Sarina Sanghvi, Contributing Photographer

Last week, the Yale chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. presented the “REDaissance,” a five-day series of events, for this year’s annual Delta Week.

The chapter’s president, Aubrey Vaughn ’27, wrote in an email to the News that the week’s theme was inspired by the Harlem Renaissance to highlight the history of Black Americans and their role maintaining the historically Black organization.

“Social Action is a core tenant of our organization and its work, which is why we were honored to host a week of events touching on Social Justice issues both at home and abroad, emphasizing our commitment to responsible citizenship,” Vaughn wrote.

Last week’s events focused on international and local issues, pairing a teach-in about Sudan with a book drive in partnership with New Haven Reads. Last year’s week of events was themed around TV shows and included service in New Haven.

The festivities kicked off on Monday with “The Diva’s Speakeasy: Meet the Deltas” in the Davenport College wellness room, where attendees dined on chicken and waffles and had the opportunity to meet members of the Divine Nine sorority.

“I planned the Divas’ Speakeasy in order to create a space for students and community members to come together and build the relationships and connections that are central to the sisterhood of Delta Sigma Theta,” Madeleine Keenan ’26 wrote.

On Tuesday evening, attendees listened to an information session titled “The Crisis,” which discussed the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

Speakers engaged the audience with slideshow presentations and answered questions about Sudanese history and the current war, which Yale School of Public Health postdoctoral associate Eman Salih described as “one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent history.”

“I was inspired to do a teach-in and donation drive for Sudan because Black lives are so often undervalued, and I was disheartened by the lack of attention being paid to such a horrific humanitarian crisis,” Delta Sigma Theta member Ryen Eley ’27 said.

The attendees were encouraged to donate money or write a letter about the crisis to their representative. Eley noted that she hoped people gained a greater understanding of the situation and walked away “empowered to help advocate” for those suffering in Sudan.

Kausar Hassen ’28 attended the event and said she appreciated the informative nature of the session. Hassen said she left it feeling a desire to spread awareness and become more involved with assisting organizations.

“I feel like I learned about ways to help and spread awareness,” Hassen said. “I find it very cool that they’ve been incorporating various causes into Delta Week events. It’s a great way to get people involved.”

On Wednesday evening, the sorority held “A Book Drive with the Deltas” at the Afro-American Cultural Center. There, attendees brought books to donate to New Haven Reads and engaged in a conversation about the importance of literature and their previous experiences with Black educators, history and literature in school.

At the beginning, sorority member Farrah Muhammad ’27 gave an introduction about New Haven Reads, which acts as both a community book bank to provide free community access to books as well as a tutoring service for local students.

“I organized this event to amplify New Haven Reads’ mission and highlight the book deserts and literacy challenges in the neighborhoods that surround Yale, an institution with millions of books and thousands of educators,” Muhammad wrote in an email to the News.

At the event, Muhammad shared her own personal anecdotes about the importance of literacy, explaining that she came from an area where she felt Black voices were not prioritized. Consequently, she said, at a young age her parents began taking her to local libraries to expose her to stories that resembled her own background and were not often shown in predominantly white school systems.

Eley said that, by reading literature while growing up, she was able to begin advocating for herself and sharing her opinions about injustices.

“In an environment of not seeing a lot of Black people, like my school system, I could articulate my argument through my vocabulary and was able to say ‘This is marginalizing,’” Eley said.

Thursday featured a canned food drive and dinner discussion with Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, author of the book “Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip Hop in the United States.”

The gathering, in collaboration with the Black Studies Department, was hosted alongside the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale, Muslim Life at Yale, the Yale Black Muslim Student Association and the Muslim Leadership Lab. Khabeer and students in attendance discussed the intersections of race, food and faith. The canned food drive was held in response to the reduction of federal food assistance payments due to the government shutdown, according to Vaughn.

The week was capped on Friday with “Money Ventures on Lenox Avenue,” a financial literacy workshop held at the Afro-American Cultural Center.

“Financial success and freedom is something that constantly lingers in the air across campus,” Lauren Grant ’27, a member of the sorority, wrote in an email to the News about the event. 

“For many of us that are part of marginalized groups, the path to such freedom is often hard to visualize,” Grant wrote. “This year I began my own journey towards financial freedom and realized how easy it is to start with the proper guidance.”

The Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded in 1913.