Wesleyan College Archives & Special Collections

“Founded on May 15, 1851, Alpha Delta Pi is the oldest secret society for college women in the world. Established at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, the first college chartered to grant degrees to women in the world, the story of Alpha Delta Pi is a remarkable one and it all began with a young girl’s dream.  Eugenia Tucker was just sixteen years old when she left her family home in Laurens County, Georgia, to enter Wesleyan College. Before the end of her first year she would establish the first sorority in the world.”  When Eugenia Tucker decided to form a society, her dearest and most admired friends were asked to join her. She listed them in her journal as: Ella Pierce, daughter of a bishop; Octavia Andrew, daughter of a bishop; Bettie Williams of South Carolina; Sophronia Woodruff; and Mary A. Evans, daughter of a useful and beloved pastor of Macon Mulberry Street Methodist Church for several years.

Wesleyan Female College was the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women. The college was chartered on December 23, 1836. Classes started in January 1839 with almost one hundred students.  It was only fitting that the first chartered college for women became the birthplace for the first secret society for women. The history of Alpha Delta Pi and the history of Wesleyan College are intertwined. The Adelphean Society, which was founded by a group of six Wesleyan students in 1851, became Alpha Delta Phi in 1905 and then Alpha Delta Pi in 1913. Eugenia Tucker was the leader of the six founding members who came together to form an association for self-improvement. The college president and two faculty members were sponsors of the organization. For sixty-five years the spirit of Wesleyan nourished the spirit of the Adelphean Society and vice versa.

Information from:
Alpha Delta Pi.  (2017).  Founders. Retrieved from https://www.alphadeltapi.org/page/history/​