Delta Sigma Theta
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40 free Delta Sigma Theta trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Delta Sigma Theta was founded in 1913 by a group of college women in Washington, D.C. who wanted a sorority built around public service and political action, and within weeks its members had joined one of the best-known demonstrations of the era. More than a century on, it is one of the largest Black women's organizations in the world, with chapters on several continents. This quiz covers the founding and the women behind it, the colors, symbols, motto and traditions that members learn first, and the programs the sorority has run since the 1920s, from scholarship fundraisers to projects overseas. It also asks about the national presidents and the famous Deltas who made their names in Congress, the courts, the Olympics, music and television. The opening questions suit anyone curious about the Divine Nine. Later ones are for members, aspirants and Black Greek-life history buffs who know the founders by name.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which animal is Delta Sigma Theta's unofficial mascot, a nod to the collection kept by founder Florence Letcher Toms?
Elephant
The elephant caught on because Toms collected them, and the hobby spread to Deltas all over the world. It has never been one of the sorority's official symbols.
Q 02Weeks after its 1913 founding, Delta Sigma Theta made which Washington, D.C. event its first public act?
A women's suffrage march
A women's suffrage march down Pennsylvania Avenue on March 3, 1913 drew members of the new sorority, who walked in its college section. It was held the day before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration.
Q 03Which two colors, said to stand for courage and purity, are the official colors of Delta Sigma Theta?
Crimson and cream
Crimson and cream are worn by Deltas everywhere, and Niagara Falls was lit red in February 2013 to honor the sorority's centennial.
Q 04Delta Sigma Theta was founded on January 13, 1913 by students at which historically Black school?
Howard University
Howard University in Washington, D.C. is where every founder studied, and more than 12,000 Deltas returned to its campus in January 2013 to celebrate the centennial.
Q 05Which Delta Sigma Theta member became the first Black woman elected to Congress and ran for president in 1972?
Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Chisholm joined the sorority as a student at Brooklyn College, where she also won prizes for debating. She went on to represent a Brooklyn district in the House for seven terms.
Q 06Which Detroit-raised music legend was made an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta?
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, was an honorary Delta, as were Lena Horne, Ruby Dee and Cicely Tyson. The honor goes to women who have made significant contributions to society.
Q 07Which US president spoke at Delta Sigma Theta's Golden Anniversary luncheon, urging equal education for all?
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy addressed the Deltas on January 12, 1963, the day before their fiftieth Founders Day. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke to them at a reception the following day.
Q 08Delta Sigma Theta began its centennial as the first Black Greek-letter organization with a float in which parade?
Tournament of Roses
The Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena carried the sorority's float on January 1, 2013. City officials gave the national president a proclamation honoring 100 years of public service.
Q 09Members of Delta Sigma Theta address one another by which title, taken from a Latin word?
Soror
Soror is Latin for sister, and Deltas use it both when referring to a fellow member and when speaking to her directly.
Q 10How many founders does Delta Sigma Theta honor, a number echoed in the cities of its centennial torch tour?
22
22 women founded the sorority in 1913, and ten of them attended its Golden Anniversary celebration fifty years later.
Q 11Delta Sigma Theta belongs to which umbrella body of nine Black Greek-letter groups, nicknamed the Divine Nine?
National Pan-Hellenic Council
The National Pan-Hellenic Council was formed in 1930 with the Deltas among its five founding members. Author Lawrence Ross later made the Divine Nine nickname the title of his history of the groups.
Q 12Several Delta Sigma Theta founders had first belonged to which older sorority, whose name they voted to change?
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha members among the founders wanted a new name, colors and symbols in 1912. Former president Nellie Quander opposed the change, so the women reorganized under new letters.
Q 13Which quality does Delta Sigma Theta's six-word motto call the Torch of Wisdom?
Q 21Which charter member of Delta Sigma Theta's Harvard chapter became the first Black woman US Attorney General?
Loretta Lynch
Loretta Lynch helped charter the Xi Tau chapter while a Harvard student, and Barack Obama later chose her to succeed Eric Holder at the Justice Department in 2015.
