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The women of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated are celebrating 111 years of public service, sisterhood, and scholarship. The women of Delta Sigma Theta strive for the best in all that they do since their founding in 1913. So, in honor of founders’ day here are five notable women of DST.
Angela Bassett
Tina Turner, Betty Shabazz, Stella Payne, Bernadine Harris, and Queen Ramonda of Wakanda. These are just a few roles of the iconic Angela Bassett, with a resume as long as hers she continues to show us why she is one of the greatest actresses of our lifetime.
Bassett is a native of St. Petersburg, Florida. She graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in African American Studies in 1980. She returned to Yale to study acting at the Yale School of Drama, she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in 1983.
Bassett made her film debut in the 1986 film F/X. She later moved to Los Angeles to further her acting career. In the early 1990s, she earned recognition for her performances in the films Boyz n the Hood and Malcolm X. In 1993, Bassett took on her most iconic role when she played Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do with It. She embodied the essence of the legendary Tina Turner so well many people jokingly say that they believed Bassett was Tina Turner for years. Her performance as Tina Turner earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress- Motion Picture or Comedy. That performance also earned her an Academy Award nomination.
Bassett would go on to star in other films including Vampire in Brooklyn, Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Akeelah and the Bee, and Olympus Has Fallen. In 2018, Bassett starred in the MCU film Black Panther as Queen Ramonda mother of the Black Panther played by the late Chadwick Boseman. She reprised her role as Queen Ramonda in the film's sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Her performance earned her a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.
Not only has Bassett made a name for herself in film but in television as well. Bassett played Katherine Jackson in the ABC miniseries, The Jacksons: An American Dream. She has also starred in various roles in the American Horror Story franchise. She currently stars as Sergeant Athena Grant-Nash on the Fox television series 9-1-1. Bassett recently won an Honorary Oscar at the 2024 Governor’s Awards.
Bassett became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta in 2013.
Keisha Lance Bottoms
Keisha Lance Bottoms is an attorney and politician. Bottoms is the former mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.
Bottoms is an Atlanta native. She attended Florida A&M University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications. In 1994, she earned a Juris Doctor degree from Georgia State University College of Law. After graduating, Bottoms became a prosecutor and worked as a juvenile attorney. She later became a magistrate judge in Atlanta in 2002.
Bottom’s political career began in 2009 when she was elected to the Atlanta City Council and once more in 2013. She remained in that position until 2017 while simultaneously serving as the executive director of Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority.
Bottom was elected mayor of Atlanta in 2017. She served in this position from 2018 until 2022. During the 2020 presidential election, Bottoms was named permanent co-chair of the 2020 Democratic National Convention. In 2022, President Biden announced that Bottoms would replace Cedric Richmond as the director of the Office of Public Liaison. Bottoms was appointed to the President’s Export Council in 2023.
Bottoms crossed the Beta Alpha chapter of Delta Sigma Theta during her time at FAMU.
Sheryl Lee Ralph
According to the ladies of DST crimson and cream is every woman’s dream and actress Sheryl Lee is the original Dream Girl (literally)! With a career spanning almost 50 years, Sheryl Lee Ralph has shown us how to navigate a successful career with such style and grace.
Ralph’s career began when she starred in the 1977 film A Piece of the Action directed by the late Sidney Poitier. During that time, she appeared on television shows such as Good Times, Wonder Woman, and The Jeffersons. In 1981, she portrayed Deena Jones in the original Broadway musical Dream Girls alongside Loretta Devine and Jennifer Holiday. She was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
Throughout her career, Ralph has made appearances in numerous films and television shows including Mistress, Designing Women, Instant Mom, Sister Act 2, Ray Donovan, and one of her most well-known roles as Dee Mitchell on the UPN show Moesha.
When Ralph is not taking Hollywood by storm, she is a dedicated philanthropist. Ralph who is a health advocate and AIDS activist, founded the nonprofit DIVA (Divinely, Inspired, Victoriously, Anointed). This was a dedication to her friends who lost their lives to HIV/AIDS. Her commitment to increasing HIV/ AIDs awareness has earned her the first Red Ribbon Award in the United Nations as well as being appointed as an AIDS Ambassador for Jamaica’s Ministry of Health.
Ralph currently stars as Barbra Howard on the ABC sitcom, Abbott Elementary. Abbott Elementary returns for season three on February 7.
Ralph became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta in 2004.
Candace Wiggins
Candace Wiggins is a former professional basketball player and WNBA champion. Wiggins has played in both the American and international leagues.
Wiggins began playing basketball when she was a child. When she was in the fifth grade, she started playing on boys' teams to play competitively. While in high school Wiggins was a four-year letter in both volleyball and basketball. She was named CIF Division IV Player of the Year in basketball her entire high school career. Wiggins was also the captain of the United States Junior National Team that won gold.
Wiggins graduated from Stanford University in 2008 with a degree in communications. At the end of her college career, Wiggins was a four-time All-American. She is one of only seven women’s basketball players to do so. She was also awarded the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award and the Wade Trophy as the best women’s basketball player in the NCAA Division I.
In the 2008 WNBA Draft, Wiggins was chosen as the third overall pick by the Minnesota Lynx. Wiggins played with the Lynx for five years before being traded to the Tulsa Shock in 2013. In her last season with the Lynx, she won her first WNBA championship. Wiggins signed with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2014 and the New York Liberty in 2015.
Wiggins retired from the WNBA in 2016.
Wiggins crossed the Omicron Chi chapter of Delta Sigma Theta in 2007 during her time at Stanford University.
Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Chisholm was a politician and the first Black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. She is also the first Black candidate for a major-party nomination for President of the United States and the first to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
Chisholm was a native of New York but spent her early childhood years in Barbados. She graduated from Brooklyn College in 1946, majoring in sociology and minoring in Spanish. After graduation, Chisholm worked as a teacher’s aide. She later returned to school and received her Master of Arts in Childhood Education in 1951 from the Teachers College of Columbia University.
Her career in politics began in 1953, when joined Wesley Holder’s effort to elect Lewis Flagg Jr. as the first Black Judge in Brooklyn. Chisholm ran for the U.S. House of Representatives for the New York’s 12th congressional district in 1968 and won making her the first Black woman elected to Congress. During her term in the House of Representatives, she served as a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Women’s Political Caucus.
Chisholm announced her presidential bid in 1972, making her the first Black woman to do so. She came in fourth in the roll-call tally. Chisholm left Congress in 1983 to return to teaching, in the spring semester of 1985 she served a visiting professor at Spelman College.
Chisholm died in 2005 after a series of health issues. Regina King has been cast to play Chisholm in the upcoming Netflix movie Shirley which comes out March 22, 2024.
Chisholm joined the Brooklyn Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta.
