International History
After a meeting period of over a year, nine women at the Virginia State Female Normal School are forming a fraternity of sisters. Several social forces acted upon their gathering and their formation of a Greek letter organization. These groups of women, once at school and among many other students, gather together because they have similar beliefs and backgrounds. Each young woman travels away from home for the first time and longs for the close companionship of special friends. They tend to be a lively bunch of inquisitive and fun, yet earnest students. Most are 15 to 16 years old. Yet this group shows a great deal of foresight. The nine women know the something special they share will be lost if some means of continuing their group is not found. The group forms a Greek letter organization to perpetuate the friendships they find so important. The nine friends and Founders of Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity are Maud Jones (Horner), Alice Bland Coleman, Ethel Coleman (Van Name), Ruby Leigh (Orgain), Frances Yancey Smith, Della Lewis (Hundley), Helen M. Crafford, Alice Grey Welsh, and Mary Jones Batte). (The names in parenthesis indicate later appellations after marriage.) They organized the Fraternity on October 15, 1898 at the Virginia State Female Normal School (which later becomes Longwood College in Farmville, Virginia). What began as a small group of friends desiring to add more permanence to their friendship in some deep and significant way surely will prosper and grow. Possible someday thousands of women of all ages will share a common bond created by these nine innovative students.
ZTA, a Fraternity...
Zeta Tau Alpha is known as a fraternity, not as a sorority. A fraternity is an organization whose members have banded together for reasons of common interest and mutual benefit. There is usually some element of secrecy in its design. The terms sorority and fraternity are often used interchangeably, frequently due to necessity. Some women's organizations prefer sorority, while others designate the use of fraternity. It was the intent of the Founders and confirmed by action at two early conventions that Zeta Tau Alpha be designated as a fraternity. This was done to distinguish our organization from the sisterhoods organized in connection with men's fraternities, called sororities. Zeta Tau Alpha has no brother fraternity.
