Here's a link to the article in today's AJC:

Spelman grad is first black Miss Georgia

By BRENDEN SAGER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/27/04


A Spelman graduate and doctoral candidate at Emory University was named Miss Georgia, becoming the first African-American to wear the crown in the pageant's 60-year history.

To read more go to:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...msgeorgia.html

Congrats!

FYI: My aunt who joined Alpha Kappa Alpha as a Boulee member while at Spelman was the 1st Runner Up to Miss Georgia. At the time she was a Spelman senior and Mu Pi had not yet been chartered.

She became the standout leader as the pageant went on, but it just so happened the young (white) lady who actually won was asked a fluff question as her final question and my Soror-aunt got a real tough question- clearly the person won who Georgia wanted to win. I think her question even had to do with race relations in GA (this was in the late sixties or early seventies).

Mu Pi was chartered about two years after she graduated. And actually, the NAACP came to Spelman looking for the appropriate woman to integrate the pageant and chose her. She got sociology credit for it at Spelman as she wrote a paper on what it was like integrating Miss Georgia and the experience with the crown that was practically stolen from her.

Clearly, I'm very proud, but I shared all that to say that Mu Pi has a legacy of Sorors in the Miss Georgia pageant. I am just sad to see it took almost 35 years for an African Americam woman to win.

Congrats Soror Danica!

and Congratulations to your Soror-Aunt as well. :D

Sorry for barging in!

She was the roommate of one of our students at the Miss Georgia competition and has graciously invited her 3 roommates to be her guests at the Miss America Pageant! They adored her and can't wait to cheer her on.

TTT/Baltimore area Sorors on TV
 

http://wjz.com/wjzmorningedition

You have to have a video player in your computer. When you get to the page, click on the "Manic Monday" link and you will see some of our beautiful Sorors.
:D

It is so wonderful to see that my old chapter sorors are doing so well...

The last time I visited Spelman after my 1990 graduation was in 1999 and there had not been a line that year...

So she was on the Indemnity P.T.W.N. line... I believe she is on the same line as one of my line sisters from Aesop's Fables...

This is so cool!!!

Soror who is Miss Georgia
 

Way to go Soror ! She is pretty and intelligent too- A Doctoral candidate at Emory, go ahead now!

From the Mu Pi listserve
 

Making history

Danica Tisdale, the first black Miss Georgia, wants to inspire other women of color

BY CHRISTOPHER BOYCE

Staff Writer


Twelve hours after winning her Miss Georgia crown, Danica Tisdale stood in the lobby of the Wyndham Hotel in uptown Columbus, still surrounded by a buzz that had subsided only slightly.

After a night that yielded just three hours of sleep following photo opportunities, interviews and a post-pageant party, the 24-year old Tisdale was up for another round of interviews, the signing of her Miss Georgia contract and plenty more congratulations, handshakes and photos.

Though, to even her surprise, her glowing eyes sent no hint that she didn't get a proper beauty queen's sleep.

"I don't know what I'm running on anymore," Tisdale joked.

A good guess is that she was and will continue to be fueled by the exhilaration of a dream fulfilled.

Like many women, Tisdale grew up watching and admiring Miss America. Though she had long flirted with the idea of entering pageants, she didn't take her chance until it was almost too late, with 24 being the maximum age for contestants.

"I never really thought about winning or losing. I just didn't want to look back in 15 years and wish I had done it," Tisdale said.

And as the first black Miss Georgia in the 60-year history of the pageant, Tisdale said she was encouraged by the idea of making history.

"It's an incredible honor," Tisdale said of her landmark crowning. "I always thought I could be the one. I was never discouraged."

But due to her strict dedication to her academic career, this opportunity almost slipped by Tisdale. After graduating high school, Tisdale completed her bachelor of arts degree at Spelman College in Atlanta and then went straight to Temple University in Philadelphia where she earned her master's in English. While at Emory University, where she is currently working toward her doctorate in English literature, she began considering competing for Miss America.

Unlike many other pageant contestants, Tisdale had no lineage of beauty queens to turn to for advice. Instead, Tisdale turned to the Internet, researching the competition on the Miss Atlanta Web site www.missatlanta.org. Intrigued by what she saw, Tisdale began the process of interviewing for a spot in the pageant.

"As an academic, I'm always thinking about political and social issues and I think that really helped me in my interviews as well as with my confidence on stage," Tisdale said.

