Stepping up: from Jim Crow to the Jena 6, Black Greek-letter organizations continue to make an impact on history

Joy T. Bennett

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ON A COLD MORNING in the winter of 1908, and 12 years before women of any color could vote in the United States, 16 women from Howard University came together to form the first Black Greek-letter women's organization, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., with the credo "to provide service to all mankind."

Today, with more than 200,000 members, the AKAs are among nine Black sororities and fraternities, representing more than 1 million members, that play a central role in contemporary American and global issues, from the Jena 6 to relief efforts in Africa.

For instance, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (the first Black Greek organization) is leading efforts to build a major monument to the organization's most recognized Alpha brother, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. During the 2006 ceremonial groundbreaking, King's children, Martin III, Yolanda and Bernice, expressed gratitude to the fraternity for making the project a reality.

The women of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., in collaboration with Water for Children Africa, recently financed seven water tanks for schools in Kenya. The sorority also awarded micro loans to women in Ghana to help start businesses so they can provide for their families.

To mark its 100-year milestone in 2008, the AKAs plan a series of tributes, beginning with a pilgrimage to its founding home at Howard. Barbara A. McKinzie, AKA international president, says the AKA birthday celebration at its "Alpha" (first) chapter will be followed in July with its Centennial International Conference, also called the "boule," when more than 20,000 members are expected to converge on Washington, D.C.

How did this sorority--the first African-American sorority--achieve this historic milestone?

"I think that the core women that make this institution have been women who have sought to give of themselves--not take. That common characteristic is the stalwart that has continued to keep our eyes on the prize of the common good, and it is in that spirit that you can find reconciliation, forgiveness and conciliation," McKinzie says from the boardroom of the sorority's Chicago headquarters.

AKA has more than 975 chapters in the United States, the Caribbean, Canada, Germany, Korea, Japan and on the continent of Africa. Prominent international AKAs include Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first woman elected to lead an African country. In 1957, the sorority first chartered an AKA chapter in Africa in Monrovia, Liberia. "We also have partnered with [the company] African Ancestry in looking back to who we really are," McKinzie says. "We do have a history and it did not begin with slavery."

Many of the Greek organizations have an active outreach in Africa. Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., has placed 35 water wells in Ghanaian villages that did not have access to clean water. The sorority currently is building a health clinic at a girls' boarding high school in Ghana. The school has 1,500 young ladies obtaining a secondary education. Zeta also has placed two water wells on that campus and opened a children's library.

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., working in partnership with Africare, for many years has assisted in providing money to purchase grain grinders for African women to help lighten their back-breaking work. The project's focus has evolved to addressing--through finances and education--HIV/AIDS awareness, education and treatment.

Economic empowerment is also an important issue for historically Black sororities and fraternities. AKA President McKinzie, whose centennial administration is driven by the theme "Extra Special Preservation (ESP)," an acronym for "economics, service and partnerships," says the sorority has forged partnerships with JPMorgan Chase to put more than 3,000 African-American families in homes, either as first-time homebuyers or as investors.

In 2006 the sorority chose to host its conference in New Orleans instead of hosting a Hawaiian cruise, a move that contributed $5 million to the local economy and supported recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

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The Deltas' efforts also are targeting home ownership. The Delta Challenge Homeownership Initiative (in collaboration with two major financial corporations) is designed to serve as a cornerstone of wealth creation for African-Americans. Major components of the program, conducted regularly via community meetings and workshops, also focus on financial management, debt, credit issues and leveraging the economic playing field through real estate investing and education.

Sigma Gamma Rho, founded Nov. 12, 1922, at Butler Uni versity in Indianapolis, has a national project called "Project Wee Savers" to help young people ages 6 to 18 to learn the real-life skills of saving money and investing. Participants study basic investing, setting specific goals attainable through monitoring and mentoring of money and activities.

Greek organizations also are focusing on the Black family, in particular African-American males. AKA has partnered with 100 Black Men, fraternities and other organizations on recent issues regarding Black males, including Jena 6, the group of young men from the Louisiana town whose case led to national outcry about disparities in the justice system. "The sorority wants to help change the paradigm that America and the world have regarding our African-American men and the miscommunications and misperceptions of them," McKinzie says.

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For more than 25 years, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity has partnered with the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation to implement Project Alpha, a program that provides education and guidance to thousands of male teens. Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., works with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis and has pledged to raise more than $500,000 over three years. In 2010, the hospital will name an area of the facility in honor of the fraternity. The Kappas also mentor young men through Guide Right, its national social-out-reach program that provides role models for at-risk high school and college youth. More than 4 million young men have participated in this program.

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., through its national men toting program for males from ages 8 to 18, provides opportunities for the development of young men as they prepare for college and the work force. The organization's partnerships with the American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, Boy Scouts of America and Thurgood Marshall College Fund speak to its mission to address educational and developmental opportunities for young males as well as health disparities.

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Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc., founded in 1963 and one of the National Pan-Hellenic Council's "Divine Nine" Greek-letter organizations, also targets young Black males with its community-service programs. The IOTA Youth Alliance is a national umbrella program in which chapters help Black youth in their communities. Under the alliance, chap ters work with existing organizations or create new ones based on needs and available resources. One of the many examples of an Iota Youth Alliance activity is the African-American Male Educational Network (AAMEN). Created by the Beta Omega (Washington, D.C.) graduate chapter, it is a mentoring program for youths ages 8 to 13 that are tutored in academic, social and leadership skills.

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Throughout the year, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.'s local chapters mentor youth, sponsor blood drives, raise money for scholarships and charitable causes, and start initiatives that encourage their "brothers" to "make a difference in the lives of Black people," the group's motto. The fraternity's other community projects include work with Habitat for Humanity, voter-registration drives, inner-city boys mentoring programs, and food and toy drives.

The Omegas and other African-American Greek-letter fraternities and sororities plan to join with Alpha Kappa Alpha during its centennial year, McKinzie says, for a Unity March on July 17 as a highlight of the AKA Centennial Convention. The group will march from Capitol Hill to the White House because "we do intend to be a major player in the 2008 presidential elections," McKinzie says. "While we are celebrating 100 years, we are very focused on our strategic partnerships and on the future because we also intend to be around another 100 years."

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity

Founded: Dec. 4, 1906

Alpha Chapter: Cornell University

Membership: More than 150,000

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority

Founded: Jan. 15, 1908

Alpha Chapter: Howard University

Membership: More than 200,000

Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity

Founded: Jan. 5, 1911

Alpha Chapter: Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.

Membership: More than 120,000

Omega Psi Phi Fraternity

Founded: Nov. 17, 1911

Alpha Chapter: Howard University

Membership: More than 100,000

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority

Founded: Jan. 13, 1913

Alpha Chapter: Howard University

Membership: More than 200,000

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity

Founded: Jan. 9, 1914

Alpha Chapter: Howard University

Membership: More than 110,000

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority

Founded: Jan. 16, 1920

Alpha Chapter: Howard University

Membership: More than 125,000

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority

Founded: Nov. 12, 1922

Alpha Chapter: Butler University, Indianapolis

Membership: More than 85,000

Iota Phi Theta Fraternity

Founded: Sept. 19, 1963

Alpha Chapter: Morgan State

College (now Morgan State

University), Baltimore

Membership: More than 35,000

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