The Divine Nine: What the NPHC Is and Where It Came From

The nine organizations

Alpha Phi Alpha is the oldest, founded at Cornell in 1906 at a time when Black students at predominantly white institutions had almost no organized support. Alpha Kappa Alpha, founded at Howard two years later, was the first Greek-letter organization established by Black women.

How the council came together

The NPHC was founded on 10 May 1930 at Howard University, chartered by five organizations: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi.

The rest joined over the following decades — Alpha Phi Alpha and Phi Beta Sigma in 1931, Sigma Gamma Rho in 1937, and Iota Phi Theta as the ninth affiliate member in 1997. That last date is worth noticing: the council as people know it today is younger than the term "Divine Nine" sometimes suggests.

What makes these organizations different

Three things come up again and again, and they are the reason comparisons to other councils tend to fall apart:

• Membership is for life. Graduate and alumni chapters are central rather than an afterthought. People are active in their organization for decades after college, which is why alumni events, reunions and anniversary celebrations carry so much weight.
• Service is the purpose, not a requirement. Each organization has national programs in education, health, voter engagement and community development that long predate anyone's membership.
• The traditions are a cultural form in their own right. Stepping, strolling, probates and yard shows are performance traditions with their own history, vocabulary and standards.

Stepping, strolling and yard shows

If you have seen one of these and not the others, they are genuinely different things:

Stepping is percussive performance — the body as the instrument. Synchronized stomps, claps and spoken call-and-response, performed as a team, usually in a line or block formation. Step shows are judged competitions with a long history.

Strolling (also called a party walk) is a line dance performed in single file, each organization with its own distinct steps and arm movements. It happens at parties, probates and on the yard, and it is immediately readable to anyone who knows which steps belong to whom.

Probates — new member presentations — are the public introduction of a new line to the campus. They typically happen outdoors or in a packed hall, often at night, and they are filmed relentlessly.

Yard shows bring several organizations onto the yard together, often during homecoming week, each performing in turn.

Homecoming is the centre of the year

At HBCUs especially, homecoming is not a weekend — it is a week-long return that draws alumni from decades of graduating classes. The schedule typically runs a coronation, a yard show or step show, a parade, the game itself, a concert and a series of alumni gatherings.

Much of it happens after dark, outdoors, with the crowd in a ring around the performers rather than in seated stands. That matters practically: the performance space is usually lit by whatever happens to be nearby, and the people recording it are shooting on phones in low light.

Language that signals you know what you are talking about

• The organizations are incorporated — the "Inc." is part of the name and is not decorative.
• "Line" is a group who joined together; "line brothers" or "line sisters" are its members.
• "The yard" is the social and physical centre of campus life.
• "Neophyte" or "neo" is a newly initiated member.
• "Crossing" refers to completing the membership process.
• Say "organization" rather than "house" — most NPHC chapters do not have houses.

Made by Neon Cowboys®

Light-Up LED Pom Poms

$145 / pair (2 poms)

• Made to order in your colours, matched across a whole group
• They produce their own light — built for performances that happen after dark
• Remote colour-changing across the group · bulk pricing available

Shop LED Pom Poms →Chapter enquiries

Neon Cowboys is an independent brand. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any fraternity, sorority or council named on this page, and we do not produce merchandise bearing their marks.

See also: homecoming themes and majorette performance wear.

Questions: info@neoncowboys.com.