Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated will pause to honor the founding of our beloved sisterhood and pay homage to the vision, courage, tenacity and oneness of purpose of the extraordinary women who dared to create the first organization for college-trained women whose mission is to support and promote sisterhood, scholarship and service.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated ® (AKA), an international service organization, was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1908. It is the oldest Greek-letter organization established by African American college-educated women.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® is comprised of more than 360,000 initiated members in graduate and undergraduate chapters located in 12 nations and territories including the United States, Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Japan, Liberia, Nigeria, South Korea, South Africa and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Led by International President & CEO Danette Anthony Reed of Dallas, Texas, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, often is hailed as “America’s premier Greek-letter organization for African American women.”
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was founded on January 15, 1908 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC. Its founders were among the fewer than 1,000 Negroes enrolled in higher education institutions in 1908 and the 25 women who received Bachelor of Arts degrees from Howard University between 1908 and 1911. Nine juniors and seniors who constituted the initial core group of founding members and seven sophomores who were extended an invitation for membership without initiation comprised what are acknowledged as Alpha Kappa Alpha’s original 16 founders. Led by Ethel Hedgemon (Lyle), the nine Howard University students who came together to form Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority were the scholastic leaders of their classes. Each also had a special talent or gift that further enhanced the potential of this dynamic group.
The Original Nine: Anna Easter Brown, Beulah Burke, Lillie Burke, Marjorie Hill, Margaret Flagg Holmes, Ethel Hedgemon (Lyle), Lavinia Norman, Lucy Diggs Slowe and Marie Woolfolk (Taylor)