Pictured from left to right in above image:

Viola Tyler Goings, Pearl A. Neal, Arizona C. Stemons, Fannie Pettie Watts, and Myrtle Tyler Faithful.

Standing: Rev. John Coleman, Charles Taylor, Johanna Houston Ransom, A. Langston Taylor, and William F. Doar Jr.

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated was organized at Howard University on January 16, 1920, as the result of encouragement given to the five founders by Charles Taylor and Langston Taylor, members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. These Sigma brothers felt the campus would benefit by the development of such an organization as sisters to the fraternity. Thus, Zetas and Sigmas became the first official Greek letter sister and brother organizations. We remain the only official and constitutionally-bound Greek-letter sister and brother organizations in the NPHC.

Our five founders, also known as Five Pearls are Arizona Cleaver, Pearl Neal, Fannie Pettie, Myrtle Tyler, and Viola Tyler. These women dared to depart from traditional coalitions for black women and sought to establish a new organization predicated on the precepts of Scholarship, Service, Sisterhood, and Finer Womanhood. The trail blazed by the founders has been traversed by thousands of women dedicated to the emulation of the objectives and ideals of the Sorority.

Zeta’s national and local programs included endowment of its National Educational Foundation; community outreach services; and support of multiple affiliate organizations. Zeta chapters and auxiliary groups have given substantial hours of voluntary service to educate the public, assist youth, provide scholarship, support organized charities and promote legislation for social and civic change.