On the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., Ethel Hedgeman had a dream of organizing a sisterhood. In this original group, there were nine women:
Ethel Hedgeman Lyle
Anna Easter Brown
Beulah E. Burke
Lillie Burke
Marjorie Hill
Margaret Flagg Holmes
Lavinia Norman
Lucy D. Slowe
Marie Woolfolk Taylor
This original group was joined later by a group of seven sophomores:
Norma Boyd
Ethel Jones Mowbray
Alice P. Murray
Sarah Meriweather Nutter
Joanna Berry Shields
Carrie E. Snowden
Harriet J. Terry
On January 29, 1913, a committee of members was formed to legally incorporate the Sorority. These women were:
Norma Boyd*
Julia E. Brooks
Ethel Jones Mowbray*
Nellie Quander
Nellie Pratt Russell
Minnie B. Smith
This trailblazing group of women is the group Alpha Kappa Alpha women revere as the Twenty Pearls!
* These two women were part of the group of the sophomore women invited to join the Sorority as well as incorporating members of the Sorority.