About Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc
Our Mission
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® is committed to scholarship, leadership, service, and sisterhood. Through programs focused on health, education, and economic empowerment, the organization works to improve the lives of girls and women and uphold its legacy of “Service to All Mankind.”
Rooted in legacy. Driven by service.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was founded on January 15, 1908 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC. Its founders were among the fewer than 1,000 Negroes enrolled in higher education institutions in 1908 and the 25 women who received Bachelor of Arts degrees from Howard University between 1908 and 1911. Nine juniors and seniors who constituted the initial core group of founding members and seven sophomores who were extended an invitation for membership without initiation comprised what are acknowledged as Alpha Kappa Alpha’s original 16 founders.
Led by Ethel Hedgeman (Lyle), the nine Howard University students who came together to form Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority were the scholastic leaders of their classes. Each also had a special talent or gift that further enhanced the potential of this dynamic group.
Original Nine
Anna Easter Brown, Beulah Burke, Lillie Burke, Marjorie Hill, Margaret Flagg Holmes
Ethel Hedgeman (Lyle), Lavinia Norman, Lucy Diggs Slowe and Marie Woolfolk (Taylor)
History
About Sigma Delta Omega
Sigma Delta Omega Chapter was chartered on January 20, 1990, in Sacramento, California, fulfilling the vision of Ada Hamilton. Alongside Marietta Scott, Martha Pennington, and Eula Hollis, she worked to reclaim inactive members and establish a new chapter. Early meetings were held in members’ homes as they navigated the chartering process. The chapter was officially chartered by Archalene Amos Martin, the 17th Far Western Regional Director, with 19 members—18 of whom were charter members, including Dr. Barbara Smith-Nash, who continues to serve Sigma Delta Omega today. Though Ada Hamilton passed before the chapter’s establishment, her legacy remains central to Sigma Delta Omega.