The History of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated was organized on January 16, 1920, at Howard University, Washington, D.C.  as the result of encouragement given to our five Founders by Charles Taylor and A. Langston Taylor, members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated.  These Sigma brothers felt the campus would benefit by the development of such an organization as sisters to the fraternity.  Thus, Zeta and Sigma became the first and ONLY official Greek-letter sister and brother organization.

The Founders of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., also known as The Five Pearls, were trailblazers.  The Founders (Arizona Cleaver Stemons, Pearl Anna Neal, Myrtle Tyler Faithful, Viola Tyler Goings and Fannie Pettie Watts) sought to depart from established organizations and founded a new sisterhood predicated on the precepts of Scholarship, Service, Sisterhood and Finer Womanhood. These women believed that sorority elitism and socializing overshadowed the real mission of progressive organizations and failed to address fully the societal mores, ills, prejudices, and poverty affecting humanity in general and the black community in particular.

Since its inception, Zeta has continued its steady climb into the national spotlight with programs designed to demonstrate concern for the human condition both nationally and internationally. Zeta is the only sorority constitutionally bound to a fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated. The sorority takes pride in its continued participation in transforming communities through volunteer services from members and its auxiliaries. Zeta Phi Beta has chartered hundreds of chapters worldwide and has a membership of 100,000+.  Visit www.zphib1920.org