Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little
Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 2, 1896 Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | March 8, 1992 (aged 95) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Educator |
| Known for | Primary founder of Sigma Gamma Rho |
| Awards | Biennial Mary Lou Allison Loving Cup |
Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little, previously Mary Lou Allison Little, previously Mary Lou Allison,[1] (November 2, 1896 – March 8, 1992) was an American educator and the primary founder of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, as well as its first national president from 1925 to 1926.[2] She taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 35 years through her retirement in 1967.[3]
Originally founded as a professional organization raising standards among teachers,[2] the historically African American sorority broadened its focus and had 70,000 members in 400 chapters across the United States and the Caribbean by the time of her death.[3] At each international biennial meeting, Sigma Gamma Rho awards the Mary Lou Allison Loving Cup to its most outstanding chapter.[4][5]
Allison was born November 2, 1896, in Kentucky, and moved with her parents to Indianapolis, Indiana.[4] Around 1899 or 1900, when Allison was approximately three years old, both of her parents died.[6] She and her brother were subsequently raised apart; Allison remained in Indianapolis, where she was taken in by Katie Johnson, a family friend.[4] She attended Clemmon Vonnegut School No. 9, graduating in 1911, before enrolling at Shortridge High School. During this period she also studied at the John Herron Art Institute on a scholarship, graduating from Shortridge in 1915.[4][7]
In 1918, Allison earned her teaching certificate from Indianapolis Normal School and taught in Indianapolis through 1925.[6]
In 1919, Allison began attending Butler University as a part-time student.[2] In 1922, she invited a circle of close friends to her home to discuss forming a sorority that would push teachers to complete undergraduate degrees rather than stop at their normal-school training.[6]
On November 12, 1922, Allison and six of her best friends founded Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority,[8] an organization bringing together educated African American women in sisterhood. The other founders were Vivian White Marbury,[9] Hattie Mae Dulin Redford, Dorothy Hanley Whiteside, Nannie Mae Ghan Johnson, Bessie Rhodes Martin, and Cubena McClure.[10]
Soon after founding the organization, Allison sought to expand its reach to women beyond Indianapolis. She served as the organization's first national president (Grand Basileus) from 1925 until 1926, wrote its pledge, and helped guide its evolution into a national community service sorority. In 1929, the sorority incorporated as a national collegiate sorority, establishing the Alpha Chapter on the Butler campus.[11][2] When the sorority held its 1937 homecoming boulé in Indianapolis, Allison — by then living in Los Angeles — was profiled in the Black press as the sorority's founder returning to the city where she had once lived.[12]
In 1928, she moved to Los Angeles, California, with her first husband, Wilford Gardner,[4] where she enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles and completed her undergraduate degree that same year.[4][6][13] After becoming a widow, she married Roy Little in 1949; they later divorced.[3] Little taught in the Los Angeles school system for 35 years and retired in 1967.[2]
Little died in March 1992, aged 95, at her home in Los Angeles.[4][3]
References
- ↑ Sorority Holds Its Initiation, Indianapolis Recorder, 21 Nov 1931
- 1 2 3 4 5 ["Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little"]. Butler University Digital Collections. April 19, 2023. Retrieved 2023-04-19.
- 1 2 3 4 ["Mary Little; Sorority Founder"]. Los Angeles Times. 1992-03-12. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Parks, Gregory S. (2008). Black Greek-letter Organizations in the Twenty-First Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813172958. p. 127.
- ↑ ["Mary Lou Allison"]. The Centennial Anniversary of Sigma Gamma Rho: A Historical Look at the Sorority and Butler University. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
- 1 2 3 4 Ross, L. C. (2019). The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities. Kensington Books. ISBN 9781575664910. p. 308.
- ↑ Shortridge High School, Annual (1915 yearbook): 91. via Digital Indy.
- ↑ Hughey, M. W., Parks, G. S. A Pledge with Purpose: Black Sororities and Fraternities and the Fight for Equality. NYU Press.
- ↑ ["Vivian Irene White Marbury"]. Women's Activism NYC. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
- ↑ Sigma Women Stress Rededication In Observance of Founders' Week, Indianapolis Recorder, 9 Nov 1957
- ↑ ["Becoming a College Sorority"]. The Centennial Anniversary of Sigma Gamma Rho: A Historical Look at the Sorority and Butler University. 2022. Retrieved 2023-04-19.
- ↑ "Sigma Gamma Rhos Convene In Indianapolis." The Chicago Defender, December 25, 1937, p. 14, via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ African American Registry, 2023.