Spring fever: Children of notable Atlantans become ‘Divine Nine’ members

This month, several Atlanta public figures are celebrating their children becoming members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council.

Viral videos are circulating the internet of rappers, university presidents and media professionals visiting historically Black colleges and universities, and in some cases their alma maters, to welcome their sons and daughters into Black Greek letter organizations, or “the Divine Nine.”

Here are four Atlanta personalities with kids joining Black fraternities and sororities this season.

Deyjah Harris

Rapper T.I.’s daughter, Deyjah Harris, is now a woman of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.

Harris, 24, introduced herself as one of 35 new members before a euphoric crowd as “Precious Heir,” a line name paying tribute to her late aunt, Antoinette “Precious” Harris, who became a Delta woman at Knoxville College in 1972. The Atlanta-born, self-proclaimed “Princess of the South” is a sophomore at Clark Atlanta University majoring in speech communication.

Backed by her dad’s club banger “Bring ‘Em Out,” she performed a routine with hand claps and feet stamps, ending with a split and hand gestures forming a pyramid, one of the sorority’s symbols.

T.I. showed support to his daughter by attending her initiation party later that evening.

Brandon Bowman

Thirty-five years after Morehouse College’s 13th president, F. DuBois Bowman, became a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., his son, Brandon Bowman, is carrying on the tradition.

Brandon Bowman, a sophomore double majoring in applied physics and aerospace engineering, was one of 15 initiates dressed in Army fatigues, gray T-shirts and shaved heads spray-painted gold. His dad, who became an Omega Man in 1991, wore a purple hoodie to the probate and took the cover off his son-turned-fraternity brother’s head.

At the end of the video, the son posed with his dad and first lady Cynthia Bowman, who is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.

Meglan Welch

Clark Atlanta University President George T. French Jr. traveled to Howard University to see his daughter, Meglan Welch, join Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.

French, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. who became Clark Atlanta’s fifth leader in 2019, watched her become part of the sisterhood’s founding chapter at the HBCU in Washington D.C. A sophomore majoring in political science and government, she and her 54 line sisters wore shoulder-length straightened hair, pink satin dresses, white gloves, pearls and green belts.

Welch posed for numerous photos with her dad and held a green brick with pink letters referencing her number in the line and year she crossed.