Violet Temple Lewis, Co-Founder of Gamma Phi Delta Sorority, Inc., was a trailblazing educator born in Lima, Ohio. Her goal was to improve the economic status of women by providing training in marketable skills for jobs and decent incomes to support themselves and their families.
At the onset of a nationwide economic depression, she founded the Lewis Business College in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1929. The Detroit Chamber of Commerce asked her to do the same in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Lewis then founded Detroit's Lewis Business College and steered it from a nine-month stenographic course to an accredited community college.
The current Lewis College of Business is the U.S. Department of Education's only designated historical Black College in Michigan. The College has given countless numbers of women the opportunity for development and growth and a chance for a better life.
In July 2002 Gamma Phi Delta Sorority held it's 52nd Boule' in Detroit MI while there, the members attended a Gala at Lewis College of Business. It was a wonderful feeling standing in the halls and rooms where Gamma Phi Delta began and seeing all of the photographs and interesting items.
If you are interested in learning more about Lewis College of Business the following publication will be of service to you.
"On Her Own Terms"
- A Biographical Conversation
About Mommie, Created by Sorors of Gamma Phi Delta Sorority,Inc.
On Her Own Terms
A Biographical Conversation
About Mommie "T.V."
By Phyllis Lewis Ponders, LHD. and Marjorie Lewis Harris,
Ph.D.
Edited by Pamela June Anderson, D. Min.
Foreword
There are 118 Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU'S). These institutions are considered "national treasures" because of their unique histories and their educational uplifting of an unserved segment of Americans. As such, the HBCU'S hold a coveted place in the higher education history of America.
Three of the 118 HBCU'S were founded by African American
females:
Vorhees College, founded in 1897; Denmark, South Carolina
Founder-Elizabeth Wright
Bethune Cookman College, founded in 1904; Daytona Beach, Florida
Founder-Mary Mcleod Bethune
Lewis College of Business, founded in 1928, Indianapolis,
Indiana
Founder-Violet Temple Lewis
There is a history of African American women that America should be told. These conversations from the descendants of Violet Temple Harrison-Lewis, hopefully, will encourage historians to research other African American women in the diaspora. Tell their story to America. Give hope to all women who are struggling to understand their place in history, and who have yet to awaken to the power of their encapsulized spirits.
For copies of On Her Own Terms