundation of feminists creating and joining sororities. Throughout the history of sororities* one can find women who have been trailblazers and pioneers in their fields. Of course, for one who does not wish to believe this no amount of proof will be sufficient. 

Sisterhood has really never gone out of style and it has been a cornerstone of National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) organizations since the beginning.

I offer ten women whom most anti-sorority people would never believe belonged to a sorority. (*I know all too well that although the organizations are colloquially called sororities, the majority of the 26 National Panhellenic Conference groups are officially women’s fraternities or fraternities for women). These ten women were from a “top of my head” list. There are scores of others who belong on this list.

Carrie Lane Chapman Catt (1859-1947), Pi Beta Phi (Iowa State University). Catt was President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1900-04 (and 1915-20, too). She was instrumental in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment granting women the right to vote.

Carrie C. Lane (Chapman Catt) is first on the Iowa Gamma Chapter roll for the Spring 1880 term.

Mary Ritter Beard (1876-1958), Kappa Alpha Theta (DePauw University). Ritter was a suffragist and a noted historian.

Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Ph.D., (1879-1958), Kappa Kappa Gamma (Ohio State University). Fisher was an author, educational reformer, and social activist. After World War I, she did post-war relief work in Europe, enlisting her Kappa sisters’ assistance in helping orphaned children.

Alice Duer Miller (1874-1942), Kappa Kappa Gamma, Barnard College (Phi Beta Kappa, too!). Miller was an ardent suffragist. In the years when women were trying to gain the right to vote, she wrote a column, Are Women People? devoted to the cause of equal suffrage. In 1915, she penned:

‘Mother, what is a feminist?’

‘A feminist, my daughter,

Is any woman now who cares

to think about her own affairs

As men don’t think she oughter.’

Ada Comstock Notestein (1876-1973), Delta Gamma, University of Minnesota. Notestein served as  Dean of Women at Smith College from 1921-23. Since 1975, Smith College’s Ada Comstock Scholars Program has helped hundreds of non-traditional age women to complete a Bachelor of Arts. In addition, she served as President of the American Association of University Women from 1921-23 and President of Radcliffe College from 1923-43.

E. Jean Nelson Penfield, (1872-1961), Kappa Kappa Gamma (DePauw University). Penfield was one of seven women who chartered the Woman’s Suffrage Party of Greater New York. She also served as Kappa Kappa Gamma’s National President. 

Edith and Grace Abbott, both Delta Gammas (University of Nebraska). Grace (1878-1939) was the highest ranking woman in the United States government for over a decade as the head of the U.S. Children’s Bureau from 1921-34. She was the first woman to be nominated for a Presidential cabinet position—Secretary of Labor (unfortunately her nomination was not confirmed). Edith (1876-1957) was the first woman to become dean of an American graduate school, the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration.

Reverend Doctor Anna Howard Shaw, (1847-1919), Kappa Alpha Theta (Wooster College) An honorary member (alumna initiate), Shaw was a suffragist, physician, first ordained female Methodist minister, and President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

Frances Willard, 1839-98, Alpha Phi (Syracuse University). Willard was an honorary member (alumna initiate) and she served as Alpha Phi’s National President. She was a suffragist, social reformer, and an American educator. She was also instrumental in the establishment of the second chapter of Alpha Phi  at Northwestern University in 1881.

For further evidence, please see the #WHM posts done for Women’s History Month. Using the search box on the right will bring up more posts about #notablesorority women.