Alpha Kappa Alpha History

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. was founded on January 15, 1908 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C in Miner Hall. It is the first Greek-letter sorority established and incorporated by African-American college women. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. was incorporated on January 29, 1913.

Quick Facts

Purpose

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

Colors

Salmon Pink and Apple Green

Femininity and Vitality

Motto

“By Culture and By Merit”

Founders

Ethel Hedgemon Lyle

Anna Easter Brown

Beulah Burke

Lillie Burke

Margaret Flagg Holmes

Marjorie Hill

Lucy Diggs Slowe

Lavinia Norman

Marie Woolfolk Taylor

Joanna Berry Shields

Norma E. Boyd

Ethel Jones Mowbray

Sarah Merriweather Nutter

Alice P. Murray

Carrie E. Snowden

Harriet J. Terry

As Alpha Kappa Alpha has grown, it has maintained its focus in two key arenas: the lifelong personal and professional development of each of its members; and galvanizing its membership into an organization of respected power and influence, consistently at the forefront of effective advocacy and social change that results in equality and equity for all citizens of the world.

About Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incoporated

Alpha Kappa Alpha is comprised of nearly 300,000 members in approximately 1,018 graduate and undergraduate chapters in the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, Dubai, Germany, Japan, Liberia, and South Korea.