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

Originally a teacher's organization dedicated to helping youth gain knowledge and maintain high scholastic achievement, the group became an incorporated national collegiate sorority on December 30, 1929, when a charter was granted to The Alpha Chapter at Butler University, then known as Butler College.

In the midst of heightened racism and oppression, and with prominent members of the Klu Klux Klan surrounding the area of Butler University, the seven founders pressed on and created a foundation that pushed for excellence in the education of our youth and for the enhancement of our community.  The organization has since then grown and thrives through its establishment in both undergraduate and alumnae chapters nationally and internationally.