Famous members of Zeta Phi beta sorority

 

 

ATHLETICS

 

Soror Wendy Palmer - Forward for the WNBA's Utah Starzz

POLITICS/LAW 

 

Soror Violette Anderson - First African American attorney.

 

Soror Elizabeth Kootz - First African American President of the National Education Association, former director of the Women's Bureau.


 

Soror Yvonne Miller, honorable - Congresswoman. 5th District Cities of Chesapeake (part) and Norfolk (part). Member of Congress since 1988. 

 

Soror Eunice Thompson - Presidential Appointee, Director of the Community Service and Director of the Office of Public Liason, Office of the Co-chairman, Republican National  Committee.  

 

Soror Willie Whiting - Circuit Court County Judge of Cook County, IL.  

 

Soror Edythe White - First woman to serve on the Jackson, Alabama City Council.  

 

Rep. Julia May Carson (D-IN)

Soror Julia Carson - Congresswoman; representative of the tenth district of Indiana.  

 

Soror Bernice Donald, honorable -  First black woman elected to the Tennessee Judiciary.

 

Soror Algenita Scott Davis - Immediate past national president of the National Bar Association.  

 

ARTS/HUMANITIES/SOCIAL SCIENCES
 

   Soror Zora Neale Hurston - Writer and anthropologist. One of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston has been recognized as one of the premier writers of her day. Her legacy is now recognized at the Zora Neale Hurston Festival held every year in Eatonville, Florida (her hometown).

 

Soror Grace Ann Bumbry - Opera singer. She was featured  in Bayreuth, Germany's Wagner Festival. The first black to sing there. A mezzo-soprano who also successfully sang the soprano repertoire. Grace Bumbry recorded on four labels and sang in concerts worldwide.
 

  Soror Esther Rolle - Actress. She is best known for her role as Florida on the long running CBS television series, Good Times. She was recently featured in Rosewood and Down in the Delta.

 

Soror Tonea Harris Stewart - Actress. Best known for her role as Aunt Etta in the TV show "In the Heat of
the Night". She recently starred as Samuel Jackson's wife in the motion picture "A Time To Kill".
 

 Soror Sarah Lois Vaughan - Jazz Singer - On October 1942, she entered and won the 'Amateur Night' contest held at New York's famed Apollo Theatre. She was launched on a career where she sang with such greats as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Art Blakey and Budd Johnson -legendary founders of the modernist 'Be-Bop' era. Once she had gone solo - as she was to stay for the rest of her career - she began to establish herself as a force in her own right.


 

  Soror Dione Warwick - Singer, Among her other hits are the #1 "Then Came You" (with The Spinners) andthe Grammy winning "That's What Friends Are For" (with Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder and Elton John), She earned seven Top 40 singles in the Eighties alone, Overall, she's garnered one platinum, five gold albums including1985's Friends) and five Grammy Awards.

 

Soror Minnie Ripperton - Singer.  Her 70s soul classic "Loving Youu", was entitled "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Center of the Ultra world" (1989). The record was eventually a hit, but
its greater significance lies in its claim to being the first ever ambient house record.
 
 

Soror Sheryl Underwood - Comedian. Considered one of the boldest women in comedy she has appeared in shows such as Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam, BET's comic view, and the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars. She also donates 5% of all her road earnings to her beloved sorority.

 

Soror Towanda Braxton -Singer of the Braxtons

 

Soror Anita Turpeau Anderson - First woman on the debate team at Howard.

Soror Thelma Duggin  - Political activist.

Soror Towanda Braxton - Recording artist, part of the R&B music group, The Braxtons .
 

EDUCATION/BUSINESS

Soror Jylla Foster - Former National President and branch manager for IBM

Soror Elizabeth Koontz - First black president of the NEA.

Soror  Alyce Gullantee, Ph. D. - First black psychiatrist to receive an Emmy.

Soror Lullelia Harrison - First exec. secretary of any of the greek letter organizations.

Soror Versia Lindsay - First woman to graduate from the School of Sciences at Atlanta University.

Soror Freddye Henderson - First black owner of a travel agency in the U.S.

Soror Sheila Williams - First black female news and public affairs director for two  radio stations
simultaneously.

Soror Clara McLaughlin - First black woman to own and operate a t.v. station.

Soror Myrtice Taylor - First black superintendent for curriculum and instruction in the Atlanta Public
Schools.

Soror Elaine Johnson, Ph. D. - U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services ADAHMA Director

Soror Lucy Perez, Ph. D. - U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Office of Substance Abuse Prevention Medical Director.

Soror Deborah Wolfe, Ph. D. - Former U.S. Education Chief, U.S. House of Representative committee on Education an Labor, and Chairperson of the New Jersey Board of Higher Education.