The Divine Nine

[BurningSands]

I wasn't going to post this topic, however the book is out so what the hell. What do you all think about the book? I have mix views. It is a good book, I have to give the Author props, however {to me} it focused more on Alphas & Deltas. No offense. It kould have focused a little more on the other Frats & Soros. After all it is kalled "The Divine NINE(9)" PNOTY(Prettiest Nupe Of The Year)

[CutiePie2000]

You may be interested to read these threads which discuss that very book:
http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/...ML/000387.html

and
http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/...ML/000827.html

Happy Reading!

[Ghostface-Killah]

BURNINGSADS,
I second you. I believe the book is good but even better for someone who is not a member. I think I made the mistake of reading it from the point of view of a NPHC member. I paid the $30+ expecting WAY more than I got. To be honest with you, it was kind of boring. I also think he was BIAS (did I spelled that right?) You are right; he made his personal opinions about certain orgs. shine more than others. I did not like how he phrased some of the points regarding the foundation of DST and how some of the founders were AKAs. ALthough the above is a fact, I first I kind of took it as damn, why is he "dissing" the AKAs?
Ok, enough
PLEASE DO NO TREPLY TO MY POST WITH NEGATIVITY- I could be wrong but this is the way I felt when I read the book (1 year ago)
ALso, he had MANY facts WRONG and people listed as member of orgs. were don't belong
Burnigsand, hope I answered you ques.
The book is a good reference guide. Although I have all the above mentioned problems with it, I have to give him props because he took the energy to put it together.

[mccoyred]

While I agree w/ the general concensus, I feel a different bias. His wife is a Delta yet the DST section was the shortest. Also DST is the largest of the nine yet the list of famous members was the shortest (what? ). I also saw a general bias against sororities because the frats' list of famous members was padded w/ athletes.

Oh well. As mentioned, the author gets an "E" for effort.

Originally posted by Ghostface-Killah:
BURNINGSADS,
I second you. I believe the book is good but even better for someone who is not a member. I think I made the mistake of reading it from the point of view of a NPHC member. I paid the $30+ expecting WAY more than I got. To be honest with you, it was kind of boring. I also think he was BIAS (did I spelled that right?) You are right; he made his personal opinions about certain orgs. shine more than others. I did not like how he phrased some of the points regarding the foundation of DST and how some of the founders were AKAs. ALthough the above is a fact, I first I kind of took it as damn, why is he "dissing" the AKAs?
Ok, enough
PLEASE DO NO TREPLY TO MY POST WITH NEGATIVITY- I could be wrong but this is the way I felt when I read the book (1 year ago)
ALso, he had MANY facts WRONG and people listed as member of orgs. were don't belong
Burnigsand, hope I answered you ques.
The book is a good reference guide. Although I have all the above mentioned problems with it, I have to give him props because he took the energy to put it together.

------------------
MCCOYRED

Dynamic
Salient
Temperate

Mu Psi '86
BaltCo Alumnae

[Pike4Life]

I was just wondering, who is the ninth organization in the Divine Nine? I thought my school had a full yard of NPHC orgs, but we only have eight -- frats: Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Pi Beta Sigma, and Alpha Phi Alpha; and sorors: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Sigma Gamma Rho, and Zeta Phi Beta. So who's the Ninth?
I haven't read the book yet, but the reviews I have seen give it good marks for anyone that work with Greek orgs.

[ManndingoNUPE]

Iota Phi Theta is the 9th organiztion.

[Texas_Dove]

Pike4Life,

The Divine Nine consists of:

(Fraternities)
Phi Beta Sigma
Alpha Phi Alpha
Kappa Alpha Psi
Omega Psi Phi
Iota Phi Theta

(Sororities)
Zeta Phi Beta
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Delta Sigma Theta
Sigma Gamma Rho

[Ghostface-Killah]

While we are at it,
if you can, read "Inside America's Black Upper Class -Our Kind of People" by Lawrence Otis Graham.
THe book is SOOOOOOOOO good and his writting style is very interesting. I liked the way he includes personal experience with the facts of researched orgs. he discussed. I love my org. and NPHC as a whole but, it does not stop there. This is some baby stuff compared to Jack and Jill, Cotillions, Links, the Girlfriends, Boule, Guardsmen, Mason, OES and on. What I mean is, if we think our org. and NPHC as a whole is deep, wait until you read this book.
I hope people don't interprate this wrong, but on the real, check this book out. It left me with a good feeling about our accomplishments but it also made me a little ashame of some people's attitude towards those less fortuned.
Those who read the book, tell me what you think. Those who have not seen the book, if you to comment of my comment, please don't be rude.
ONE.

