Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated®: A Journey Through 115 Years of Timeless Service and SisterhoodTimeless Service and Sisterhood: 1980s-2000s

1980s

The 1980s was a time of building and stability for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® on the national and local levels. Dr. W.W. Andrews and his wife, Nancy, a sorority member of the Gamma Theta Omega chapter, sold the first property to the chapter. The home located in the historic Ybor neighborhood was initially owned by the Gonzmart family, owners of the world-renowned Columbia Restaurant.

In 1982, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® broke ground for the second permanent Corporate Office, also known as the Ivy Center, at 5656 South Stony Island Avenue in Chicago, IL. The first permanent office was located in a four-story building at 5211 South Greenwood in Chicago, IL.

1990s

The Ivy AKAdemy was an educational initiative by the Twenty-Third International President, Mary Shy Scott. A concept and a place, the Ivy AKAdemy is an umbrella for all our programs of service. Locally, the Gamma Theta Omega chapter continues this program and later, in 2000, opened a building to implement programs for the community.

In 1993, as part of the Eighty-Fifth National Convention, the formal opening of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® Archives on the campus of Howard University. The event included a tour of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, which displayed documents on the history of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated®.

2000s

In the year 2000, a delegation of Sorority members, families, and leaders, including a chapter member of Gamma Theta Omega and chairman of the National Program Committee, Carolyn House Stewart, traveled to South Africa.

As part of the tour, a dedication was held to the historic Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated®/International Foundation of Self Help (IFESH)/ Public Works Dedication Ceremony. Further, under the leadership of the Twenty-Fifth International President, Norma Solomon White, Jacksonville, Florida native, 130 shoe boxes with school supplies and solar calculators were presented to school children.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® celebrated its centennial year in 2008 with a national convention in Washington D.C. with several first to commemorate the historical moment, including:

• The first Black women’s group to mark a centennial
• The first organization to have Pennsylvania Avenue closed for a march to the Capitol
• First women’s group to have a Barbie created in its honor.

Alpha Kappa Alpha is forever intertwined in history by setting the record with the Guinness World Record as the largest sit-down dinner party, with 16,206 guests at the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® centennial celebration on July 17, 2008.

In 2000 Ivy AKAdmey, opened in Tampa, Florida, as a 1,200-square-foot building that was donated by the city of Tampa as part of a Gamma Theta Omega Partnership in the community of Tampa. The Gamma Theta Omega Chapter is the first Black sorority to own property in Hillsborough County. 

In December 2003, the Chapter continued the legacy of sisterhood with the chartering of a second undergraduate chapter, Sigma Nu, at the University of Tampa.