Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® : A Journey Through 115 Years of Timeless Service and SisterhoodTimeless Service and Sisterhood: 1960s- 1970s

Margaret Blake Roach, Sixth Regional Director of the South Atlantic Region of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated®.

Photo Credit: Community Foundation of Broward
Cleveland Job Corps Symbol

Photo Credit: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® Corporate Office
Correspondence from Coretta Scott King written to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated®

Photo Credit: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® Corporate Office
Charter of Zeta Upsilon Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated®

Credit: Archives of Gamma Theta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated®

1960s

Charter member of Gamma Theta Omega, Margaret Blake Roach, gained signiﬁcant leadership skills gained as a chapter member and was elected as the Sixth Regional Director of the South Atlantic Region for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated®. Before her election as regional director, she served as the second president of the Gamma Theta Omega Chapter.

Since its inception, the Gamma Theta Omega Chapter awarded scholarships to local youth in the area. In 1968 the Heritage Scholarship award for children was implemented, and in 1967, the chapter sponsored the ﬁrst Miss Teenage Tampa Scholarship Pageant.

Nationally, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® continued serving the community, and in 1965, a $4 million, 2-year contract was granted to the sorority to institute, administer, and operate the Cleveland Job Corps. The Job Corps in Cleveland was successfully operated until 1995 by the sorority through mentorship, tutoring, providing workshops, and college scholarships.

1970s

In 1972, at the National Convention of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Mattelia B. Grays, the Eighteenth International President, presented a $20,000 check to Honorary Member Coretta Scott King. The gift permitted the acquisition and restoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s boyhood home. King penned a letter thanking the sorority for the gift that was the largest monetary donation for the home.

The Gamma Theta Omega Chapter in Tampa, Florida, continued to serve all mankind in the community with several service projects, including aiding migrant families in Ruskin and Wimuama and stretched to the Thonostosassa area. Christmas Cheer and a toy-give away projects were also a yearly community service project in December.

Continuing the legacy of sisterhood, the Gamma Theta Omega Chapter chartered an undergraduate chapter, Zeta Upsilon, at the University of South Florida in December of 1971.