ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA EDUCATIONAL ADVANCEMENT FOUNDATION history

On May 25, 1909, Alpha Kappa Alpha held its first "Ivy Day," a celebration that included planting ivy at Miner Hall.

By the end of the 1911–12 school year, there were more than 40 members of the sorority at Howard.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority became the first African American sorority to nationally incorporate on January 29, 1913.

On May 10, 1930, Alpha Kappa Alpha, along with the fraternities Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi and sororities Delta Sigma Theta and Zeta Phi Beta, formed the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) at Howard University.

In April 1933, during the Great Depression, International President Ida Jackson visited All Saints Industrial School in Lexington, Mississippi.

In summer 1934, Ida Jackson initiated the Summer School for Rural Teachers to train future teachers.

She had acquired $1,000 from the Boulé to fund the project in December 1935.

In summer 1938, Ida Jackson focused on poverty and established a regional health clinic.

On September 1, 1945, Alpha Kappa Alpha established The National Health Office in New York City.

The ACHR was proposed at the 1946 Boulé. In October 1946, Alpha Kappa Alpha was the first sorority to obtain observer status at the United Nations.

At the 1947 Boulé, pins for honorary members were designed and approved.

The NPC was dissolved on July 15, 1948, by twelfth Supreme Basileus Edna Over Gray-Campbell.

The National Health Office was dissolved in 1951, as its goals were incorporated into the sorority's international program.

Financially, Alpha Kappa Alpha expanded funding for projects in 1953 through the creation and trademark of a fashion show called Fashionetta.

However, as a whole, ACHR voted to dissolve operations in 1963.

On August 20, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act, which allowed the creation of the Job Corps.

Beginning in 1965, the Cleveland Job Corps trained female high school dropouts, aged 16 to 21, with job and educational skills.

In 1976, the Cleveland Job Corps accepted males.

In 1978, during the sorority's seventieth anniversary, the Memorial Window at Howard University was dedicated to the founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

The sorority operated the Cleveland Job Corps until 1995.

On September 9, 2002, Kristin High (22) and Kenitha Saafir (24) from California State University – Los Angeles (CSULA), died following an illegal hazing activity.

The sorority responded to the call for help in fall 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, by raising money for a disaster relief fund.

In July 2007, through Habitat for Humanity, the sorority helped build a house in New Orleans for a family that survived Hurricane Katrina.

The celebration coincided with the sorority's biennial Boulé. Internationally, some Alpha Kappa Alpha members began marking the festivities by making a pilgrimage to Howard University from January 12 to January 15, 2008.

On June 20, 2009, eight Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority members filed a complaint in D.C. Superior Court demanding that International President Barbara McKinzie be fired for improper use of sorority funds and the money be returned to the sorority.