Tisdale will be forced to take a leave of absence from Emory in order to fullfil her duty as Miss Georgia, which includes competing in the Miss America pageant on Sept. 18. However, Miss Georgia says she has every intention of returning to Emory "to become Dr. Tisdale," and of eventually earning a position as a university professor and administrator. Her $15,000 Miss Georgia scholarship should help her in the effort.

Tisdale said that while it will be difficult to be pulled away from her school, family and friends by the busy schedule she has acquired, she feels a great sense of honor and responsibility to commit herself to her primary goals. She will be working to increase awareness of the importance of hospice care. And, as she also holds a specialization in women's studies, Tisdale also looks forward to giving attention to women's issues.

"I hope to serve as a role model for all women across the state, but especially for women of color who might not have seen the possibility of being Miss Georgia as an opportunity," Tisdale said.

Tisdale, who never sought coaching for her pageant run, said she still didn't think of herself as a front-runner during Saturday night's competition. She said this attitude, along with her past experience speaking in church and in oratorical contests, helped calm her nerves on stage.

Beginning her Miss Georgia duties, Tisdale will meet with the Japanese consulate in Atlanta on Wednesday. Then she will be staying in Columbus for the duration of the summer with the pageant's business manager, Tate Sasser, while preparing for the Miss America pageant.

Having shared a room this week with Miss Columbus, Samantha Daniels, Tisdale said she looks forward to getting to know the city with one of many new friends she made during the pageant

yay, a Soror Spelmanite making history! i'm so happy for her. i will be watching the pageant w/my fingers crossed:D

Soror Maya Angelou has a group of greeting cards that are distributed through Hallmark called Life Mosaic. You can find them at Wal-Mart.

Did a Soror win a Gold at the Olympics?
 

I heard a soror won on Tuesday. She participated in one of the track events. She trains in South Carolina, but represents the Bahamas.

I saw an email about it on the NPHC listserv. Tonique Darling won a Gold Medal. :)

Univ. of South Carolina Graduate
 

Thanks for the name. I saw the race, but I didn't pay attention to her name. I was concentrating on the good ole USA. :rolleyes: :D

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/20...b__200x360.jpg

I was just about to post this. I found an article on Soror Williams-Darling on the "other" USC's listserv:

http://uscsports.collegesports.com/s...080504aaa.html

:D I didn't know she is a Soror!! Yall I thought the police was going to be called on my sister & I! We were screaming so loud & jumping up & down during the race & when she won! I always love it when my fellow Bahamians do well! The Bahamas is so proud of her, she will surely have a parade upon her return! I am now doubly proud to find out that she is a Soror also! :D :D :D

YAY! That's wonderful!:D

UC honors pioneering African American educator
Building named for teacher, donor Jackson

Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday,
August 31, 2004


She was gifted, no doubt about that.

She could read by age 3, an impressive feat for the
youngest of eight black children whose father had been
a slave and who lived in Mississippi, in the heart of
the Jim Crow South.

Lincoln had been dead but 40 years, women couldn't
vote and many blacks lived in fear of lynching. Little
Ida Louise Jackson followed her older brothers to
school and taught other children to read.

Everyone said she was unusually bright, but who would
have predicted that one day, eight years after her
death at age 93 in Oakland, she would outshine even
the midday August sun?

That's what seemed to happen at an emotional ceremony
Monday when the Ida Louise Jackson Graduate House
became the first building at UC Berkeley to be named
after an African American woman.

A harsh noontime sun beat down on the podium and many
of the chairs set up in the courtyard of the newly
christened Jackson House -- a recently built graduate
student dorm at College and Durant avenues. But the
hot glare seemed eclipsed by the glowing tribute for a
woman who broke through barriers of injustice, paved
roads to advanced education for African Americans and
inspired generations of others with her devotion.

"It's awesome. Thank you for this wonderful tribute,
this incredible tribute," exclaimed Inez Dones, a
friend of Jackson's and trustee of the annual
fellowship that Jackson endowed for African American
doctoral students at Berkeley.

"We hope that as we unveil her name, it will become a
beacon of light, a beacon of inspiration," Dones said.


Jackson was one of only 17 black students in 1920 when
she enrolled at UC Berkeley, where she founded the Rho
chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first African
American sorority at Cal. She later served as the
sorority's national president.

