Since Kamala Harris announced her candidacy for president of the United States, members of the Divine Nine, a group of Black fraternities and sororities, have been prominent supporters of the 2024 Democratic nominee.
Hours after Harris kick-started her presidential campaign on July 21, members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and other Black sororities were leading voices in the Win With Black Women Zoom call that raised $1.5 million for the Harris campaign. The next day, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. members helped organize the Win With Black Men Zoom call that also raised more than $1 million. That same day, the Council of Presidents of the National Pan-Hellenic Council also announced a coordinated voter mobilization campaign among the Divine Nine Black fraternities and sororities.
Harris, an Alpha Kappa Alpha member, is no doubt counting on support from this educated, civically oriented and politically minded sector of the Black community. In one of her first campaign stops, on July 24, she delivered the keynote speech at the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. biennial meeting. Harris’ remarks focused on the importance of Black voters working together:
We know when we organize, mountains move; when we mobilize, nations change; and when we vote, we make history.
What are the Divine Nine and BGLOs?
Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs) – often known as the Divine Nine – were founded during a time of de jure and de facto racial discrimination in the United States. The nine BGLOs were founded to pool the resources of African Americans for educational purposes and, secondly, to create a unified collective Black community in the face of racial prejudice and discrimination.
BGLOs are exclusive organizations – each has specific requirements and a pledge process for membership. On college campuses and elsewhere, BGLOs provide Black college-educated people with emotional or affective ties by engaging in community service, promoting academic excellence, and committing to lifelong membership. Candidacy for BGLO membership differs from the North American Interfraternity Conference and National Panhellenic Conference councils, and sororities with recruitment processes like those shown in #RushTok. Joining a BGLO is a lifetime commitment. The vast majority of members affiliate with their organizations long after graduating college or join an alumnae or alumni chapter.
These organizations have helped shape the course of civil rights activism, and directed social justice movements. Their activities have redefined American colleges and universities, and increased social mobility for their members. Notable members of the Divine Nine who are leaders in Black political and American civic life include Martin Luther King Jr (Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.); Shirley Chisholm (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.); Jesse Jackson (Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.); William Clay (Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity, Inc.); Berneice Welters (Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.); Septima Clark (Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.); John Lewis (Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.); Robin Kelly (Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.); and Bobby Rush (Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.), among many others.
A high level of political engagement
Racial uplift – the idea that educated Black Americans should help all Black Americans advance in white America – forms the core of BGLO principles. Black middle- and upper-class BGLO members have long showcased their material and moral standings as a way to diminish white racism. This means members of these organizations are both politically aware – and engaged in their communities.
Another core principle is self-help through programs and/or organizations created by Black people to support their communities. Self-help programs were created in the face of anti-Black racism and legal discrimination that caused economic inequalities, health disparities, and inadequate schools. BGLOs thus encourage their members to succeed, and help create a growing cadre of upper-class, educated, and politically motivated individuals who use their professional skills, education, and social capital to help other Black Americans gain full inclusion in American society.
In sum, BGLOs are civic-minded organizations that create community for their members’ political lives and aid in their personal survival in a white-dominated society. Members are socialized to comport themselves in ways that bring honor to their race – and to excel in both their educational and professional pursuits.
For Black women in particular, sororities serve as an organizational framework to connect Black women to electoral politics and foster political engagement. BGLOs provide the necessary space for Black women to develop civic skills and social capital, acquire political knowledge, and tap into resources necessary for greater political engagement.
Collectively, BGLOs do not endorse political candidates since they are nonpartisan. But BGLO members’ advocacy extends well beyond voter education and mobilization. For instance, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge – the 21st National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. – was recruited into politics by her sorority sister and mentor, the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubb Jones. For 35 years, members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. have met on Capitol Hill to share their legislative priorities with members of Congress. When Attorney General Lorretta Lynch was being confirmed, many members of Delta Sigma Theta attended to show their support. This visibility at a Senate confirmation hearing is one of many instances when Black sororities have wielded power for one of their own.
Today, the politically engaged women from BGLOs are turning their attention to helping their Divine Nine sister, Kamala Harris.
Black indigenous organizations and racial group consciousness
Many know the fraternities and sororities of the Divine Nine from their symbols, strolls, steps, and colors. But there’s more to the story. Membership in these organizations aids individual African Americans to develop a stronger Black consciousness. Black consciousness manifests in a belief that Black individuals share a common fate with the larger Black group and that the welfare of the group determines an individual’s welfare. Put simply, if “we good, I’m good.”
Political scientist Michael Dawson, in Behind the Mule, argued that linked fate “explicitly links the perception of self-interest to the perception of racial group interests.” Interestingly, Dawson found that Black Americans’ linked fate led them to support political candidates – like Jesse Jackson during his historic run in 1984 and 1988. Today, the importance of linked fate remains high among Black Americans. Survey research suggests that Black adults – more than white, Black, Hispanic, and Asian adults – say what happens to their racial group will affect them personally.
To some extent, a higher sense of linked fate did not shape evaluations of Vice President Harris among all Black Americans. But here is where the “Divine Nine” connection is pivotal. Not all Black Americans are members of BGLOs. In our research, we find that those who are BGLO members exhibit a higher sense of linked fate than those who aren’t.
