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Purpose

To cultivate and encourage high scholastic and ethical standards; promote unity and friendship among college women; study and help alleviate problems concerning girls and women to improve their social stature; maintain a progressive interest in college life; and be of service to all mankind.

Original Founders

Anna Easter Brown; Beulah Burke; Lillie Burke; Marjorie Hill; Margaret Flagg Holmes; Ethel Hedgeman (Lyle); Lavinia Norman; Lucy Diggs Slowe; Marie Woolfolk (Taylor)

Ethel Hedgeman Lyle

Originator and "guiding light" of AKA; educator

Anna Easter Brown

1st treasurer of AKA; advocate of history; known for annual Negro History Week exhibits that received national media attention; educator

Beulah Burke

Created the organization's name, motto, and colors; educator

Lillie E. Burke

Assisted her sister Beulah Burke in creating the motto; educator

Margaret Flagg Holmes

Helped write Alpha Kappa Alpha's first constitution and bylaws; educator

Marjorie Hill

1st Ivy Beyond the Wall; educator

Lavinia Norman

Member of AKA's first Constitution and Bylaws committee; presiding officer at the first Ivy Day ceremony; educator

Lucy Diggs Slowe

First president of the newly formed organization; chairman of the Constitution and Bylaws and Nominating committees; 1st Black female dean at Howard

Marie Woolfolk Taylor

Selected by Ethel Hedgeman to help make the case for a sorority to Howard administration; first secretary; member of first Constitution and Bylaws committee; one of two Black people to work with American Red Cross after the Great Atlantic Fire; social worker

The Sophomores

Norma Boyd; Ethel Jones (Mowbray); Alice Murray; Sarah Meriwether (Nutter); Joanna Berry (Shields); Carrie Snowden; Harriet Terry

Johanna Berry Shields

Sophomore founder; helped secure Rosenwald Fund Grant that extended school years from 3 to 6 months for Black children

Norman Elizabeth Boyd

Sophomore founder; last serving founder; incorporator

Sarah Meriwether Nutter

Sophomore founder; delivered the oration at the May 1909 Ivy Day Celebration; planted some of the ivy that still grows on Howard University grounds

Alice Porter Murray

Sophomore founder; gifted writer known for poetry, prose, and cultural commentary

Carrie E. Snowden

Sophomore founder

Harriet Josephine Terry

Sophomore founder; first sophomore to become president of the sorority; author of "Hail Alpha Kappa Alpha" (initiation hymn); Terry Hall is named after her

The Incorporators

Nellie Quander; Nellie Pratt Russell; Minnie Smith; Julia Brooks

Iota Beta Chapter

Charted May 18, 1974

Alpha Kappa Alpha Founded

January 15, 1908, on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Motto

By Culture and by Merit

Symbol

Ivy leaf

Colors

Salmon pink and apple green

Flower

Pink Tea Rose

Alpha Kappa Alpha Incorporated

January 29, 1913

20 Pearls

Represent the founders and incorporators

Dorothy Buckhanan Wilson

International president

Initiatives

Educational Enrichment Program; Health Promotion; Family Strengthening; Environmental Ownership; Global Impact