A Professor Emeritus and historian, Delia Cook Gillis, has traced the origins of the “Divine Nine” African American fraternities and sororities to the harsh realities of segregation-era America, describing them as self-help institutions that evolved into powerful incubators of civil rights leadership and global Black consciousness.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Thursday (19 February), Gillis explained that the Divine Nine refers to nine historically Black Greek-letter organisations — five fraternities and four sororities — founded between 1906 and 1963 at a time when African Americans were systematically excluded from mainstream American campuses and civic life.
“These organisations were born during segregation,” she said. “So the community turned inward and developed institutions for self-help and uplift.”
She noted that the groups emerged alongside historically Black colleges and universities, churches and mutual aid societies, providing education, scholarships and leadership training when state systems offered little support.
From campus clubs to civic powerhouses
According to Gillis, the organisations quickly outgrew their campus origins.
“They most definitely were incubators of leadership,” she said, pointing to the central role fraternities and sororities played in producing leaders during the US civil rights era.
She stressed that the period from the early 1900s through the 1960s — often described in mainstream American history as “progressive” — was, for African Americans, a nadir marked by racial terror, disenfranchisement and legal segregation.
“It was during this time that we built our own institutions. That’s where our power came from,” she said.
Ghana connection: Nkrumah and Du Bois
Gillis highlighted the historical ties between Ghana and the Divine Nine tradition, noting that Kwame Nkrumah joined Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity while studying at Lincoln University, immersing himself in Black radical thought and Pan-African networks.
She said those formative experiences influenced Nkrumah’s later leadership and Pan-African vision.
The historian also described the relocation of W. E. B. Du Bois to Ghana at Nkrumah’s invitation to work on the Encyclopedia Africana as a symbolic and intellectual homecoming.
“For me, it means he’s home,” she said of Du Bois’ burial in Ghana. “It represents Pan-Africanism in action.”
Service and women’s leadership
As a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, founded in 1908, Gillis said the Divine Nine are often misunderstood as social or elitist clubs.
“We are not a party group,” she said. “We play hard, but we work hard.”
She noted that Alpha Kappa Alpha recently chartered a Ghana chapter and has already undertaken projects in maternal health, education support and entrepreneurship mentoring for young women.
“These values resonate with Ghana’s development priorities,” she said.
For Gillis, the Divine Nine today offer more than symbolism.
“I feel more connected as a Divine Nine member here in Ghana than I ever felt in the US,” she said. “We’re working together across organisations. We’re building something real.”
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