Black Greek-letter Organizations in the Twenty-First Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun

2 The Vision of Virtuous Women

41 2 The vision of virtuous Women The Twenty Pearls of alpha kappa alpha Sorority Stephanie Y. Evans Thischaptertracesthelivesofthefounders,originalmembers,andincorporators of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority: the twenty “Pearls.” The sorority brought together like-minded women from disparate paths to celebrate scholarship and provide dedicated “service to all mankind.” On January 15, 1908, nine women, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle and advised by Ethel Esther Maria Tremain robinson and Elizabeth Appo Cook at Howard University, brought forth an organization dedicated in sisterhood to live and work “by culture and by merit.” The motto, translated into Greek, became Askosis Kai Axiosis, and the letters AKA, the ivy leaf, and pink for femininity and green for everlasting life became the signs of the first black women’s collegiate sisterhood.1 The Alpha chapter expanded by inviting seven sophomore honor students to join the organization in late February 1908. The first initiation of new members took place in February 1909, and on January 29, 1913, six members banded together to incorporate and expand Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, making it the first national, incorporated Greek-letter organization for black college women.2 The First nine eThel oCTavIa hedGeman lyle Ethel Octavia Hedgeman (1887–1950) was born in St. Louis and graduated from Sumner High School there; she received that school’s first scholarship to attend Howard University. Although Hedgeman made history as a founder of the first black sorority, she also had a clear sense of history from her distinguished family heritage. Her paternal grandfather, born in 1824, was an African Methodist Episcopal minister who helped establish churches from St. Paul, Minnesota, to 42 Stephanie Y. Evans Denver, Colorado. Her maternal grandfather escaped enslavement to participate as a Union solider in the Civil War and became one of the founding members of Lincoln University in Missouri. Her mother, Maria Hubbard Hedgeman, was a certified teacher, but she stayed home to raise Ethel and her two sisters, Iota and Thelma. Ethel’s father, Albert Hedgeman, born in 1858, was a respected community builder who worked for the yMCA.3 Ethel entered Howard in 1904 but had to withdraw after the first year due to illness. At Howard, she was active in the university choir, Christian Endeavor, drama productions, and the yWCA.4 She was described as “a lively, charming, bubbling young woman, full of life and laughter, although somewhat delicate in health.”5 Ethel’s close friend George Lyle was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity , and she was encouraged to develop a sorority by Ethel robinson, a native of Providence, rhode Island, who had graduated from Brown University and participated in sorority activities there. With an innovative spirit, Ethel convened eight Howard coeds and established the first sorority for African American women. In addition to being the originator, she worked with Margaret Flagg and Lavinia Norman to finalize the organization’s constitution, which had been drafted by Lucy Diggs Slowe, and she designed the ivy leaf inscribed with “AKA” as their symbol. Lucy Slowe (the only senior in the new organization) became the first president; Hedgeman was elected president in the fall of 1908 and was succeeded by Lavinia Norman.6 After graduating in 1909 with a bachelor’s degree in English and liberal arts, Hedgeman moved to Enfala, Oklahoma, where she taught music and English and stayed until 1910. She is recognized as the first college-trained black woman to teach in a normal school in Oklahoma and the first to receive a Life Teacher’s Certificate from the Department of Education there. For the 1910–1911 school year, she taught at a public school in Centralia, Illinois.7 On celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the sorority’s formation, Margaret Flagg Holmes recalled Hedgeman’s personality, saying that Ethel “was a jolly, fun-loving loveable girl, whose outstanding charm was her gurgling, bubbling laughter. School work (for she was a brilliant student) and George Lyle vied with each other for Ethel’s affections.” Hedgeman’s commitment to scholarship and community service continued to flourish, as did her love for Lyle. On June 21, 1911, Ethel Hedgeman married George Lyle in New york City. They moved immediately to Philadelphia, where George became a high school principal. They had one son, George Lyle Jr., who eventually married and had two children. When her daughter-in-law passed away, Ethel ensured that her The Vision of Virtuous Women 43 two granddaughters, Murieal...