Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, 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.
The Nine Founders were: Anna Easter Brown, Beulah Burke, Lillie Burke, Marjorie Hill, Margaret Flagg Holmes, Ethel Hedgemon (Lyle), Lavinia Norman, Lucy Diggs Slowe, and Marie Woolfolk (Taylor).
The seven, “The Sophomores,” that joined included: Norma Boyd, Ethel Jones (Mowbray), Alice Murray, Sarah Meriweather (Nutter), Joanna Berry (Shields), Carrie Snowden, and Harriet Terry.
Motto: By Culture and By Merit
Colors: Salmon Pink and Apple Green
Vice President Kamala Harris
Phylicia Rashad
Toni Morrison
Loretta Devine
Roxie Roker
Wanda Sykes
Some other members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. include WHUR’s very own Coka-Lani, Star Jones, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Maya Angelou, Ntozake Shange, Alice Walker, Iyanla Vanzant, Julie Dash, Ella Fitzgerald, Alicia Keys, Gladys Knight, Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, C. Delores Tucker, Suzanne de Passe, Catherine Hughes, Mae Jemison, Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai, Eleanor Roosevelt, Zina Garrison and C. Vivian Stringer.