Ten Arkansas chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority will celebrate the sorority’s 114th Founders’ Day virtually at 3 p.m. Sunday.
The event is open to the public and can be viewed at Facebook.com/DOOAKA. The observance will include two Pine Bluff area chapters, according to a news release.
The keynote speaker will be Joya T. Hayes, AKA south central regional director. She represents the sorority’s second largest region of more than 14,000 women in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas.
Area AKA chapters celebrating Sunday are the Alpha Rho, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; Delta Omega Omega, Pine Bluff; Alpha Alpha Rho Omega, Saline County; Beta Pi Omega, Little Rock; Chi Eta Omega, Conway; Chi Nu Omega, Arkadelphia; Epsilon Phi, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; Gamma Alpha, Philander Smith College; Theta Eta, Henderson State University; and Theta Mu, University of Central Arkansas.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The chapters will celebrate members of 25, 50, 65 and 75 years as well as memorialize members who have died in the past year, according to the release.
The celebration’s theme is “Persevering in Unity and Sisterhood during Unprecedented Times.” The sorority began in 1908 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Their current international program, “Exemplifying Excellence Through Sustainable Service,” advances the mission of AKA and underscores the commitment to sustainable service in these areas: HBCU for Life: A Call to Action; Women’s Healthcare and Wellness; Building Your Economic Legacy; The Arts; and Global Impact.
Notable Alpha Kappa Alpha women include Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris, film and television director Ava DuVernay, actress Tracee Ellis Ross, astronaut Mae Jemison, hidden figure and NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, civil rights activist Coretta Scott King, members of the Little Rock Nine Thelma Mothershed-Wair and Minnijean Brown Trickey, the creator of the U.S. Navy’s first computer-drafted ship Raye Jean Montague, and the first female (interim) chancellor of UAPB, Carolyn Blakely.