Founded on January 27, 1870 at what is now DePauw University in Indiana, Kappa Alpha Theta was the first Greek letter fraternity known among women.
Theta was founded by four remarkable women: Bette Locke Hamilton, Alice Allen Brant, Bettie Tipton Lindsey, and Hannah Fitch Shaw. In a time when less than one percent of young women attended college, these brave women had an empowering vision.
When asked about the founding of Kappa Alpha Theta, Locke declared,
"the Fraternity was always second in my mind to coeducation. It was organized to help the girls win out in their fight to stay in college on a man's campus. We had to make a place for women in a man's world, and the Fraternity was one means to that bigger end.
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