Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little

Mary Lou Allison Gardner Little, previously Mary Lou Allison Little, previously Mary Lou Allison, (November 2, 1896 – March 8, 1992) was an American educator and the primary founder of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, as well as its first national president from 1925 to 1926. She taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 35 years through her retirement in 1967.

Originally founded as a professional organization raising standards among teachers,

Allison was born November 2, 1896, in Kentucky, and moved with her parents to Indianapolis, Indiana. She and her brother were subsequently raised apart; Allison remained in Indianapolis, where she was taken in by Katie Johnson, a family friend.

In 1918, Allison earned her teaching certificate from Indianapolis Normal School and taught in Indianapolis through 1925. an organization bringing together educated African American women in sisterhood. The other founders were Vivian White Marbury, Hattie Mae Dulin Redford, Dorothy Hanley Whiteside, Nannie Mae Ghan Johnson, Bessie Rhodes Martin, and Cubena McClure.

Soon after founding the organization, Allison sought to expand its reach to women beyond Indianapolis. She served as the organization's first national president (Grand Basileus) from 1925 until 1926, wrote its pledge, and helped guide its evolution into a national community service sorority. In 1929, the sorority incorporated as a national collegiate sorority, establishing the Alpha Chapter on the Butler campus.

In 1928, she moved to Los Angeles, California, with her first husband, Wilford Gardner, After becoming a widow, she married Roy Little in 1949; they later divorced. Little taught in the Los Angeles school system for 35 years and retired in 1967.

Little died in March 1992, aged 95, at her home in Los Angeles.