"She's quite well known in Berkeley because of her
trust and her fellowship," said Mary Ann Mason, dean
of Cal's graduate division.

"She became the first African American woman in the
state of California to receive a teaching credential,
which she did in 1924," Mason said. "And then she went
on to become the first African American of either
gender to teach in the Oakland public schools."

Her assignment in Oakland, where she taught for 15
years at Prescott Intermediate School, "was met with
protests," said Barbara Phillips, also a former
national president of Alpha Kappa Alpha, who came from
North Carolina for Monday's ceremony.

It would be 13 years before Oakland hired another
black teacher, Beth Wilson, whose daughter, Diane
Wilson-Thomas, was at the dorm's christening. "She and
my mom had great energy," Wilson-Thomas recalled
before the ceremony.

"She dedicated her life to education," Mason told the
gathering. In 1933, Jackson started the Summer School
for Rural Teachers in Mississippi.

The following year, she established the Mississippi
Health Project, which brought nurses and doctors to
poverty-ridden communities. Her contributions were
recognized the same year by then-President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, who invited her to the White House for the
Christmas tree-lighting ceremony.

She served a short term as dean of women at Tuskegee
Institute and returned to Oakland, where she taught at
McClymonds High until retiring in 1953.

She spent 17 years managing the family sheep ranch in
Mendocino County and then gave the 320-acre spread to
UC, providing the means to establish her fellowship.
It offers an African American Ph.D. student $15,000
for one year plus an additional $2,000 if the
dissertation is finished by May of that year.

"It's been wonderful to have a fellowship named for
Ida Louise Jackson," said last year's recipient,
Kathleen Sterling, who attended Monday's ceremony and
has been researching 13,000-year-old stone tools in
caves in the Pyrenees.

As the event drew to a close, about 50 Alpha Kappa
Alpha members of all ages stood in a circle, held
hands and sang their sorority hymn.

The closing act came when a banner was lifted from
Jackson's name on the front of the building.

"Oh, that's marvelous!" said Christine Hill, president
of a foundation that gives scholarships in Jackson's
name to a half-dozen graduating high school seniors in
the Bay Area each year.

"Oh, how beautiful," added Hill, who wore Jackson's
special sorority pin marking 50 years of membership.

I saw the plans at the FWRC. What a wonderful tribute to Soror Ida. She was truly a trailblazer!!

Echo that, Soror!

that girl has some wheels

Soror Ida Jackson
 

This is long overdue. She sounds like a phenomenal woman, I expect nothing less from one of the "Fab Four", or my alma matter.

:)

On her way
 

From the preliminary competition....


Miss Georgia Danica Tisdale captured top honors in talent as the 52 women vying for Miss America wrapped up their preliminary competitions Wednesday.


Tisdale, 24, of Atlanta, a Ph.D. candidate at Emory University, sang "Please Send Me Someone to Love" for her talent offering. She won a $4,000 college scholarship for besting 16 other women in her group.


To read the rest of the article:

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news...ssgeorgia.html

more coverage
 

The AJC is busy with articles about Miss Georgia.

Here's a link from the one today:


http://www.ajc.com/today/content/epa...c914010c0.html

Oh...they mention her sorority:


Behind a banner in the auditorium that bore a picture of a peach and proclaimed, "We Love Miss Georgia," a cheering section rooted her on. Her parents are here, as are assorted friends, relatives and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sisters.

New Brunswick, NJ

Internationally acclaimed vocalist Freda Payne will play the title role
of
Ella Fitzgerald in the world premiere musical production at Crossroads
Theatre in December. As an accomplished chanteuse whose musical tastes
span the range from Miles Davis to Motown, Payne is remarkable for her
versatility and is equally at home performing with a symphony or an
intimate
jazz trio. In Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady of Song Payne will bring to
the stage the
role ofthe diva she has long admired.

This musical production was conceived by Maurice Hines who is also
choreographing and directing the Crossroads show. Hines was inspired
to
write a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald after working with her and hearing
first hand the story of her life. In what Hines describes as a labor
of
love, Ella fulfills his promise to the jazz singer and the musical play
will delve into the many aspects of her rich and complex life.

