Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® A Journey Through 115 Years of Timeless Service and Sisterhood: 1900's- 1920's
1900s
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Miner Hall by Ethel Hedgemon Lyle and 8 other women. Hedgemon with Marie Woolfolk Taylor obtained permission from Howard University to form a sorority. This marks the first Black woman Greek Letter Organization.
Nine women included:
- Ethel Hedgemon Lyle
- Anna Easter Brown
- Lucy Diggs Slowe
- Beulah Burke
- Lillie Burke
- Margaret Flagg
- Marjorie Hill
- Marie Woolfolk Taylor
- Lavinia Norman
On May 25, 1908, the first Ivy Day was held on the campus of Howard University. According to the Howard University Journal, “the girls of Alpha Kappa Alpha were clad in white and bearing the ivy chain that headed the march.” This celebration included a short program that included speeches by members of the sorority, the dean of the Teachers’ College, and an ivy oration. The program concluded with the planting of ivy on the campus.
1910s
A sophomore class of members was initiated into the sorority in 1910.
The sophomore class included:
- Joanna Berry
- Norma Boyd
- Ethel Jones
- Sarah Meriwether
- Alice Murray
- Carrie Snowden
- Harriet Josephine Terry
In 1912 after attending a meeting where the current members discussed changing the organization’s name, colors, symbols, and motto, Nellie Quander, who was initiated in 1910, immediately saw the need to intervene to preserve the sorority's legacy. She urged others to join a committee. The committee would be later known as the “Incorporators.” The sorority officially was incorporated on January 29, 1913, which positioned Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® to broaden the sorority and first Black sorority to receive its charter.
The Incorporators for Alpha Kappa Alpha included:
- Nellie May Quander
- Nellie Pratt Russell
- Minnie Smith
- Julia Evangeline Brooks
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. awarded its first scholarship in 1914 in the amount of $10.00 to a liberal arts student at Howard University. This scholarship would be the foundation of the program of service through scholarships for decades.
1920s
At the 1920 International Convention of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, all chapters were mandated to observe Founders’ Day to celebrate the heritage and emphasize cultural consciousness and self-pride. Along with this adoption at the convention, the crest was also adopted, which was the symbol of Alpha Kappa Alpha, designed by Phyllis Wheatley Waters.
The crest graced the cover of the Ivy Leaf Magazine, which was a publication created to be the national voice of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated®. The crest was the exclusive image on the magazine cover for over a decade.
Phyllis Wheatley Waters, the crest designer for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated®, graduated from the University of Michigan, where she was the first black female basketball player at the university. Recently, through tireless research, a photograph of Waters was discovered. Waters is captured in her room, with the following inscription written on the back: "219 W. Ingalls, Ann Arbor." "My den, middle wall."
On the campus of Howard University, an Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority House was located at 2460 Sixth Street., N.W. Washington, DC. The house was listed in the Howard University yearbook as “The only Colored Sorority House in the East.” This was the first sorority house to be located on the campus of Howard University.