As the result of an editing error, an article Sunday about Delta Sigma Theta sorority failed to mention that the late Carl Murphy was publisher and editor of the Afro-American newspaper.
The Sun regrets the errors.
At 92, Etta Phifer wishes she could remember more details about the early days.
FOR THE RECORD - CORRECTION
She vaguely recalls some of the founders of her group describing how they joined the women suffragettes in a march on Washington.
They also sponsored teas, literary salons and talent shows at the old Douglass High School, where she taught for nearly 30 years.
But what is crystal clear is her organization's devotion to "public service -- making things better for people society has forgotten."
Those tenets of her group were celebrated yesterday at a luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Hotel marking the 75th anniversary of the Baltimore City Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., and the founding of the national sorority -- the largest African-American women's public service group.
"These are some of the most civicly active women in Baltimore," Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said in an interview Friday. "And we owe a tremendous debt to them for what they've done for education."
From the podium yesterday, Schmoke lauded the Delta chapter for other accomplishments, including providing scholarships to Baltimore-area students, sponsoring a Girl Scout troop and opening its Delta Community Center in Park Heights to the community for use as a day care center.
"It's a sisterhood with a well-defined purpose," said Rebecca Carroll, a past chapter president. "You're not in it just for yourself; you're in it to improve the community and the lives of your brothers and sisters."
Delta has more than 200,000 members in more than 800 chapters internationally.
It's a group of well-educated women who are teachers, businesswomen, ministers and, increasingly, doctors, lawyers and elected officials.
In Baltimore, there are several thousand Deltas in about 12 chapters in the metropolitan area, Carroll said. But the venerable Baltimore City Alumnae Chapter is the oldest and has a rich history.
Beginnings in 1913
Its founder was the late Vashti Turley Murphy, who also was one of the original 22 founders of the national organization, which began at Howard University in 1913, when she was an undergraduate. She was the wife of black newspaper publisher Carl Murphy.
Education has always been prized by the women's group.
