Black Fraternal Life

It’s hard to believe that 2018 marks 40 years as a member of my beloved Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.  I was at the University of Southern California in 1978 when I attended the Rush event to consider joining my father’s sister organization.  My father was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first fraternal organization established by African American college men at Cornell University in 1906.  Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. was the first of its kind, too, having been established at Howard University, just two years later in 1908.  These forty years as part of the “Divine Nine” have not just been wonderful, but inspiring.Last Saturday I attended a Founder’s Day celebration in Los Angeles to commemorate 110 years of sisterhood and service.  I enjoyed the fellowship of my Oxnard chapter sisters (Xi Kappa Omega) as we mingled among sisters from other chapters in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas.  The  large ballroom at The Century Plaza Hotel near LAX  was packed full of college educated professional women who have dedicated their lives to improving the lives of others.  They were not only fashionable in their pink and green, but they were inspiring.  These are women who are smart, sophisticated and accomplished.  They have money and style and carry themselves with dignity, confidence, and a full measure of grace.  They make me proud to be a black woman.

When so many of us are together, I often wonder what those who happen upon this incredible gathering think.  These are not the black women that movies, television programs or news media reports make us out to be.  We defy their stereotypes.  We are women who embody the rhythm of our culture, honor the struggle of our ancestors, and the pursue the spirituality of our nature.  We are hopeful, resilient, and very persistent.  We stand tall, short, of every shade, and each one poised in the diversity of their personalities and talents to work together towards progress.  The positive energy that comes from  these mission-driven creative and capable women is in itself energizing.

Americans have heard of many of the men and women who make up the Divine Nine, without realizing that these individuals enjoyed the brotherhood or sisterhood of these black fraternal organizations that do not end with college.  Membership in black fraternal organizations are lifetime commitments of service.

As it is Black History Month, it is only right that I mention a few of the Alpha Phi Alpha men who are revered for their contribution to this great nation: Martin Luther King, Jr, Thurgood Marshall, Duke Ellington, Frederick Douglas, Web Dubois, Cornell West and Lionel Richie, and so many more.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. has been the sisterhood of great females as well: Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Toni Morrison, Phylicia Rashad, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Maya Angelou, Alicia Keyes and in a previous post, I mentioned the three women featured in the movie, “Hidden Figures”: Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan.

The remaining seven members of the Divine Nine also have noteworthy, influential, and famous members.  These other members are: Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity (1911); Omega Psi Phi Fraternity (1911); Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (1913);  Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity (1914); Zeta Phi Beta Sorority (1920); Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority (1922); and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity (1963).

When I am surrounded by women like these who are in the process of making their mark everyday, I can’t help but be thankful to be an active member of my sorority.  These women inspire and energize me.  They push me to be a better version of myself.  I am proud to call each of them my sister for these 40 years.