On January 13, 1913, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was founded at Howard University. All 22 founders – Winona Cargile (Alexander), Madree Penn (White), Wertie Blackwell (Weaver), Vashti Turley (Murphy), Ethel Cuff (Black), Frederica Chase (Dodd), Osceola Macarthy (Adams), Pauline Oberdorfer (Minor), Edna Brown (Coleman), Edith Mott (Young), Marguerite Young (Alexander), Naomi Sewell (Richardson), Eliza P. Shippen, Zephyr Chisom (Carter), Myra Davis (Hemmings), Mamie Reddy (Rose), Bertha Pitts (Campbell), Florence Letcher (Toms), Olive Jones, Jessie McGuire (Dent), Jimmie Bugg (Middleton), and Ethel Carr (Watson) – had been members of Alpha Kappa Alpha, which was founded at Howard University on January 16, 1908. When a disagreement about the future of the organization arose between the active chapter and the alumnae, an ultimatum was given, decisions were made, and in the end, the active members left Alpha Kappa Alpha and became Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Myra Davis went from being the president of the Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter to being president of the Delta Sigma Theta chapter. Many of the first meetings took place in Edna Brown’s living room. The 1913 Valedictorian and Class President, she married Frank Coleman, a founder of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Florence Letcher’s hobby of collecting elephant figurines led to the animal becoming the sorority’s symbol.
Nearly two months after its founding, on March 3, 1913, the women took part in the historic suffrage march in Washington, D.C. They were the only African-American women’s group to participate. Honorary member Mary Church Terrell joined them in their march.
Mary Frances Everhart, Alpha Theta Chapter Initiate
The Alpha Theta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was founded at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, in March 1930. Soror Roena (Rowena) Muckelroy Savage, Director of Music at the university, was the sponsor of the new chapter.
Mary Frances Everhart was born in Red Oak, Iowa on July 18, 1917. While a student at Lincoln University she became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. 
During her senior year, in September of 1937, the chapter hosted a formal tea for the new female students. On the occasion of the sorority’s 25th anniversary, the chapter celebrated with an informal dinner party. The chapter’s sixth annual Jabberwock took place on March 25, 1938. The Student Loan Fund received the proceeds.
Everhart graduated in 1938. She taught in Macon and Kansas City, both in Missouri, and in Quincy, Illinois, before moving to San Francisco, California. In 1946, Everhart and her mother joined her brother Claude who was already there.
In 1947, Everhart began her career teaching in the Oakland Unified School District. She retired 32 years later having earned a Master’s in Elementary Education while working. She began a new career, teaching part time in the City College of San Francisco’s English Department. Seventeen years later, in 1979, she retired for the second time.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was a part of her life and she belonged to three alumnae chapters – Kansas City, San Francisco and San Francisco-Peninsula. In 2005, she became a member of Lincoln University’s Hall of Fame. Everhart died on July 30, 2017 at the age of 100.