Although best known for her gold record single Band of Gold, the
multi-talented Freda Payne's career includes theater, Broadway, concert
stage and film. Like Ella Fitzgerald, Payne's first major break came at
the world famous Apollo Theater in Harlem when Quincy Jones invited her
to perform as a soloist. Payne's ever-expanding repertoire includes
roles
in the award winning musical Blues in the Night and performing with
Maurice Hines and Savion Glover in the national touring production of
Jelly's Last Jam. Freda has also starred in the Broadway production of
Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies, Ain't Misbehavin' and the
Tony Award winning Hallelujah Baby.


Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady of Song runs from December 3-19. For
tickets
and additional information, call 732-545-8100.

West Point Grad and AKA in the news
 

Nice article from today's AJC

Click on the link to read the entire article

http://www.ajc.com/today/content/epa...7f1a50065.html

At 24, Mary Tobin is a soldier through and through, even with the manicured fingernails and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority knapsack.
But she says any soldier who tells you he isn't afraid for his life is lying.

She says it never occurred to her while raising her hand five years ago that she'd ever face imminent danger.

Even so, she understands that being in the "military is to fight and win wars. You always have to go back to that."

On Sept. 19, Mary Tobin's two-week leave was up. Today, she is back with her unit in a trailer on the outskirts of Baghdad doing what soldiers do --- fighting a war, fighting to come home.

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great pleasure that I share with you the news that Dr.
Gayle
T. Tate has been awarded the prestigious award for best book on race
and
ethnic politics in local context, 2004, from the American Political
Science Association for her book "Rights for a Season: The Politics
of
Race, Class and Gender in Richmond, Virginia." The committee
recognized
her book as "path breaking, and will stand as a model for the
empirical
examination of race, class, and gender politics in American cities
for
many decades to come."

The first paragraph made me laugh. ;)

But Kudos to my VWC Sorors! :)

^^ me too...unlike any other organization on campus.:p

Congrats to the new sorors.

congrats to our sorors at VWC! does anyone have the chapter name?

The First Paragraph made me laugh


Hey watch it;)

Sigma Omicron!

thanks for the answer:)

Soror:

Congrats to your chapter and the lovely sorors that were recently initiated through the newly chartered Sigma Pi chapter. Persistence definitely overcomes resistence!

Sisterly,

pNc



Ivy2Love Ladies,

It is with great pleasure that I announce one of the newest undergraduate chapters in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.

On Dec. 19, the Genesis of the Pearls Interest Group was chartered as Sigma Pi Chapter at Florida International University in Miami. Fourteen young ladies will continue the legacy on that campus. They were introduced to the community at a luncheon in gorgeous ballroom overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Sigma Pi Chapter was/is a LONG time coming and a dream come true for Gamma Zeta Omega, the sponsoring chapter. This process started years ago; we had to learn the meaning of perseverance at an entirely different level.

As one of the co-chairs for this momentous event, I must say this will be a lasting memory. I don't think I've comprehended the enormity of it all. Thank God for blessings, seen and unseen. It is all good.

It's Greek to Me



September 6, 2002

With September here, and students returning to college, a lot of terms begin to rise on the Lycos search logs. One of those staples of college life is Greek life, and Lycos gets a fair number of searches for fraternities and sororities. We decided to see which were the most popular with our users.

Here are the top 20 Greek organizations searched on Lycos. We combined searches from the first six months of 2002 with searches from the last two weeks, since students returned to school. As you'll see later in this article, the top eight terms make a strong statement:

1) Alpha Kappa Alpha
2) Delta Sigma Theta
3) Omega Psi Phi
4) Kappa Alpha Psi
5) Zeta Phi Beta
6) Alpha Phi Alpha
7) Phi Beta Sigma
8) Sigma Gamma Rho
9) Phi Delta Kappa
10) Sigma Phi Epsilon


11) Phi Beta Kappa
12) Phi Theta Kappa
13) Sigma Alpha Epsilon
14) Chi Omega
15) Pi Kappa Alpha
16) Sigma Chi
17) Kappa Kappa Gamma
18) Sigma Theta Tau
19) Kappa Alpha Theta
20t) Delta Zeta
20t) Zeta Tau Alpha


Not all of these organizations are conventional fraternities. Phi Beta Kappa, of course, is a student honor society, and Phi Theta Kappa is a similar society for students at two-year colleges. Phi Delta Kappa is an professional society for teachers, while Sigma Theta Tau is a professional society for nurses.

