top of page

HERstory

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. was organized on November 12, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana, by seven young educators: Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little, Dorothy Hanley Whiteside, Vivian Irene White Marbury, Nannie Mae Gahn Johnson, Hattie Mae Annette Dulin Redford, Bessie Mae Downey Rhoades Martin, and Cubena McClure. The group became an incorporated national collegiate sorority on December 30, 1929, when a charter was granted to the Alpha chapter at Butler University. Since its inception, the dynamic women of Sigma Gamma Rho have built and sustained a well-known and well-respected reputation for leading positive change to help uplift the community through sisterhood, leadership, and service.

Key facts

SORORITY FLOWER

Yellow Tea Rose

SORORITY MASCOT

French Toy Poodle

SORORITY SLOGAN

Greater Service, Greater Progress

SORORITY COLORS

Royal Blue and Gold

SIGMA GAMMA RHO IS THE ONLY:

  • member of the NPHC which started as a professional organization

  • NPHC sorority founded at a predominately white institution

  • NPHC sorority not founded at Howard University

  • greek-letter organization founded by university graduates rather than undergraduates

  • sorority founded at Butler University

  • sorority with a poodle as its mascot

bottom of page