[MIDWESTDIVA]

Ghostface,

There were some interesting and some not so interesting parts of the book. There were quite a few things that pissed me off in it. For example, the way the guests acted at his brother's wedding when they saw the broom. Overall, the book was a pretty good read. It was definitely eye opening.

[AlphaChiGirl]

Ahhh..."Our Kind of People"...I had a friend ask me about that book, whether it was worth reading (I guess he assumed that I had read it). So I did...it was pretty good, but it seemed as if he was sucking up in some ways. (to me at least), he mentions Barbara Delany, the first African-American woman to pledge an NPC organization, Sigma Kappa. Does anyone know if she was/is active? (I don't know if she's deceased)

[This message has been edited by AlphaChiGirl (edited January 11, 2001).]

[Big Deuce]

Since Mr. Ross is an Alpha and his wife is a Delta, I expected the book to have some degree of preferential treatment in it. But I do feel that he could have done a more thorough job of researching some of the other organizations. Now I may be biased, but in the book there were pictures of Sphinxmen, Scrollers, Lamps, and Centaurs. Where were the pictures of the Crescent Club? Conversely, where were the Archonians? The Blue and White Family was around during above-ground pledging. Additionally, in the info section he mentioned something about PBS being associated with the term "Fire and Brimstone". Now I know we are a diverse organization, but I don't know of any chapters that are still using that. Other than that, he did what he could I suppose.

[justmyo]

Sir.
I know ther are those of us who would like to write our own books about the Black Fraternities and Sororities,but we didn't,so OH WELL.This book was very informative for the lay person who is not Greek and for Greeks who are not familar with other organizations.I learned a lot about the other Eight organizations.Personally I think we should still be the "Elite Eight".
There will be a second edition,I am sure all the organizations will have the opportunity to make additions and subtractions.All the organizations were contacted before printing,no one objected,if they had I am sure there would be law suits.
The only thing I objected to was the list of famous people,Joe Blow who sits on the bench for the Bengals is not famous.Mr smith who made one movie is not famous.Some list are shorter than others,some Organizations listed people who are not members,who are not even greek.Or member of another organization.
Overall this is a must read for ALL greeks,I am glad I now know some of the History of the other Frats and Sorority.I am now trying to obtain copies of everyone history book,let me know if this is possible.

[Ghostface-Killah]

JUSTMUYO,
As I read your post it made me wonder if you are the author of the book. True that he is the first one to put the info "together as it is" but, I am not a impressed. As far as learning about the other org. DAMN!!!!!!! It is a shame you learned it from that book. If you are a part of the DIVINE NINE, you LEARNED, or should've that info as you were coming in. Better yet, even before you made your decision, you should've looked up all orgs.
MATURE AND OPEN-MINDED REPLIES ONLY-PLEASE

Just my 22 cents.

[justmyo]

Ghostface
I am not implying that there were no flaws or mistakes in the book.There were some things that I disagreed with.I was only defending Mr.Ross for making the effort to compile this information.
As far as my knowledge of the EIGHT organizations that made up the National Pan-hel,I have always been well aware of the general history of all of them.When I was in school,in the not-to- distant pass,we were the only organization with our history book in the library.The other information came from searching out this information wherever I could,actually my research into other greek organizations went further than a mere history book.There are constitutions and by-laws filed at most universities.
If it were me,but it's not.I would give every organization equal space,and make sure everyone had an equal amount of pictures.
I am sure Mr ross ran into some opposition from some of the other organizations when he began to solicit information from them.But the information in the book is public information,just with information from the Library at Howard university and the Internet I can compile a simular book.The most interesting part of the book was the interviews with the members themselves,and I am sure there are some members who wished they had not declined to participate.
Each of us would love to produce a fantastic book of our organization,I have read the first part of The Delta Book,after a while it's only interesting to them.My own history is surely a bore to anyone but the brothers.I have seen some history books,which from the size of them there isn't much history they want to tell.I hope this clears my name and shows how open minded I can be,and I hope this reply is mature enough.

[AKA2D '91]

Originally posted by justmyo:
Ghostface
.When I was in school,in the not-to- distant pass,we were the only organization with our history book in the library.

LOL...OUR HISTORY BOOK WAS IN OUR LIBRARY TOO,WHEN I WAS THERE BUT...
IT GOT STOLEN...GO FIGURE!

SOROR PINK...
WHEN I WAS IN SCHOOL, THERE WERE ONLY EIGHT, TOO...