Purpose

The purpose of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority is 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, to improve the social stature of the African-American race, to maintain a progressive interest in college life, and to be of service to all mankind.

Inception

In 1908 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was organized. It was the first sorority established by and for Black women. The idea was conceived by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle of St. Louis, Missouri. She led eight of her fellow classmates in the organization of the sorority. They established the sorority to help enrich the social and intellectual aspects of college life by providing mental stimulation through interaction with friends and associates.

In February 1908, the original nine founders invited seven sophomores to the sorority without initiation. Alpha Kappa Alpha was incorporated as a perpetual body in January 1913.

After its incorporation, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated gradually branched out and became the channel through which selected college-trained women improved the social and economic conditions in their city, state and the nation. Through the years the sorority has:

• Started the first "mobile health clinic" in 1935 to combat contagious diseases and to improve nutritional and dental practices via the MISSISSIPPI HEALTH PROJECT.
• Organized the first civil rights lobby in 1938.
• Acquired a contract in 1965 to operate the Cleveland Job Corp Center.
• Financed the purchase of the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1972.
• Provided assistance for the restoration of the rare books collection at Central State University after a tornado in 1975.
• Pledged a half million dollars to the United Negro College Fund in 1978.
• Built a multimillion dollar " Ivy Center" edifice in 1985 to house the corporate headquarters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., in Chicago, Illinois at
  5656 South Stony Island Avenue
• Combined efforts nationally in 1992 through the national Project Vote campaign to register hundreds of thousands of voters throughout the nation.
• Chartered our eighth international chapter Tau Sigma Omega Chapter in London, England on January 24, 1993.
• Awarded over $1,000.000 in college scholarships to high school and college students.

Since 1908, the sorority's membership has grown from nine students to over 170,000 professional women who continue to encourage high scholastic and ethical standards, promote unity and friendships among women and devote themselves to the service to all mankind.

To learn more about the history of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, visit www.aka1908.com