Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Alpha Kappa Alpha is the oldest Greek-letter organization established in America by Black women. Founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C., the idea for formation was conceived by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle of St. Louis, Missouri. Through the years Alpha Kappa Alpha's functioning has become more complex. After her incorporation as a perpetual body in 1913, Alpha Kappa Alpha gradually branched out and became the channel through which selected college-trained women improved the social and economic conditions in their city, state, nation and the world. Alpha Kappa Alpha cultivates and encourages high scholastic and ethical standards; promotes unity and friendship among college women; alleviates problems concerning girls and women; maintains a progressive interest in college life; and serves all mankind through a nucleus of more than 140,000 women in over 860 chapters.