[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 9 (Thursday, January 24, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE RESOLUTION 13--CONGRATULATING THE MEMBERS OF DELTA SIGMA THETA
SORORITY, INC. FOR 100 YEARS OF SERVICE TO COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE
UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD, AND COMMENDING DELTA SIGMA THETA SORORITY,
INC. FOR ITS PROMOTION OF SISTERHOOD, SCHOLARSHIP, AND SERVICE
Mr. BROWN (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Cornyn, Ms.
Mikulski, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Warner, and Mrs.
Gillibrand) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary:
S. Res. 13
Whereas, on January 13, 1913, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority,
Inc. was founded at Howard University in the District of
Columbia by Osceola Macarthy Adams, Marguerite Young
Alexander, Winona Cargile Alexander, Ethel Cuff Black, Bertha
Pitts Campbell, Zephyr Chisom Carter, Edna Brown Coleman,
Jessie McGuire Dent, Frederica Chase Dodd, Myra Davis
Hemmings, Olive Jones, Jimmie Bugg Middleton, Pauline
Oberdorfer Minor, Vashti Turley Murphy, Naomi Sewell
Richardson, Mamie Reddy Rose, Eliza Pearl Shippen, Florence
Letcher Toms, Ethel Carr Watson, Wertie Blackwell Weaver,
Madree Penn White, and Edith Motte Young;
Whereas, on January 13, 2013, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority,
Inc. celebrated 100 years of thoughtful service to and
conscientious leadership in communities throughout the United
States and the world in diverse fields relating to public
service and the organization's five-point programmatic
thrust: economic development, educational development,
international awareness and involvement, physical and mental
health, and political awareness and involvement;
Whereas, in March 1913, the founders of Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority, Inc. participated in the Women's Suffrage March in
the District of Columbia, the sorority's first public act;
Whereas, in its infancy, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
established its Beta chapter at Wilberforce University in
Wilberforce, Ohio, its Gamma chapter at the University of
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, its Delta chapter
at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, and its Epsilon
chapter at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio;
Whereas Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. has more than 900
chapters in the United States, England, Japan, Germany, the
Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and South Korea;
Whereas the women of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. have
distinguished themselves in the endeavor for civil rights,
including Mary McLeod Bethune, Fannie Lou Hamer, Betty
Shabazz, Lena Horne, and Dorothy Irene Height;
Whereas the women of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. have
distinguished themselves as public servants, including--
(1) Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, a Member of the House of
Representatives from Ohio;
(2) Marcia Fudge, a Member of the House of Representatives
from Ohio;
(3) Joyce Beatty, a Member of the House of Representatives
from Ohio;
(4) Carrie P. Meek, a Member of the House of
Representatives from Florida;
(5) Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman
elected to Congress and the first African-American and woman
to run as a major party candidate for President of the United
States;
(6) Barbara Jordan, the first African-American woman from
the South to serve in the House of Representatives;
(7) Carol Mosley Braun, the first and only African-American
woman elected to the Senate;
(8) Mary Church Terrell, a founder of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People and an
adviser to the Republican National Committee and the Herbert
Hoover presidential campaign;
(9) Jewel Stradford LaFontant, United States Representative
to the United Nations and the first female Deputy Solicitor
General of the United States in the administration of
President Richard M. Nixon, later serving as the United
States Coordinator for Refugee Affairs and Ambassador-at-
Large in the administration of President George H.W. Bush;
(10) Patricia Roberts Harris, the first African-American
woman to serve as an Ambassador of the United States, later
serving as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and
Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Jimmy
Carter;
(11) The Honorable Ann Claire Williams, the first African-
American woman appointed to the United States District Court
for the North District of Illinois in 1985 by President
Ronald Reagan, the first African-American appointed to the
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in
1999 by President William J. Clinton, and the third African-
American woman to serve as a judge on a United States Court
of Appeals;
(12) Alexis Herman, Secretary of Labor under President
William J. Clinton; and
(13) Regina Benjamin, the 18th Surgeon General of the
United States, serving in the administration of President
Barack Obama; and
Whereas Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. commemorated its
history and promoted service during its centennial
celebration, January 11 through January 13, 2013, in the
District of Columbia: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) congratulates Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. for 100
years of service to communities throughout the United States
and the world; and
(2) commends Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. for its
promotion of sisterhood, scholarship, and service.
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