[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 653]
[From the U.S. 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.

                          ____________________