Here’s what we learned in our research
First, we surveyed 2,284 Black women voters in March 2022, in the lead-up to the 2022 midterm elections. We used a Qualtrics online survey panel, an opt-in survey community. Qualtrics relies on its internal targeting to send targeted email invites to the requested sample, which in this study was a nationally representative sample of self-identified Black women. Our sample was evenly balanced on regional variables to ensure that we didn’t have an oversample of Black women from the South – where America’s Black population is geographically concentrated.
Few studies examine Black women in isolation, which is what makes our study novel. In our sample, about 157 women report membership in a sorority. We asked about Black women’s linked fate to Black women, not just all Black Americans. The question reads, Do you think what happens generally to Black women in this country will have something to do with what happens in your life?
Here’s what we find: Black women in a sorority have a greater sense of racial and gendered linked fate than those who are not in a sorority. At the high end, 57% of Black women in a sorority say what happens to Black women influences what happens to them. Only 38% of women not in a sorority say the same. On the low end, 27% of Black women in a sorority say that what happens to Black women has nothing to do with what happens in their lives, while just 15% of sorority members agreed with the statement. This demonstrates to us that sorority members who participated in our survey have a greater connection to other Black women than the connections expressed by those who are not sorority members.
Next, we surveyed Black men and women voters in May 2024 as part of the 2024 Weidenbaum Center Survey, which examines political attitudes, orientations, and behaviors each year. YouGov conducted the survey online using a nationally representative sample of 3,128 U.S. adults, including 1,234 Black respondents. In this survey, 80 Black respondents reported membership in a fraternity or sorority.
In this survey, we ask a similar linked fate question about broad connections to Black people. We find the same pattern: BGLO members report a higher sense of racial linked fate than non-BGLO members. We found that 41% of BGLO members say that what happens to Black people will affect them a lot, compared to 36% of non-BGLO members. While only 3% of BGLO members say that what happens to Black people will have nothing to do with what happens to them, 9% of nonmembers feel that nothing that happens to Black people will affect them personally. These findings suggest these organizations have a distinct social and political influence on their communities – and also encourage their members to feel a stronger connection to the fate of the Black community and individual community members.
In both of our surveys, membership in a sorority or fraternity is associated with a stronger connection to Black people. However, not all BGLO members may feel such a connection. Despite the successes of BGLOs in raising Black consciousness among members, some Black Americans criticize these organizations, viewing them as exclusionary to some members of the Black community.
Critiques of the Divine Nine
The first BGLOs were patterned after Eurocentric organizations like Phi Beta Kappa, which was founded in 1776 as America’s first Greek-letter organization. As white Greek-letter organizations became commonplace on college campuses, Black students recognized these organizations as a mode to maintain and achieve social standing. In turn, Black students modeled BGLOs after white organizations.
Scholars have critiqued BGLOs for creating the same social hierarchies based on class and prestige – the same hierarchies that they were initially attempting to disrupt by forming their own organizations. Instead, critics argue that BGLOs have embraced notions of white supremacy by accepting primarily lighter-skinned, affluent, and socially mobile members as opposed to working-class Black Americans with darker skin, or those in less-prestigious occupations.
Although BGLOs were founded with the intention of uplifting Black communities, some believe that they have created a Black bourgeoisie that simply recreates social hierarchies to maintain privileged status among some Black people. Furthermore, sororities and fraternities by definition view gender as binary. Gender-expansive and transgender Black people may not find a welcome in these spaces, which critics have tied to discrimination based on gender identity – another embodiment of white supremacy.
A new era of BGLOs appears to challenge these critiques. Members of BGLOs have brought their culture, mores, and values as Africana peoples to these organizations. West African traditions such as ancestor veneration, dance performance or stepping, and rebirthing concepts, for example, have found their way into BGLO the rituals and practices. Africana philosophies – retained throughout the Middle Passage, enslavement, Jim Crow era, and now modern-day life – inform BGLO activities that demonstrate the powerful cultural bonds found in traditional West African organizations (or Asafo). Critics posit that this African connection to BGLOs was not intentional or done by design, but rather is a byproduct of the Black diaspora.
Kamala Harris’ connection to the Divine Nine
Vice President Kamala Harris is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority, Inc. – the first BGLO sorority. She joined while studying at Howard University, where the sorority was founded. As a politician, she has bolstered this connection by inviting leaders of the Divine Nine to the White House. She’s also spoken at national conventions for Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. It’s clear that Harris and many other Black candidates at the local, and state levels have benefited from the support from Divine Nine Members.
By building a greater sense of racial linked fate, Black sororities and fraternities are associated with the increased civic engagement of their members. Black sororities build social networks for Black women in predominantly white careers and professions – like politics. In 2020, members of Black sororities and fraternities organized virtually during the pandemic to increase voter turnout in their communities. Early indications suggest we may see BGLO members turn out in full force for Harris at the top of the 2024 ticket.
In spite of the criticisms of BGLOs and the challenges they face, it is clear that these organizations are on the front lines of Black electoral politics. Harris no doubt will tap into this network to buoy her campaign, Understanding the Africana culture, community ties, historical ties, purpose, and civic orientation, political engagement, and valuing racial uplift through linked fate ideology, BLGOs and their members are poised to be among Kamala Harris’ biggest supporters.
Nadia E. Brown is a professor of government and the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies program at Georgetown University. She is the author of Sisters in the Statehouse. Professor Brown is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Christine M. Slaughter is an assistant professor of political science at Boston University. Professor Slaughter is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Michael G. Strawbridge is an assistant professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis.
The study of Black women was funded by the Idol Family Fellowship Program in the Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women’s Leadership at Villanova University.
