@deniseverdant: https://www.deniseverdant.org/people/alpha-women/alta-roney To end this year’s #series of #Oursisterssisters we discuss the life of #sigmagammarhosororityinc 💙💛 & #alphakappaalphasororityinc 🩷💚 member #AltaRoney, her sister Reba Roney & the Beta line of that existed even before the FORMAL recognition of the organization. Alta Maria Roney’s sorority life does not fit the neat storylines that came later. She was a member of both Alpha Kappa Alpha and Sigma Gamma Rho. Alta was especially unusual in that she became one of the earliest pledgees of Sigma Gamma Rho’s Beta line even before the sorority was officially established on November 12, 1922. While living in Indianapolis and attending the State Normal School in Terre Haute, she, her cousin Birdie Roney, Edna Tucker, Irene Turner, Geneva Howard, Lucile Linthecome, and Loraine Jackson became pledgees of the Beta Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho and were announced in the newspaper on November 11, 1922. Alta joined Alpha Kappa Alpha, as did her sister Reba. Her membership in both sororities was possible because, although the two organizations shared strong commitments to education and service, Sigma Gamma Rho in 1922 was open to women pursuing higher education and college-educated women, while Alpha Kappa Alpha membership was open only to college-educated women. Although these were two distinct organizations, the members of AKA’s Kappa and Tau chapters and Sigma Gamma Rho’s Alpha and Beta chapters often overlapped in many parts of life. They attended the same high schools and normal schools, worshipped in the same churches, worked to improve the same communities, and, in some cases, belonged to the same families. Due to character restrictions please use the link above to find out more about Alta, Reba and Alta’s Sigma sisters.

Denise Verdant

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Wednesday 25 March 2026 10:06:07 GMT