Landmarks and History

The Founder's Plaza monument, which has seven stone pillars, a circular brick pathway,

Founder’s Plaza

Just steps from Atherton Union, a pathway leads to a monument honoring the lives and legacy of the founders of Sigma Gamma Rho: the Founder’s Plaza Monument.

This monument features a 21-foot diameter paver patio of inscribed donor bricks and a masonry seat wall displaying Sigma Gamma Rho’s name and seals. The center of the plaza boasts seven stone pillars representing the seven founders of the sorority, and a black granite curb surrounds the pillars with the sorority motto and values. Inscribed in the masonry seat wall, a granite monument depicts the sorority’s history of Greater Service, Greater Progress, and an unfinished space on the second stone represents the potential of the future. These two stones are banded together by a gold ribbon connecting the past and future. The entire plaza is surrounded by native Indiana plants to match the sorority colors.

Landmarks and Locations

If you’re interested in Sigma Gamma Rho’s on-campus mentions, commemorative markers, and more, we’ve compiled this list of locations. Or, for a self-guided walking tour of Butler’s historic Irvington Campus, access the tour by the Irvington Historic Society below.

Main Campus Locations

Founders

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. was organized on November 12, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana, by seven young educators: Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little, Nannie Mae Gahn Johnson, Vivian Irene White Marbury, Bessie Mae Downey Rhoades Martin, Cubena McClure, Hattie Mae Annette Dulin Redford, and Dorothy Hanley Whiteside.

The seven founders posthumously received honorary degrees during the Butler University’s Spring Commencement ceremony on May 6, 2022.

Historical Archives

For a robust multimedia experience of Sigma Gamma Rho’s 100 year history, browse the materials in Butler University’s Special Collections and University Archives below. Additional items, related information, and edits will be added to this collection over time.  

Walking in the Founders’ Footsteps: Sigma Gamma Rho in Indianapolis, 1922 offers a rare look into the social and political climate experienced by African-Americans in the “Crossroads of America” during the years following the first World War. At the time, Indiana was often referred to as the “most northern Southern state” because its public policies were more like the states of the Deep South than that of its Great Lakes neighbors.

In the midst of this climate, on the east side of Indianapolis sat Butler University, named for a local attorney, newspaper publisher, and abolitionist, Ovid Butler. Butler was the driving force behind the school’s values of diversity, inclusivity, and equality, making it one of the first universities to admit women and people of color on an equal basis with white males. This was the setting where seven young Black women, who were studying education at Butler University’s Irvington Campus chose to found the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority.