History Made at Alabama

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com

Sigma Delta Tau has made history with the election of Hannah Christine Patterson, as the first black president of a Panhellenic Sorority at the University of Alabama.  The November 14, 2013 issue of the Crimson White, the University of Alabama Student Newspaper, quoted Patterson as saying,

“I guess I never saw color or race or ethnicity.  It has never been in the front of my mind.  I tried to never let it hinder anything I did or judge people on that.  I guess I never really thought about, ‘Oh, I am the first African American who has been President’.  I am just excited for my term and to see where my Chapter has gone and where it is going to go”.

After  the controversy earlier in the fall semester when initially no African Americans received membership bids after going through the formal Rush process, it is not surprising that Patterson’s election attracted media attention.