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Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc celebrated it’s 100 Year Anniversary today. Alpha Kappa Alpha(AKA) is the first and oldest black greek letter organization . Founded in 1908 at Howard Univeristy in Washington D.C. by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle.

This history-making triumph makes the Sorority the first college-educated, primarily African-American female organization to reach this milestone.

To commemorate this 100-year landmark, the Sorority has a host of celebratory activities planned during the year.

Led by its Centennial International President Barbara A. McKinzie, more than 25,000 members will converge upon Washington, D.C. for two major events.

The yearlong celebration begins at AKA’s birth home of Howard University from January 12-15. It was at Howard that nine visionary women founded the organization with the first chapter being Alpha chapter. Only a few decades removed from slavery, the nine founders made service the core mission of the Sorority. That mission continues today.

Some famous AKA’s include, but not limited to:

Dr. Maya Angelou - Renowned novelist, poet, educator, dancer. National Ambassador for the U.S. Committee for UNICEF, Grammy winner for Best Spoken Word. Her works include “And Still I Rise” and “Phenomenal Woman”.
Angie Brookes - The first woman President of the United Nations.

Alice Walker - Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Color Purple, Civil Rights Activist, Poet, author of Possessing the Secret of Joy, The Temple of My Familiar, Anything We Love Can be Saved

Ella Fitzgerald - Internationally famous jazz singer, known as the “First Lady of Song”. Dr. Mae Jemison - Became the first African-American woman astronaut in 1992. She is also a noted physician. She has done medical studies in Cuba, Kenya, and Thailand. Star Jones- Starlet Jones is a lawyer, former assistant district attorney and former NBC news correspondent. She is also a past 2nd Supreme Basilues of AKA. She is currently a co-host of TV Show “The View”. Alicia Keys - Grammy award winning artist and producer.Coretta Scott King - Civil Rights Activist, Director of Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Social Change and Civil Rights Activism.
Gladys Knight - Accomplished singer and actress. Toni Morrison- Nobel prize winning novelist and poet whos works include Song of Solomonand BelovedRosa Parks - Known as the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement”, for refusing to give up her seat to a white man in 1955. This launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott which lasted for one year. Phylicia Rashad - Actress on the award-winning Cosby show and the TV series Cosby.
Jada Pinkett-Smith - Actress whose works include: The Nutty Professor, Set It Off, Menace to Society, and A Different World. Lynn Whitfield- Humanitarian and actress. She is the star of The Jospehine Baker Story.

Congratulations to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc!