VOTES FOR WOMEN
- Program
- Subject
- Location
- Lat/Long
- Grant Recipient
-
National Votes for Women Trail
-
Event
- 1707 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA
- 38.9129147, -77.0400198
-
National Collaborative for Women's History Sites
VOTES FOR WOMEN
Inscription
VOTES FOR WOMENTHE 1913 SUFFRAGE MARCH
IN D.C. WAS THE FIRST ACT OF
SERVICE BY THE FOUNDERS
OF DELTA SIGMA THETA
SORORITY
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2022
In January 1913, a group of women students at Howard University, a historically black research university located in Washington, D.C., founded the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. The organization was established as a service sorority, and for their first act of public service, the founding members marched in the national suffrage parade held on March 3, 1913 in Washington, D.C., demanding their right to vote.
The national suffrage parade was held the day before Woodrow Wilson’s presidential inauguration. It was organized by national suffragist Alice Paul with the intention of drawing national attention to the cause of women’s suffrage, while putting pressure on the new Wilson Administration and the United States Congress to pass a federal constitutional amendment that would secure women’s right to vote. Thousands of suffrage supporters marched along Pennsylvania Avenue, and contemporary accounts estimated the crowds of spectators to have reached nearly a quarter of a million people.
Included in the ranks of suffrage marchers were the founders of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. The March 14, 1913 edition of Howard University Journal, the school paper, noted that the contingent of women from the school, “presented a distinctive feature, being the only college girls in the line of march wearing each the insignia of her school” and that “Every girl wore tied over her shoulder and swinging down her back a large Howard pennant.” The March 8, 1913 edition of the Broad Ax, an African American newspaper out of Chicago, mentioned the “bevy of Colored girls, all looking quite nifty in caps and gowns” in the college section of the parade.
Later incorporated as Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., their national headquarters was established at 1707 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. As of 2022, this location continues to serve as the sorority’s national headquarters.
