International History
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® was founded Wednesday, January 15, 1908 on the campus of Howard University at Miner Hall in Washington, DC., and became the first Greek-lettered organization created for African-American college women. Founder, Ethel Hedgeman Lyle, envisioned the idea of formation of the sorority. Lyle was inspired by two of her professors to establish a society that encouraged scholarship, friendship, and service. She and a group of eight other distinguished ladies worked together to ensure the sorority’s implementation. This group consisted of Anna Easter Brown, Beulah and Lillie Burke, Marjorie Hill, Margaret Flagg-Holmes, Lavinia Norman, Lucy Diggs Slowe, and Marie Woolfolk-Taylor. On February 21, 1908, seven members of the class of 1910 were inducted into the organization. Together with the nine original founders, Joanna Mary Berry Shields, Norma Elizabeth Boyd, Ethel Jones Mowbray, Sarah Merriweather Nutter, Alice P. Murray, Carrie Snowden, and Harriet Josephine Terry along with the incorporators Julia Evangeline Brooks, Nellie Quander, Nellie Pratt Russell, and Minnie B. Smith; these women became what are known as the 20 Pearls of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
For more than 111 years, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated has broken down barriers for African-American women and has helped to improve social and economic conditions through programs and service events. For more information, visit www.aka1908.com.
For more than 111 years, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated has broken down barriers for African-American women and has helped to improve social and economic conditions through programs and service events. For more information, visit www.aka1908.com.
Our Mission
Alpha Kappa Alpha’s mission is to cultivate and encourage high scholastic and ethical standards, to promote unity and friendship among college women, to study and help alleviate problems concerning girls and women in order to improve their social stature, to maintain a progressive interest in college life, and to be of “Service to All Mankind.”
Our Vision
As Alpha Kappa Alpha has grown, it has maintained its focus in two key arenas: the lifelong personal and professional development of each of its members; and galvanizing its membership into an organization of respected power and influence, consistently at the forefront of effective advocacy and social change that results in equality and equity for all citizens of the world.
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