Kappa Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Berkeley, 1921

Item Overview

Title

Kappa Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Berkeley, 1921

Alternative title

Delta Sigma Theta sorority, groups outside of Los Angeles

Date Created

February 1921

Date

1921-02

Collection

Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections

Notes

Description

Studio group portrait of the members of the Kappa Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta posed in front of a painted landscape backdrop: (front row, from left) Marie Lenox, Angelista Wrenn Grigsby, Vivian Osborne Marsh, Louise Thompson Patterson, Talma Brooks, (back row, from left) Tarea Hall Pittman, Gladys Brown, Amelda Taylor .
Louise Thompson Patterson was an American social activist and college professor.
Vivian Osborne Marsh was born in Houston, Texas, and received her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. She founded the Berkeley campus’ Kappa Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She went on to found several other chapters. Two major projects that she organized were the Traveling Library, which provided books to rural portions of Georgia, and Teen Lift, which provided opportunities for underprivileged teenagers to visit events such as symphonies and operas. She was involved in many civic organizations. On February 21, 1981, the mayor of Berkeley honored her contributions by declaring it to be Vivian Osborne Marsh Day.
Tarea Hall Pittman (1903-1991) was a civil rights worker, social worker and community activist. She organized the west coast branch of the National Negro Congress (1936), helped create the Negro Education Council, founded the radio show “Negroes in the News” on KDIA and hosted it for 42 years, organized protests against Kaiser Shipyards and other war industries to force them to hire African Americans (1941-1942), helped to lobby for the California Fair Employment Practice (FEP) which was signed into law in 1959, and was Director of the West Coast Region of the NAACP (1961-1965).
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority is an African American women’s’ Greek organization that was founded at Howard University in 1913. Delta Sigma Theta creates programming to improve political, educational, and social and economic conditions within black communities.

Physical Description

Extent

1 photograph

Keywords

Genre

group portraits

Names

Brown, Gladys
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
Patterson, Louise Thompson, 1901-1999
Marsh, Vivian Osborne, 1897-1986
Brooks, Talma, b. 1904 or 05
Taylor, Amelda
Lenox, Marie
Pittman, Tarea Hall
Grigsby, Angelista Wrenn

Subject Geographic

Berkeley (Calif.)

Resource type

still image

Subjects

African American civic leaders
African American civil rights workers
African American Greek letter societies