Alicesa Miller

On January 15th, 1908 on the campus of Howard University, the first ever Greek-letter organization for women of color was formed.

With hopes of starting a sorority, founder, Ethel Hedgeman Lyle, wanted to break barriers for African-American women. In celebration of the sororities’ 111th year anniversary, members of the Delta Lambda chapter at Delaware State University had a campus presentation in the Martin Luther King student center, and a more intimate session prior before on their plots..

To kick off their Founders day at 12am, members of the chapter met in the parking lot between Meta V. Jenkins and Medgar W. Evers hall, where they strolled, cried, and sang. The members then lined up holding hands, as they sang and marched to their plots. One freshman stated, “they definitely woke the campus up, but it was such a beautiful thing to watch.” When they got to their plot, the members then all formed a circle where they sang once again and took pictures.

Later that morning, members went to their social media accounts and posted “Come to the MLK at 11:08am” as advertisement for their campus presentation. They had a Dj booked and took up the majority of the first floor. In amazement, JaNa Cheatham said, “I’ve never seen so many AKA’s all come together like that.