ZΦB National History

On January 16, 1920, on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC, five phenomenal women had a vision. These women wanted to form an organization that would place more emphasis on community service than on socializing and elitism. With the encouragement of two members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. the women, called our "Five Pearls," created Zeta Phi Beta Sorority as the sister organization to Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Zeta Phi Beta was founded to serve as a community conscious, action oriented organization dedicated in bettering the African American community. It was the idea of the founders that the sorority would attract women in all parts of the country who were sorority-minded and desired to follow the organization's principles of Service, Scholarship, Sisterhood, and Finer Womanhood.

Eighty-three years later, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. boasts a membership of over 100,000 college educated and professional women. There are more than 750 graduate and undergraduate chapters that span over the United States, Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Germany, Korea and West Africa. Zeta women are active in conducting community service projects, providing legislative information, volunteering and contributing to organizing charities such as the March of Dimes, providing scholarships, and promoting voter education.

The women of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. represent a network of extraordinary women who represent the collective power of all people when unified by a common spirit to help others.