Alpha Kappa Alpha National History | Eta Beta Chapter History

On January 15, 1908, a group of young, dynamic women at Howard University caught the inspiration of a fellow student, Ethel Hedgeman Lyle, and initiated the movement of Greek letter sororities among African-American women in America. These original founders of the illustrious organization that would come to be known as Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. include Anna Easter Brown, Norma Boyd, Beulah Burke, Lillie Burke, Marjorie Hill, Margaret Flaggs Holmes, Ethel Hedgeman Lyle, Ethel Jones, Alice Murray, Lavinia Norman, Sarah Meriweather Nutter, Joanna Berry Shields, Lucy Diggs Slowe, Carrie Snowden, Marie Woolfolk Taylor, and Harriet J. Terry.

These pioneer women founded Alpha Kappa Alpha “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, maintain a progressive interest in college life, and be of service to all mankind.”

Since her incorporation as a perpetual body on January 29, 1913, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. has grown to a membership of over 170,000 college women affiliated with over 900 undergraduate and alumnae chapters located on leading colleges, universities, and cities in the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa.