Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (ΑΚΑ) is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The organization was founded on five basic tenets:
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'.
The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen students led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle. Forming a sorority broke barriers for African-American women in areas where they had little power or authority due to a lack of opportunities for minorities and women in the early 20th century. Alpha Kappa Alpha was incorporated on January 29, 1913.
The sorority is one of the nation's largest Greek-letter organizations consisting of college-educated women of many diverse backgrounds from around the world and serves through a membership of more than 300,000 women in 1,024 chapters in the United States and several other countries. Women may join through undergraduate chapters at a college or university, or they may also join through a graduate chapter after acquiring an undergraduate or advanced college degree.
Since the organization's establishment, Alpha Kappa Alpha has helped to improve social and economic conditions through community service programs. Members have improved education through independent initiatives, contributed to community-building by creating programs and associations, such as the Mississippi Health Clinic, and influenced federal legislation by Congressional lobbying through the National Non-Partisan Lobby on Civil and Democratic Rights. The sorority works with communities through service initiatives and progressive programs relating to education, family, health, and business.
Alpha Kappa Alpha is part of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC). The current International President is Dr. Glenda Glover, and the sorority's document and pictorial archives are located at Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.
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