Title
Also naming 53rd Street, between Parrish Street and Westminster Avenue, "Ethel Hedgemon Lyle Way," in honor of Ethel Hedgemon Lyle, principal Founder of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated(r), the oldest Greek-letter organization for college-trained African American women in the United States of America.
Body
WHEREAS, Ethel Hedgemon Lyle was born on February 10, 1887 in St. Louis, Missouri. Ethel Hedgemon Lyle was educated at Sumner High School, graduated with honors and was awarded a scholarship to Howard University where she matriculated in 1904. Inspired primarily by her English instructor, Miss Ethel Robinson, she founded the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority during her junior year; and
WHEREAS, On January 15, 1908, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated(r) was founded, and its constitution adopted, by Ethel Hedgemon, Anna Easter Brown, Beulah Burke, Lillie Burke, Margaret Flagg, Marjorie Hill, Lavinia Norman, Lucy Diggs Slowe, Marie Woolfolk, Norma Boyd, Ethel Jones, Alice Murray, Sarah Meriwether, Joanna Berry, Carrie Snowden and Harriet Terry; and
WHEREAS, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated(r) was founded on the principles of service and sisterhood, amid the existence of a deeply segregated society, its presence broadened the scope of opportunity and empowerment for women of African descent and ignited a movement toward the establishment of numerous other organizations of similar vision and engagement; and
WHEREAS, Upon graduation from Howard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Ethel Hedgemon Lyle taught in Eufaula, Oklahoma and in the public schools of Centralia, Illinois. Upon settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ethel Hedgemon Lyle taught English at the Thomas Durham and Chester A. Arthur Schools and pursued graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University; and
WHEREAS, Ethel Hedgemon Lyle was elected Treasurer of the national body of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated(r) in 1923 and in 1926, sh...
Click here for full text