Positioned For Success Phi Beta Sigma and the Growth of Zeta Phi Beta

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. - Alpha Chapter 1928

By Tilu Khalayi

Fraters Charles Robert Taylor and A. Langston Taylor were the attending physicians when Zeta was born. Thus Zeta Phi

Beta Sorority and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity proudly refer to theirs as the only true sister-brother relationship among Negro sororities and fraternities.

- Ola Adams1

Beginning with one chapter at Howard University in 1920, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority has gone on to charter hundreds of chapters around the world. It was the first National Pan-Hellenic Council organization to charter a chapter in Africa, the first to form auxiliary groups, the first to centralize operations in a national headquarters, and as Ola Adams wrote, the first “true” constitutionally bound sister-brother relationship. One of the most significant accomplishments during past 100 years is the Fraternity’s investment in the development of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority.

In 1918 Phi Beta Sigma Founder A. Langston Taylor appointed two members to a special committee to establish a sister organization, Ivorite Lorimer Scruggs and Clarence Quinton Pair. Dr. Ivorite L. Scruggs was a Charter Member who would go on to succeed the venerable Taylor as National President, serving from 1917-1919. He graduated from Howard’s Medical School and moved to Buffalo, New York where he established a 45-year private

1 Ola Adams, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, 1920-1965, (Washington, DC: Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, 1965), 43.

practice. It should be noted that Bro. Scruggs also married the former Ruth Eliza Tappe, a 1919 Howard graduate who went on to serve as Grand Basileus for Zeta Phi Beta. Soror Scruggs would be elected for four consecutive terms, serving from 1926-1930.

Dr. Clarence Q. Pair would also enter Howard’s Medical School and serve as president of his senior medical class. After graduating he established a 50-year private practice in New York and served as an attending physician at Mount Vernon Hospital. Dr. Pair would also go on to author a book, “The American Black Ghetto”. A few months before he died in 2001, he recounted the early effort to form a sister-organization in a letter to Bro. Kevin A. Christian. He stated:

“Founder Bro. Taylor appointed me to a committee to select founders of Zeta Sigma Sorority. Our first effort failed in 1918-1919. But Taylor appointed a second committee of Sigma Bros who were successful in forming our sister sorority in 1919.” 2

This second committee mentioned by Dr. Pair consisted of Charles Robert Samuel Taylor, Benjamin John Ragsdale, and Julius T. Adolpho Smith, all members of the graduating class of 1922.

Charles Robert Samuel Taylor was born on November 9, 1894 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He received his early education at the Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute in Frankfort, Kentucky (now Kentucky State University). According to his World War I military draft card, by 1917 Charles Taylor was a single twenty-two year old school teacher at the State Street High School in the Bowling Green. By 1918 he was enrolled at Howard University, where he joined the Kentucky Club, College Choir, Men’s Glee Club, and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. In 1921 he served as general secretary for the Fraternity. After Howard, Charles Taylor did further study at Indiana University, Bloomington and would go on to join the faculty at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Benjamin John Ragsdale was a native of Asheville, North Carolina pursuing a degree in the School of Music. At Howard he earned a coveted spot on the Men’s Glee Club alongside Charles Taylor, and would go on to serve as an officer of the Club. The two men would travel together when the Glee Club went on tour, providing them with increased opportunities for fellowship. After graduating, Ragsdale had a shortlived professional singing career in New York.

According to the May, 1920 Howard University Catalog, Julius T. Alphonso Smith was from Baltimore, Maryland, enrolled in the School of Education. After graduating Smith went on to teach at the Eastern North Carolina Industrial Academy in New Bern, NC. He would later settle in Chicago where he joined the Upsilon Sigma Chapter.

On May 15, 1920 the Washington Bee reported that a reception had been held at the famed Whitelaw Hotel on May 14, 1920. The newly opened Whitelaw was Washington, DC’s first luxury hotel for African Americans, and prided itself on being financed and built by African Americans.

The members of the Alpha Chapter of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, of Howard University, were the guests of honor at a reception of Messrs. A. L. and Charles R. S. Taylor, Friday evening at The Hotel Whitelaw. Fully one hundred guests called to meet the young ladies. The Sorority is the youngest Greek Letter organization of the University, having been organized four months ago, but they have four other college chapters to their credit.3

It’s interesting to note the announcement of four additional Zeta chapters established within four months. The sorority’s own page in the 1921 Howard yearbook also alludes to the same: The growth of the organization has been very rapid. In one year it has increased from one chapter to five. 4

The first Greek-letter organization established by African-American women was Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority in 1908. In 1913 it would charter its second chapter in Chicago and a third at the University of Illinois in 1914. Founded

2 Letter, Clarence Q. Pair to Kevin A. Christian, January 4, 2001. (Note: the images on the Table of Contents is what is referenced here.) 3 “The Hotel Whitelaw” Saturday, May 15, 1920. Washington Bee (Washington (DC).Page 5. 4 Enopron, Howard University 1921 (unnumbered pages), yearbook.

in 1913, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority would charter its second chapter in 1914 at Wilberforce University. A third chapter would be chartered at the University of Pennsylvania five years later in 1918. During their first six years, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta each chartered three chapters; Zeta Phi Beta chartered fifteen. It’s significant to note both the number of chapters and their respective locations, as Zeta chartered new chapters not only in nearby states such as Maryland, but in the Deep South (Georgia), the Midwest (Kansas) and in New York City.

