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Founded January
16, 1920, Zeta began as an idea conceived by five coeds: Arizona Cleaver,
Myrtle Tyler, Viola Tyler, Fannie Pettie, and Pearl Neal, at Howard University
in Washington, D.C.
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority was founded to address societal mores, ills,
prejudices, and poverty and health concerns of the day. Our Five Pearls,
dared to depart from traditional coalitions for black women and sought to
establish a new organization predicated on the precepts of Scholarship,
Service, Sisterly Love, and Finer Womanhood.
Over the years since the sorority’s inception, Zeta Phi Beta has
chartered hundreds of chapters and initiated thousands of women around the
world. Zeta has continued to thrive and flourish while adapting to the
ever-changing needs of a new century. Despite the Great Depression,
discrimination, segregation and a host of other challenges that arose
through the years, Zeta has continued to hold true to its ideals and
purpose. As stated by one of the Sorority’s founding members, Founder
Myrtle Tyler, “I believe that no [other] organization could have been
founded upon principles that were so near and dear to our hearts.”
(http://www.zphib1920.org)
OUR FIVE PEARLS
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