Melody Twilley
On this date in 2001, the University of Alabama sorority system remained segregated. Melody Twilley, a junior at the University, was trying to become the first black admitted by a white sorority.
Twilley’s sorority rush counselor told her, “You didn’t get asked back.” The school's top officials, civil rights leaders, and alumnae who dominate the politics and business in the state had followed her progress through the rush selection process. Twilley sings in the school choir and carries a 3.87 grade point average.
The University of Alabama was the last college in the South where no black student was ever accepted to a traditionally white fraternity or sorority. But in the spring of 2003, Gamma Phi Beta became the first Panhellenic sorority to accept a black member at the University.
One of the largest and fastest-growing multicultural sororities in the nation, Delta Xi Phi Multicultural Sorority, Inc., founded a chapter at the University. Also, in 2003, Alpha Delta Sigma was founded at the University of Alabama. This was the first social sorority ever to be founded at the university and the first to emphasize diversity.
