While she was a student at Howard University in 1920, she was one of the five founding members of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority, and its first president.
[2][3] Arizona Cleaver was one of the "Five Pearls", the founding members of Zeta Phi Beta, when it began at Howard University in 1920.
[3][17] The Philadelphia graduate chapter of Zeta took ownership of her home after her death, and continues to maintain the property.
In 2015, a new monument was placed at her gravesite in Eden Cemetery near Philadelphia, by the sorority, and a historical marker about Stemons was placed near the site of her high school in Hannibal.
[18] In 2019, to mark the centennial of Zeta Phi Beta, a street in Philadelphia was renamed Arizona C. Stemons Way.