Showing up at Downtown Summer Sounds concert at Fountain Square
The Divine Nine – national Black Greek-letter organizations in the National Pan-Hellenic Council – were established by students to provide community, racial uplift and spaces dedicated to service during a time when racial segregation barred Black students from taking part in Greek life.
The associations continue to hold the values a century later, today focusing just as heavily on community service and civic action, as is the case for Evanston’s local Divine Nine chapters.
Downtown Evanston partnered with the Evanston Divine Nine for the Downtown Summer Sounds concert at Fountain Square on July 25. For most of the 12 weeks of the concert series, Downtown Evanston collaborated with a different local nonprofit each week. Live music, vendors and community organizations were present, and on that Thursday the nine historically Black local chapters “leading in service and scholarship within the North Shore community” each had a table to inform attendees about the groups.
