Black Greeks

-Nicole Barden

Despite common assumptions, sororities and fraternities are similar to many other organized groups. Most organizations are selective and provide a certain level of familial bonds. Most organizations require dues to join; however, there is a difference between joining a Greek organization as opposed to the NAACP or a hoes of other options. Many people assume that the desire for family, success, and elitism draw people to Greek-letter organizations, but the allure is deeper. Black sororities and fraternities are appealing because of their unique position when it comes to crafting and validating Black identity.

Since their inception, Blacks used fraternal organizations as a means of resistance to combat the severe racial oppression they endured. By fighting against racial oppression many Blacks felt a tie to the organizations. Ariane Liazos and Marshall Ganz, both from backgrounds heavy in research concerning civic associations, explained that by the early 1900s “fraternal orders had become the most popular form of secular association among African Americans” (485). Black sororities and fraternities are part of this long line of Black fraternal organizations that work to provide a safe haven for Blacks in a repressive society. The Elks, The Knights of Pythias, and The Shriners among other organizations along with Black sororities and fraternities have a tie to Black identity because of their continuous resistance to oppression. Black identity is generally tied to a notion that Blacks must help the disadvantaged masses, and Black fraternal organizations have a long history of work aimed to uplift the entire race.

The website for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated displays the activism at the root of the organization. “The first public act performed by the Delta Founders involved their participation in the Women’s Suffrage March in Washington D.C., March 1913” (website). The website for Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated contains a link to The Covenant with Black America Resolution for viewers to sign the Resolution drafted by Tavis Smiley and a host of Black intellectuals that outlines the ten most important areas that Black America needs addressed.

A person who signs asserts their commitment to the message of empowerment. The Kappa Alpha Psi Foundation handles the fraternity’s philanthropic endeavors which aim to assist and serve communities “with particular emphasis on African-American communities” (website). Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated gathers their community service endeavors under the initiative Z-HOPE: Zetas Helping Other People Excel (website). Assisting disproportionately Black populations is not new, in 1919 Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated initiated “Go to High School, Go to College” a national program “to combat the eighth-grade dropout rate of 90 percent among black children” (Graham 92). Prominent Black Greeks include well known advocates of Black rights: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Thurgood Marshall, and W.E.B DuBois, Jesse Jackson, Maya Angelou, Coretta Scott King, Shirley Chisholm, Mary McLeod Bethune, Barbara Jordan, Dr. Betty Shabazz, Huey Newton and A. Philip Randolph (Graham 92, 94, 96; website).

Racist psychologists have a long tradition of using psychology to promote the idea of racial inferiority. Personality traits and intelligence tests were often used to claim innate differences between various racial and ethnic groups (Heinz). Despite previous misuses of the discipline, psychology is a useful tool for assessing Black identity. The idea of a dual personality was outlined by American psychologist William James as early as 1890 in his book Principles of Psychology (Heinz 233). Blacks and Jews were well known for articulating the plight of those afflicted by battling identities due to the American racial and ethnic paradigm. They “had the most profound collective consciousness of estrangement coexisting with an equally profound yearning for integration into the larger society” (241). W.E.B DuBois’ concept of double consciousness articulates this desire to assert a Black self while also being incorporated into the larger, mainly white, American society. Double consciousness is not relegated to the early 20th century. Today, Blacks in America still deal with the idea of “keeping it real” and struggle with the idea of “acting Black.” Blacks continue to navigate Black identity within a context that does not value their existence. Sororities and fraternities were, and still are, ways that Blacks assert their racial pride while also trying to break into the racist capitalistic society. They have a history of promoting a black identity, through activism, while the ultimate goal is to integrate its members into the larger society.

Economics play a major role in sorority and fraternity initiatives geared towards members. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated website encourages members to improve their finances because “when every member develops her mind with micro and macro economic principles, she will possess the form of permanent wealth that she can sacrifice in service to all mankind.” Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated partnered with Edward Jones, an investment firm, and have a link on their website to a site that provides information on various aspects of investing and finance and ways that Edward Jones can assist members with their financial security. Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated has a Phi Beta Sigma Federal Credit Union which provides a banking system for Sigmas and their sister organization, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. It is a place to save money and infers that this is the first step to creating wealth (website). Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated offers Internet access service, Omega phone cards, and telephone service as means to increase the economic endeavors of the entire organization.

Trying to reconcile a Black identity within a racist culture presents problems, but the need to belong to a group is urgent for most members of society, particularly Blacks. Mary Herring, Thomas B. Jankowski, and Ronald E. Brown, all of whom have backgrounds in political science, speak about group identity in reference to racial categories, but their findings can be used to address sororities and fraternities as well. If sororities and fraternities are seen as groups that create a certain Black identity then it is not hard to see the parallels between these organizations and the racial groupings that the authors allude to. Social identity attempts to determine the reason for social groups, and it “is a product of group membership” (365). The authors reference racial group membership, but membership within a sorority or fraternity plays a role in identity formation. The authors state “ingroup identity consists of both affective and cognitive dimensions,” and Black Greek-letter organizations are no exception. By providing a place to craft a social identity that is synonymous with a Black identity they are appealing to many people.

Black sororities and fraternities provide a place to cultivate a Black social identity. A “subject” is someone who is defined by factors outside of his or her control. These “external factors” are socially constructed and they include labels such as race, gender, and class (Nealon and Giroux 37). People are subjects to culture, and more particularly Black people, like all people, are subjects to their racial identity. Being subjected to these categories people must learn how to perform according to the preconceived ideas that other people have (Nealon and Giroux 38). Because “subject” status is learned, sororities and fraternities can create a blueprint for what it means to be Black. This form of Black identity is rooted in service and assimilation into the larger society through economic empowerment. The subject, in this case a Black person, “is also one of those cultural signs within the process of making meaning; the subject,…makes meanings” (41).

Black Greek-letter organizations assert a level of autonomy by providing a definition of Blackness that others can aspire to obtain. This black identity is based on a concept of “black solidarity-that seemingly involuntary readiness of most blacks to act individually and collectively to protect black people from harm and injustice” (Shelby 20). This is important because Black organizations, Tommie Shelby, Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University, explains are important tools for creating change:
No doubt, maintaining some black-only or black-controlled organizations is still useful and has its place within the larger social reform effort. Such institutions foster a shared sense of social responsibility and trust among blacks; …they provide contexts for black youth to develop a strong sense of self-worth; …and they provide vehicles for resistance. (137)
The Black identity outlined by sororities and fraternities is not all inclusive. Providing a definition of Black identity is problematic because being Black is not definable even by those who use it to oppress others. During the period when Jim Crow laws were pervasive, Blackness was determined by the amount of “Black blood” a person had. One-quarter, one-eigth, or the infamous one drop rule were all demarcations of a Black person that varied by state (Nealon and Giroux 176). Throughout history the definitions of Blackness changed.

Being subjected to this ever-changing label is nothing new, “but what that subject position means is under constant re- and deconstruction” (Nealon and Giroux 177). The power of Black sororities and fraternities emerges here because it is a platform that allows Black people to be subject to a label that they want to embrace. Whether people believe the organizations are elitist or self serving the majority of the people within the organizations embrace a Black identity without being marginalized because it is not as radical as other Black identities for example Black nationalism or Black feminism. Black sororities and fraternities carved a niche within the Black community by providing a place for Blacks to be integrated and successful in the larger society without having to apologize for their Blackness.