The remaining organizations are split pretty evenly between the men and the women, with eight fraternities and nine sororities (including the two tied for #20). But what really stands out is that the top eight most-searched Greek organizations are all historically African-American, led by the sororities Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta (with almost, but not quite, the same number of searches).

The top two black sororities get more than 10 times the number of searches as the top "conventional" sorority, Chi Omega. The difference is a bit less pronounced for the men, but Omega Psi Phi gets about four times as many searches as the top "conventional" frat, Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Many readers will find this surprising, but delving deeper into the culture of these organizations shows why they get so many searches. Black Greek life holds a very important place in African-American history. One hundred years ago, Americans of European ancestry had plenty of lodges, societies, and professional unions to connect them, many of which dated back to before 1776. But African-Americans did not -- so fraternities and sororities were some of the strongest, earliest national African-American organizations, dedicated to community service and political activism as well as life on and off campus.

That strength has continued to the present day. The alumni chapters of black Greek organizations are much more active than those of corresponding "conventional" fraternities. A majority of members consider themselves active even after graduation, with up to 60 percent of active membership made up of alumni.

And most historical African-American leaders were members of these organizations. The most famous is Martin Luther King Jr., who gets a whole section on the Alpha Phi Alpha website dedicated to building an MLK memorial.

Modernity brings changes, of course. Now "conventional" fraternities are open to all races, and so are historically black fraternities. Like MLK, former Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha.

Of course, fraternities aren't the only searches that involve Greek letters. Check out today's bonus list to the right for more searches that are Greek to me.

The top two black sororities get more than 10 times the number of searches as the top "conventional" sorority, Chi Omega. The difference is a bit less pronounced for the men, but Omega Psi Phi gets about four times as many searches as the top "conventional" frat, Sigma Phi Epsilon.


What does he mean by "conventional'?

Iota Chapter at University of Pittsburgh
 

Basically good article, but I'm :eek: that the term soror was used.

Sorority looks at television, race, values


By CHRISMAS BAILEY & NIKKI SCHWAB
Staff Report
January 19, 2005

"The Cosby Show" is a well-known cultural depiction of a black family.
But the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. questioned whether it is a true representation of the black family at their Wednesday event, "The Black Family Through the Camera Lens: Does Prime Time Reflect Our Time?"

The members of the Iota Chapter hosted the event as one of the sorority's "Skee-Week" events. The program featured an episode of "The Cosby Show," followed by a discussion of the definition of the black family, how it varies from place to place, and how it has changed over time.

After viewing the episode, program coordinator and AKA soror Lauren Evette Williams split the audience into several groups, giving them quotations from a controversial speech Bill Cosby made to mark the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. the Board of Education judicial decision. Williams explained that the speech had been controversial because of how harshly Cosby criticized the black community.

"With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail," Cosby said, "Brown versus the Board of Education is no longer a white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back."

The groups were asked to compare what they'd seen in the television show, Cosby's speech, and what they felt were the real issues involving the modern black family.

Though "The Cosby Show" is known for transcending and revamping the model of a typical black family, several of the groups felt that the reality portrayed on the show was not, for most families, relatable.

Williams, also president of the Black Action Society, opened up the discussion to individual comments about the top issues facing black families.

"Family values aren't really getting passed down," said Angelina Riley, a graduate student from Carnegie Mellon University.

Another audience member, Pitt freshman Jennifer Blemur, felt the most pressing issue was the conflict between what young people see in the media and how they perceive their actual families.

"It's about perpetuating this image of what a 'baller' is," Blemur said.

Pitt alumna Nicole Cofer explained the importance of getting involved in politics. She pointed out that men can get their medical insurance to cover Viagra, but women cannot get insurance to cover birth control.

"The balance of women and things are not fair," Cofer said. She urged the audience to make political differences now.

Justine Wilmot, a Pitt senior, said that people know right from wrong, and that the black community needs to own up to its own mistakes.

"We need to do something better with our lives," Wilmot said.

The discussion of the black family was just one event in the weeklong "Skee-Week," sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. The sorority sponsored an event each day dealing with education, the black family, health, economics and the arts.

Marian Anderson Honored with a USPS Stamp
 

Thanx for the heads up, CT4! :cool:

I'm a Black History stamp collector, and I want to add this one to my library. Also, I did a composition paper on Marion Anderson back in 10th grade and got a A on it.

I'll get a few of those stamps from the USPS tomorrow.

Thanx again.!!