Her Story: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated

    It was the year 1907,  a very exuberant year. Ethel Hedgeman Lyle, a junior at Howard University in Washington, D.C., wanted to create an organization that would promote and unify the ideas of women and uplift the community. She had a vision to create the first sorority for African American Women. Ethel and eight other women joined together to form this preliminary organization on January 15, 1908.    

     These women included Anna Easter Brown, Beulah Elizabeth Burke, Lillie Burke, Marjorie Hill, Margaret Flagg Holmes, Lavinia Norman, Lucy Diggs Slowe, and Marie Woolfolk Taylor. In 1910, seven other young women gained membership in the organization. They were known as the sophomores. This group included: Norma Elizabeth Boyd, Ethel Jones Mowbray, Alice P. Murray, Sarah Meriwether Nutter, Joanna Mary Berry-Shields, Carrie E. Snowden, and Harriet Josephine Terry.  

     To establish its perpetuity as an organization, Alpha Kappa Alpha was incorporated by Julia Evangeline Brooks, Nellie M. Quander, Nellie Pratt Russell, and Minnie Beatrice Smith on January 29, 1913. These 20 astounding women are known as the founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

     As the Sorority grew, it kept in balance two important themes: the importance of the individual and the strength of an organization of women of ability and courage. As the world became more complex, there was a need for associations that cut across racial, geographical, political, physical, and social barriers. Alpha Kappa Alpha’s influence extends beyond campus quads and student interest. It has a legacy of service that deepens, rather than ends, with college graduation.

     The goals of its program activities center on significant issues in families, communities, government halls, and world assembly chambers. Its efforts constitute a priceless part of the global experience in the 21st century.  Today, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated is known as the oldest Greek-lettered organization established by African American college-trained women.