Of course with Zeta’s debut in 1920, the young sorors were in the enviable position of being able to analyze the success and failures of the two other sororities on campus. This information surely went a long way towards informing some of their organizational decisions; however it does not explain the sorority’s breathtaking expansion pace. The reason why the sorority was able to expand so rapidly is quite simple, and surprisingly obvious: Phi Beta Sigma.

If there was one thing that the Fraternity knew, it was how to grow a strong, vibrant organization. The initial failure in organizing a sister organization made the Fraternity hone in on a two-prong strategy that would position the sorority for success: select a young woman with exceptional leadership and appeal--Arizona Cleaver Stemons-and organize chapters wherever

Zeta Phi Beta’s first 10 chapters:

1. Howard University Zeta: Alpha Chapter, 1920 Sigma: Alpha Chapter, 1914 2. Morgan State University Zeta: Gamma Chapter, 1920 Sigma: Gamma Chapter, 1916 3. Morris Brown University Zeta: Beta Chapter, 1921 Sigma: Zeta Chapter, 1921 4. Kansas State University Zeta: Delta Chapter, 1921 Sigma: Delta Chapter, 1917 5. Columbia University Zeta: Epsilon Chapter, 1921 Sigma: Epsilon Sigma Chapter, 1920 6. Ohio University Zeta: Zeta Chapter 1921 Sigma: Omicron Epsilon Chapter, 1972 7. Temple University Zeta: Eta Chapter, 1921 Sigma: Epsilon Chapter, 1919 8. Wiley College Zeta: Theta Chapter, 1922 Sigma: Beta Chapter, 1915 9. University of Cincinnati Zeta: Iota Chapter, 1923 Sigma: Lambda Theta Chapter, 1978 10. Roger Williams University Zeta: Kappa Chapter, 1923 Sigma: Chi Chapter, around 1923

the Fraternity had chapters. Charles R. S. Taylor recounted some of the early maneuverings in an article in the Crescent:

As National Executive Secretary of Phi Beta Sigma, I wrote to the officers of every Sigma Chapter requesting the establishment of a sister organization. There was a quick response--so, in addition to the Alpha Chapter, at Howard; Beta, Morris Brown University; Gamma, Morgan College (Gamma was a second Chapter, so named because they wished to carry the same name as the Sigma Chapter on Morgan’s Campus): Kansas State College; and Epsilon, New York City, were started by ardent brothers who saw the good in my meditations and in the work done by those first faithful sisters: Arizona Cleaver, Myrtle Tyler, Viola Tyler, Fannie Pettie and Pearl Neal.”

A quick look at Zeta’s first ten chapters reveals that seven out of the first ten were established on campuses where the fraternity had a presence. And in the case of Epsilon Chapter at Columbia University, the fraternity did not have a chapter there; however, by 1920 it had organized the graduate chapter Epsilon Sigma in the city.

While it’s fascinating that a large number of African-American women who were enrolled at Temple University’s Pharmacy school in the 1920s were members of Zeta Phi Beta, it should come as no surprise that a large number of African-American men enrolled at the same school, during the same time period, were members of Phi Beta Sigma. In 1917, Sigma Co-Founder Charles I. Brown would extend Phi Beta Sigma into the Midwest with the Delta Chapter at what is now Kansas State University. Zeta Phi Beta’s expansion into the Midwest with its own Delta Chapter would also take place at Kansas State University. Although the chapter name was coincidental, the location was not. These were all strategic moves designed to position the sorority for success.

As remarkable as the Fraternity’s plan was, when it came time to do the heavy lifting, a woman showed up. One of the most intriguing personalities in Zeta’s early history, Lily O’Goldia Smith Scott was a student at Morgan College and served as national secretary for the Sorority from 1921-1924. She holds the distinction of being an Incorporator, the only non-Alpha Chapter Incorporator. In addition, she would serve the Sorority as a national organizer, implementing the strategy, and at times veering off course into non-Sigma territory. During her tenure Soror Scott travelled to Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas in an effort to organize chapters. It’s through her diligence that the chapters at Temple, Ohio (Sigma would not have a chapter there until 1972) and Columbia Universities were chartered. And perhaps nothing speaks to the remarkable capability of Soror Scott like having a hectic sorority schedule and graduating valedictorian of her class in 1923.

Zeta Phi Beta Co-Founder, Myrtle Tyler Faithful once said that “We were a small group and we worked together in perfect harmony and had the full cooperation of members of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.” As the members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority join their fraternity brothers in celebrating 100 years of service, the Sorority’s own enduring legacy added testament to the success of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.

Tilu Khalayi is an assistant film production accountant and author of the book, “Finer Women: The Birth of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, 1920-1935.” It is available at tilukhalayi.com.