Alpha Kappa Alpha (???) Sorority, formed in January 15, 1908 at Howard University, became America's first Greek-letter organization established by Black college women. AKA founder Ethel Hedgeman Lyle was inspired by her then high school and college sweetheart George Lyle, who founded the Beta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity at Howard in 1907. She viewed the Sorority as an instrument for enriching the social and intellectual aspects of college life by providing mental stimulation through interaction with friends and associates. Alpha Kappa Alpha incorporated as a perpetual body in 1913 and gradually branched out to become the channel through which selected college-trained women improved the socioeconomic conditions in their city, state, nation, and the world. Through the years, however, Alpha Kappa Alpha's function has become more complex.

Among the sorority's goals is to have an association that cuts across racial, international, physical, and social barriers to help individuals and communities develop and maintain constructive relationships with others. Though Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, was founded to meet the collective needs of African Americans, its membership includes women of Caucasian, Asian, and Hispanic descent. Additionally, Alpha Kappa Alpha women can be found on every continent in the world. The sorority is a member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), a coordinating organization of nine (historically-Black) international Greek letter sororities and fraternities.

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 200,000 women in over 950 chapters.
Alpha Kappa Alpha has been instrumental in establishing programs beneficial to the African-American community. From their participation in the 1913 Women Suffragette March to their tireless work in eradicating lynching, they are deeply concerned about the plight of the Black community in relation to society itself. During the Great Migration, members assisted the Travelers Aid Society, helping Southern Blacks adjust to life in North and volunteered at the Freedman's Hospital. Setting high standards of excellence, the sorority then created a fund for students in need, along with those who chose to study abroad. Those same high standards stand today as evident in their current programs.

Throughout the depression, Alpha Kappa Alpha worked with the Mississippi Health Project providing education and books to rural areas, and began a Summer School for Rural Teachers offering courses for self-improvement. The National Non-Partisan Council on Public Affairs was created as a means to lobby politicians. With the onset of World War II, these members instituted the Direct War Services/Complete Victory/Post War Reconstruction, a three- part program. Continuing the move of public service into the 1950's, they joined the American Council of Human Rights and National Health Office, and implemented programs on Health, Social Action, Scholarship, and Undergraduate Housing.

The turbulent eras of the 1960's and 1970's paved the path for the AKAs to sponsor job training, reading enrichment, and heritage and youth programs. Staying true to the pledge to enrich the lives of others, they continue the legacy of community service and promote academic excellence by encouraging youth to improve math, science, and reading skills.

2006 - 2010 Program
The Heart of ESP: An Extraordinary Service Program
Alpha Kappa Alpha responds to the contemporary needs of the Black community with comprehensive non-traditional programs. The ESP vision embraces a five-pronged program designed to excite, galvanize and ignite the passions of more than 180,000 members worldwide. The goal is to transfer this enthusiasm into a collective resolve to parlay members' talents, energy and creativity to realize Alpha Kappa Alpha's enormous potential for empowerment, security and progress.

Drawing from the Sorority's tremendous reservoir of strength and commitment to serve, this extraordinary service program will have an immediate impact on its members, constituents and the broader community and powerful results well into the future.

More than 25,000 members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority converged upon Washington D.C. July 11-18 for its Centennial international convention. International President, Barbara A. McKinzie presided over the weeklong event, which is being billed as a celebration of 100 years of sisterhood and service.

In January 2007, the Sorority launched its two-year Centennial Celebration with a series of events at each of the ten regional conferences. This year's convention represents the high point of the festivities, which continue through December 31, 2008.
The biennial convention, which was held at the Washington Convention Center, represents the culmination of a journey that began on January 15, 1908. It was on that date that nine visionary women at Howard University founded the organization—making it the first sorority of college-educated primarily African-American women. Driven by their commitment to service and sisterhood, Alpha Kappa Alpha has evolved into one of the world's leading service organizations with 200,000 members in 975 chapters worldwide.

The weeklong celebration was driven by the theme: "Centennial Commitment to Leadership." This is in recognition of the current administration's focus on leadership, which is embraced by the ESP theme—Economics, Service and Partnerships—the programmatic focus of McKinzie's administration. Cultivating leaders is the international president's major thrust, and many of the seminars and forums will center on giving those from within AKA's ranks the tools, knowledge and resources to guide the country and the world into the future.

Paralleling Ms. McKinzie's focus on economics, the Sorority hosted town hall society forums on entrepreneurship, wealth building and homeownership. Alpha Kappa Alpha also used the occasion of its business sessions to engage members in an international dialogue on issues that impact members and the communities they serve. Other topics that dominated the sessions were voter registration and voter education, health, service, bridging the generational gap and the importance of emotional empowerment. The sessions were moderated by an impressive array of nationally-known leaders.
Other highlights of the convention included:
• Ecumenical Service presided over by prominent religious leaders
• ESP Walk for Emotional, Spiritual and Physical Health
Members walked 1908 steps to the Convention Center as a show of their commitment to raise awareness about the importance of staying fit for health's sake. This was a culminating event for the Synchronized ESP 1908 Global Centennial Walk that took place on June 28 and where all AKA members in chapters worldwide walked in sisterly unison.
• Induction of the following five outstanding women into the Sorority as Honorary members:
Dr. Zoanne Clack – MD, writer and medical consultant for the popular TV show, Grey's Anatomy
Deborah S. Coleman – Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Urban League
Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai* – Environmental and political activist from Kenya and the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace."
C. Vivian St ringer – Rutgers University Women's Head Basketball Coach
Carol H. Williams – Founder, CEO, President and Chief Creative Officer of the Carol H. Williams Advertising Agency
*Dr. Maathai was unable to attend the convention so a delegation of Alpha Kappa Alpha members journeyed to Kenya to perform the induction ceremony.
• Public meeting where the community became acquainted with Alpha Kappa Alpha, its mission and the reason members are in the District of Columbia
• Presentation of awards to local leaders
• Unveiling of the Mattel Alpha Kappa Alpha Barbie Doll
• Performance by Grammy Award winner Patti LaBelle
The high point of the convention was a Unity March where 30,000 members from the nine predominantly Black Greek fraternities and sororities linked arms as a unified force and marched to the Capitol to advance their united agenda. The marchers, all members of the Pan Hellenic Council, sent a "powerful message" to the outgoing administration and a declaration to the next U.S. president about important issues of their constituencies.

While the Sorority engaged in the business of charting its future, the Centennial Convention was primarily dedicated to celebrating the Sorority's 100-year milestone through an educational documentary that will capture Alpha Kappa Alpha's rich history, tradition and legacy. Most of all, the sisterly bond that has made the Sorority endure for 100 years was strengthened at this historic gathering.
Ms. McKinzie noted that the Convention is the second of two Centennial milestone events. The first was held in January 2008, when over 2,000 members returned to Howard University for the Founders' Day salute to Alpha Chapter, which was Alpha Kappa Alpha's first chapter. The solemn and celebratory event, held on January 15, 2008—on the exact 100-year-milestone day of the Sorority's founding—featured a pilgrimage across the campus to points of historic significance to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
"Alpha Kappa Alpha is humbled and honored to be returning to Washington, D.C. to celebrate our 100 years of sisterhood and service," said Ms. McKinzie. "We will use the occasion to celebrate our illustrious history, renew our commitment to our mission and chart the journey toward our second Centennial."