In Search of Sisterhood: Delta SIGMA Theta and the Challenge of the Black Sorority Movement

Giddings notes that unlike other organizations with racial goals, Delta Sigma Theta was created to change and benefit individuals rather than society. As a sorority, it was formed to bring women together as sisters, but at the some time to address the divisive, often class-related issues confronting black women in our society. There is, in Giddings's eyes, a tension between these goals that makes Delta Sigma Theta a fascinating microcosm of the struggles of black women and their organizations.

DST members have included Mary McLeod Bethune, Mary Church Terrell, Margaret Murray Washington, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, and, on the cultural side, Leontyne Price, Lena Horne, Ruby Dee, Judith Jamison, and Roberta Flack. In Search of Sisterhood is full of compelling, fascinating anecdotes told by the Deltas themselves, and illustrated with rare early photographs of the Delta women.

Mary McLeod Bethune, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan and Lena Horne: all prominent black women who made tremendous contributions to society in the fields of politics, education and the arts, and all members of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (DST). In Search of Sisterhood tells the story of DST, the largest black women's organization in the United States.

Founded at a time when liberal arts education was widely seen as futile, dangerous, or impractical for blacks, especially women, DST was formed to bring women together as sisters and also to address the divisive, often class-related issues confronting black women in our society. The tension between these goals makes Delta Sigma Theta a fascinating microcosm of the struggles of black women and their organizations throughout American history.

Paula J. Giddings is the Elizabeth A. Woodson 1922 Professor in Afro-American Studies at Smith College and the author of When and Where I Enter and In Search of Sisterhood.