In January 1908, 12 years before the 19th Amendment enfranchised women, a group of nine women students gathered on Howard University’s campus to create Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first sorority dedicated to the advancement of Black women and girls. Those nine, led by Ethel Hedgemon Lyle, created a blueprint for others invested in Black women’s leadership and advancement. With an international reach that now spans some 360,000 women, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. has counted among her members the first woman to lead an African nation (Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia), the first Black woman to become a federal judge (the late Constance Baker Motley), and there’s increasing excitement that a member of AKA, Vice President Kamala Devi Harris, could be the first Black woman — or woman of any color, for that matter — to be elected president of the United States.
There’s increasing excitement that a member of AKA could be the first Black woman — or woman of any color — to be elected president of the United States.
Two weeks ago, before President Joe Biden withdrew from the campaign and endorsed his vice president as the Democratic Party’s nominee, Harris stood before 20,000 Alpha Kappa Alpha members gathered in Dallas for the sorority’s 71st biennial convention. Harris, who became an AKA in the sorority’s original Howard University chapter, described the group’s founding as an effort to “create desperately needed social and legal change.”
Then, a desperately needed change was access to the ballot. As women around the country prepared for the historic March 1913 suffrage parade, Alpha Kappa Alpha president Nellie Quander sent letters to suffragist leader Alice Paul. Quander called it hypocritical that the leaders of a march demanding that women have a say in politics were intent on excluding and silencing Black women who were seeking the same. Much to the chagrin of the march’s organizers, who sought to keep it all white, 50 Black women did participate in that march. They included Quander, Mary Church Terrell (a founder of the NAACP) and founding members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, which had been founded at Howard that January. Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha would later develop the Mississippi Health Project in 1935 to increase access to health care in the Mississippi Delta and launch the creation of the country’s first Non-Partisan Council in 1938 to lobby for civil rights.
That commitment to leadership and community advancement inspired me to become an AKA at the University of Virginia. In addition to AKA and Delta Sigma Theta, there are two other historic Black women’s college sororities: Zeta Phi Beta and Sigma Gamma Rho. Harris spoke to the women of Zeta Phi Beta at their biennial convention in Indianapolis on Wednesday. Sigma Gamma Rho, whose convention is scheduled to start July 31, is the third Black sorority having its national meeting this month. It’s unknown if Harris will address that sorority, too.
There are also five historically Black college fraternities: Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma and Iota Phi Theta. Taken together, those five fraternities and four sororities comprise the National Pan-Hellenic Council, affectionately known as “The Divine Nine.” Members of these organizations have been a part of every major movement for social change in modern U.S. history. Although each organization articulates its own programs and initiatives, they are bound by a shared commitment to community uplift.
The 2024 election cycle is no exception. Monday, the day after Biden announced his support for Harris, the National Pan-Hellenic Council released a statement: “We, the Council of Presidents of the National Pan-Hellenic Council® (Divine 9®), have met and agreed to meet this critical moment in history with an unprecedented voter registration, education, and mobilization coordinated campaign. This campaign will activate the thousands of chapters and members in our respective organizations to ensure strong voter turnout in the communities we serve.”
The Divine 9 represents over 2.5 million members with chapters in every major U.S. city and deep connections to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Black churches, and has a distinguished history of mobilizing political participation. This expansive reach will be crucial for elevating public engagement and excitement in the 2024 election.
Because each fraternity and sorority is a 501-c7 organization, endorsing a particular candidate isn’t allowed. Thus, the collaborative effort will focus instead on promoting issues, priorities and participation. This focus is key given important political contests happening at the local, state and national levels. The outcome of those elections will directly shape areas like economic security, public safety, education access and youth development. The Divine 9 represents over 2.7 million members with chapters in every major U.S. city and deep connections to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Black Churches and has a distinguished history of mobilizing political participation. Harris ended her remarks at Alpha Kappa Alpha’s convention with a charge to mobilize, “because we know,” she said, “when we organize, mountains move. When we mobilize, nations change. And when we vote, we make history.” Indeed, on Sunday, within hours of the announcement that Biden was stepping aside, more than 44,000 Black women joined a Zoom call that raised more than $1.5 million for Harris’ campaign. That was a significant expression of the intergenerational organizing we should expect to see from Black women in 2024. That call was organized by a coalition of Black women of various backgrounds and affiliations who met weekly over the last four years to create a network of support, inspiration and engagement designed to #winwithblackwomen. (That mobilization inspired 53,000 Black men to gather for their own “Win With Black Men” virtual call that raised $1.3 million for Harris and should help dispel the narrative that Black men don’t want to support a woman candidate.) While some question whether the country is ready for a Black woman at the top of the ticket, there is no question that Black women are mobilizing to move the country forward. Those who belong to Black sororities have been trained to do so. From their very inception, those sororities have served as catalysts for change.
Khalilah L. Brown-Dean
Khalilah L. Brown-Dean, Ph.D., is university professor and executive director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life at Wesleyan University. A scholar of voting rights, punishment, and civic engagement, she is author of the book "Identity Politics in the United States" and hosts the Gracie Award-winning radio show and podcast, "DISRUPTED." 
