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Sororities

July 23rd, 2007

The words “sorority” and “fraternity” are used to describe any social and charitable organization, like The Lions Club, Rotary International or Epsilon Sigma Alpha. “Fraternity” usually refers to both male-only and mixed-gender associations, while “sorority” is used to refer to the female only equivalent.

The Phi Beta Kappa may be credited with many traditions of fraternities and sororities such as its secrecy, introduction of a code of high morality, rituals, secret handshakes, badges of membership and most importantly oaths. The clothing of Phi Beta Kappa members was so designed as to be reminiscent of Greek clothing. This is a tradition in most sororities where even today sorority clothing and fraternity clothing are similar to ancient Greek clothing.

Between the years 1827 and 1825 a large number of fraternities and sororities were formed. Most of these were based upon the standard sorority template provided by the Phi Beta Kappa and as such each has their own rituals, secret handshakes, passwords and oaths. The more famous of these sororities were the “Union Triad” and the “Miami Triad”.

Further growth of these sororities and fraternities was stunted for a short period owing to The American Civil War. After the end of the War, the entire fraternity system saw a phenomenal growth between the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, in terms of both chapters of existing organizations as well as number of organizations. One of the main reasons for this was the return of veteran members as students and the reopening of schools. This period also saw the standardization of fraternity life, including the calendar of events in the year, the merchandise the members used, the process to be followed for admitting new members, etc. This was done in order to reduce the need for explaining new members about the fraternity or sorority functions. Today, you can order fraternity clothing on a handful of websites.

The Alpha Phi Alpha created history when it opened a chapter in 1906 at Cornell University , by being the first intercollegiate fraternity to be established exclusively for people of African descent. This history of Greek sororities is very colourful and is a very important facet of the whole history of both student organizations as well as the history of America .

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