Day 6 - 8 Days of Early AKA History!

 January 1912 - January 1913 

January 1912

In 1912, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated functioned decisively as an institution—making formal choices, executing public programs, and positioning itself for national growth.

• Took in a small new line of women, continuing orderly membership development.
  
  

• Planned and executed a successful carnival to raise funds in support of the sorority’s scholarship objectives—demonstrating fiscal planning independent of intake.
  
  

• Held Ivy Day exercises, reinforcing a public, recurring tradition rooted in service and institutional memory.
  
  

• Members graduated in June 1912, maintaining academic progress alongside organizational leadership.

• Donated items for a fundraising auction to support the senior girls of the Liberal Arts college, reflecting interorganizational cooperation rather than isolation.
  
  

• Founder Beulah Burke contacted Chicago’s Eva Overton, who would later lead the effort to establish the Beta Chapter, evidencing continued expansion beyond Howard.
  
  

• Overwhelmingly voted against reorganization, affirming continuity of structure and purpose.
  
  

• Obtained permission from Howard University for Howard women to march in the 1913 women's suffrage parade, signaling sanctioned political engagement and public visibility.

• Submitted a formal request to incorporate as an international organization, marking a legal and structural transformation from student association to chartered body.

• Positioned itself within the national reform and women’s leadership conversation shaped by figures such as Jane Addams, Jeannette Rankin, and Julia Lathrop—aligning the sorority’s work with broader movements in education, child welfare, and civic reform.
  
  

January 1913

• Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority receives permission from Howard University to incorporate as an international entity.

• Alpha Kappa Alpha moved confidently into the public record, announcing its honorary members as a deliberate assertion of legitimacy, affiliation, and institutional standing.