CHAPTER HISTORY

Johnson C. Smith University was established on April 7, 1867 as Biddle Memorial Institute during a meeting of the Catawba Presbytery in the old Charlotte Presbyterian Church. In 1932 the charter was amended, allowing the first women to enroll 1941.  

Two years later on November 23, 1943, Delta Sigma Theta became the first sorority on the campus of Johnson C. Smith University. The Grand Chapter officially approved the Gamma Lambda Chapter charter on February 16, 1944.  Its organization was led by 11 charter members under the supervision of Marian Palmer Capps, the 7th Eastern Regional Director. The grand chapter, then, was headed by 8th National President Helen Elsie Austin (1939 - 1944).

Today, Gamma Lambda is 1 of 44 collegiate chapters in the South Atlantic Region, which was organized in 1960 under the leadership of 1st Regional Director Marietta Hall Cephas.