Civil Rights Leader Vivian Osborne Marsh Was A National President Of Delta Sigma Theta

Did you know that pioneering scholar and civil rights leader Vivian Osborne Marsh was the seventh national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.? Marsh chartered the sorority’s Kappa Chapter at the University of California, Berkeley, which the university recognizes as the first Black Greek-letter organization established west of the Rocky Mountains.

Vivian Costroma Osborne was born on September 5, 1897, in Houston, Texas, and moved to California with her widowed mother and sister as a girl. She graduated from Berkeley High School in 1914 and went on to the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology in 1920 and a master’s in 1922. She was the first Black woman to major in anthropology at Berkeley and among the first Black women to earn a master’s degree from the university. Her thesis, “Types and Distribution of Negro Folklore in America,” argued that many beloved American children’s stories had their origins in Africa.

While still a student, Marsh made history for Black women on the West Coast. In 1921, she and six other women chartered the Kappa Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta at Berkeley, the first Black sorority on campus and what the university recognizes as the first Black Greek-letter organization west of the Rockies. She served as the chapter’s first president, and in 1929 she founded an alumnae chapter so that Berkeley women could continue their service after graduation.

Marsh’s leadership soon extended across the nation. In 1935, she was elected the seventh national president of Delta Sigma Theta, a role she held until 1939. During her tenure, she organized a traveling library to bring books to children in rural Georgia and created “Teen Lift,” a program that covered the costs for underprivileged Black youth to attend operas, symphonies, and concerts.

Her service reached well beyond the sorority. Marsh was a longtime leader in the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs and served as president of the California State Association of Colored Women. She directed the Oakland junior branch of the NAACP and, during the Great Depression, became the first Black woman on the West Coast to serve as a state supervisor in the National Youth Administration, working through its Division of Negro Affairs to find jobs for young people of color and to fight discrimination.

Marsh remained devoted to her community throughout her life, and the Mayor of Berkeley later proclaimed February 21 as Vivian Osborne Marsh Day in her honor. She died on March 8, 1986, leaving a legacy that embodies the scholarship, public service, and social action at the heart of Delta Sigma Theta.

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