Q 22Which honorary Delta Sigma Theta member founded a Florida college and the National Council of Negro Women?
Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune started the council in 1935 and wrote the poem Delta Girl, which is said to embody the ideals of a Delta woman.
Q 23Cosby Show star Keshia Knight Pulliam joined Delta Sigma Theta as a student at which Atlanta school?
Spelman College
Intelligence
Intelligence is the Torch of Wisdom, runs the motto, and the torch became a symbol in its own right: one toured the country during the 2013 centennial.
Q 14Which bloom, commonly sold as a house plant, did Delta Sigma Theta choose as its official flower?
African violet
The African violet is not closely related to true violets: it belongs to a different plant family and grows wild in the mountains of Tanzania.
Q 15Which Delta Sigma Theta national president went on to lead the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years?
Dorothy Height
Dorothy Height was Delta president from 1947 to 1956, and in 1994 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bill Clinton.
Q 16Which virtue names the metal sculpture of a striding woman unveiled in 1979 to honor Delta Sigma Theta's founders?
Fortitude
Fortitude stands on the campus where the sorority began, and Lady Fortitude became its symbol of strength, courage, hope, wisdom, beauty and femininity.
Q 17In 1992 Delta Sigma Theta became the first national Black organization to partner with which Georgia-based nonprofit?
Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity and the Deltas went on to build homes across the United States, and in 1996 members travelled to Ghana to put up forty more.
Q 18In 2003, Delta Sigma Theta became the first Black sorority given special consultative status with which world body?
The United Nations
The United Nations credentials were accepted by president Gwendolyn Boyd before 150 UN members, and an annual Delta Day at the UN followed.
Q 19Which Texas congresswoman and Delta Sigma Theta member won national fame at the televised Nixon impeachment hearings?
Barbara Jordan
Barbara Jordan pledged the sorority at Texas Southern University, where she became a national champion debater. In 1976 she was the first woman to keynote a Democratic National Convention.
Q 20Which Delta Sigma Theta sprinter won three gold medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics while a Tennessee State student?
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Rudolph was the first American woman to win three track and field golds at one Olympics, having worn a leg brace as a child after a bout of polio.
Spelman College awarded Pulliam a sociology degree in 2001, years after she earned an Emmy nomination as a child for playing Rudy Huxtable.
Q 24Which first national president of Delta Sigma Theta was also the first Black American woman to earn an economics PhD?
Sadie T. M. Alexander
Sadie T. M. Alexander led the Deltas from 1919 to 1923, then became the first Black woman to earn a University of Pennsylvania law degree and to practice law in that state.
Q 25Which civil rights pioneer and honorary Delta Sigma Theta member is credited with writing its oath in 1914?
Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell mentored the young Deltas after serving as the first president of the National Association of Colored Women, and she was a charter member of the NAACP.
Q 26Which Delta Sigma Theta variety show, first staged in Boston in 1925, raises money for scholarships?
Jabberwock
Jabberwock mixes music, skits and dance by local talent, and the sorority formally adopted and copyrighted the show in 1947.
Q 27Which annual Delta Sigma Theta observance, created in 1920, urges Black women to pursue higher education?
May Week
May Week was first observed by chapters in 1921, and it sets aside a week each spring for programs that celebrate academic and professional achievement.
Q 28During Delta Sigma Theta's membership intake, initiates belong to a club named for which ancient monument?
The pyramid
The pyramid gives the Pyramid Club its name, and it doubles as one of the sorority's official symbols alongside the torch.
Q 29In which African country did Delta Sigma Theta help finance the Thika Maternity Hospital in the early 1960s?
Kenya
Kenya had just gained its independence when the Delta-financed hospital in Thika opened, and it is now known as Mary Help of the Sick Mission Hospital.
Q 30Delta Sigma Theta's Delta Academy for girls aged 11 to 14 is named for which civil rights widow and educator?
Betty Shabazz
Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, joined the sorority's New York Alumnae chapter in 1974, a year before she earned her doctorate.