DETROIT — Historically Black sororities and fraternities, who have long played a crucial role in Detroit area elections by helping recruit election workers and hosting candidate forums, are surging with enthusiasm with less than a month until the November election as one of their own members vies to become president.

For the first time in the storied history of the "Divine Nine," a member is the presidential nominee for a major political party: Kamala Harris, who is an alumna of Alpha Kappa Alpha, which she joined while at Howard University. The California Democrat's nomination is energizing members nationally and locally, several local members say, amping up efforts to boost voter turnout and fundraising, even though their organizations don't endorse candidates.

"When President Biden was the nominee, the energy was a 7 or 6. It's a 12 now. Every event we have now, the enthusiasm is high," said Harry Todd, local president of the Gamma Lambda chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, who has donated to the Harris campaign and said "he'll continue to do so."

And there's plenty of events planned by the Divine Nine groups between now and Election Day on Nov. 5. The Divine 9 were among the organizations that sponsored a recent Candidates Town Hall at Southfield's Hope United Methodist Church, which drew about a dozen candidates from judicial, state, county and municipal races.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, was also on hand. Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress, is a member of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, which is part of the "D-9." In the crowd were plenty of women and men wearing the traditional colors and insignias of their individual sororities and fraternities. Pictures lined the walls showing the hand symbols that members frequently use. Many hugged, laughed and took joyous selfies as they interacted with one another.

"There's an excitement in the air. I can definitely say the organizations are unified," said Faira Glenn, a member of the local Lambda Pi Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha who is active at the Southfield church where the candidate event was held.

Glenn is among the many local Divine 9 members participating in the group's national goal of getting a strong voter turnout, boosting voting registration and hosting voter education events.

"A lot of our chapters are out doing voter registration, partnering with organizations like the NAACP," said Norméa Banner, vice president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council of Metro Detroit. "Things like phone banking; really to get people registered, educated about not just the candidates, but the process of absentee ballots ... and mobilizing people to get them to the polls."

Reach of the groups

The Divine Nine is the nickname for the umbrella group officially called the National Pan-Hellenic Council. The group is comprised of four sororities and five fraternities. All but one of them formed more than 100 years ago when Blacks were not allowed in other Greek organizations.

The groups have about 2 million members worldwide. The Metro Detroit council has "close to 7,500" members in 28 chapters among the nine Greek organizations, Banner said.

Some of the past and present members show the profound impact the Divine Nine has had on American politics and culture. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., author Zora Neale Hurston and jazz legend Duke Ellington were Divine Nine members. So are basketball great Michael Jordan and national and local politicians, including former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and current Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey.

Harris' presidential nomination for the Democrats quickly energized many voters, including Divine Nine members. Shortly after President Joe Biden announced in July he was dropping out of the race, an estimated 44,000 people joined in a Zoom call with an organization called Win With Black Women, according to media reports. Plenty of Divine Nine members were part of that Zoom session, national and local leaders said. The call raised over $1.6 million within hours.

In August, Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc., the sorority of which Harris is an alumna, formed its own political action committee, allowing the sorority to raise money in support of federal candidates. Over the summer, the national leaders of the Divine Nine released a statement saying they will “activate the thousands of chapters and members in our respective organizations to ensure strong voter turnout” nationally.

"We, the Council of Presidents of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (Divine 9), have met and agreed to meet this critical moment in history with an unprecedented voter registration, education and mobilization coordinated campaign," the council said in a statement.

Many local chapters have responded to the national effort, local leaders said. Glenn said her local chapter had an initial goal of reaching out to 300 people for voter registration and education.

"We probably reached that before summer" ended, she said.

No endorsements

Members point out the Divine Nine doesn't officially endorse candidates.

The Southfield church where the Sept. 28 candidate town hall was held is led by Pastor Rev. Dr. B. Kevin Smalls, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha. Like many members, Smalls is aware of the legacy and tradition of the Divine 9 and how it applies to the present day.

"We were formed in 1906," referring to the fraternity, Smalls said. In the 1930s, the fraternity initiated the campaign, "A Voteless People is a Hopeless People," when many Blacks were prevented from voting because of poll taxes, threats of reprisal and a lack of education about the voting process. The campaign encompasses voter education and registration and often includes events such as candidate forums and town hall meetings like the recent one in Southfield.

Smalls noted it has "only been 60 years" since the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which is viewed as a significant achievement of the Civil Rights Movement. It dismantled decades of discriminatory Jim Crow laws and aimed to protect against racial gerrymandering.

"Our orgs were working very hard to get that passed," Smalls said. "It's a no-brainer for us to step in and continue. So the energy level is high. We're ready."

Banner said even though the organization doesn't endorse candidates, their efforts are largely about getting people engaged in the process. She also is the public relations director of the Detroit chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority.

"We're really trying to make sure that everybody's empowered to actually get out and vote," Banner said.

In Detroit, but also throughout the state, the Divine Nine plays a role in recruiting and hiring people who work on Election Day, such as processing absentee ballots. Detroit clerk Winfrey has reached out to Divine Nine groups in the past, just as she has this election year, Glenn said.

"We are highly educated and professional," Glenn said. "Of course, we would be good resources for workers."

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