Delta Gamma

Philosophy

History

Symbols

Foundation

Acohol Awareness

Hazing Policy

Alumnae

Beta Chi

Delta Gamma was founded in 1873 in Oxford, Mississippi, at the Lewis School for Girls by three college women. Anna Boyd Ellington, Eva Webb Dodd, and Mary Comfort Leonard were stranded for the Christmas break when they decided to form "Delta Gamma" as means of improving the education, societal ways, and overall integrity of women.

Delta Gamma was organized as a Fraternity, as were all similar organizations at the time of our founding. Although many of the women's groups adopted the term "sorority," Delta Gamma has retained "Fraternity" in its official name. It is interesting to note that most of the older women's groups call themselves Fraternities, from the Greek word, "phratres" or "phratria" meaning groups of people with similar interests and background. Thus, in using the Greek form rather than the Latin term, "frater" (brother), the emphasis is on similarity of ideals rather than similarity of sex.

During its early years, Delta Gamma was mostly contained within the South. Soon, with the help of a Phi Delta Theta, George Banta (our only male member), it began to expand to the North and East. As one of the oldest and strongest women's Fraternities, Delta Gamma was one of the seven charter members of the National Panhellenic Conference in 1891. Today, Delta Gamma has around 140 collegiate chapters with over 150,000 members.

What began as a club in the South soon became an international fraternity in both scope and thinking as Delta Gamma established itself not only in the United States, but also in Canada. Through the years, goals and achievements have grown as Delta Gammas continue to live by the motto set forth by the Founders, "Do Good."