Talk:Alpha Kappa Alpha

Phenomenal

In October 1999, Norma S. White, the 25th International President of Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. answered the call and accepted an invitation from Stacey Chambers (owner of Elite Management Group)and New Jersey Delegate for the Business Women's Network lead by Edie Fraser Oppenheimer(Washington, DC). Chambers who has been a financial supporter of several Alpha Kappa Alpha chapters for many years, assisted in constructing the historical Memorandum of Understanding between BWN (world's largest network of women business owners and executives) and six US Department Agencies created through the US Department of the Interior. The six departments are: US Department of the Interior, US Department of Agriculture, US Department of Commerce, US Army Corps of Engineers, US Environmental Protection Agency,and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The scope of the MOU is to promote equal opportunity in transportation-related careers, to advance transportation safety awareness programs, to improve job access and to provide jobs and transportation-related educational opportunities for those in economically disadvantaged communities. Without hesistation, White arrived in Washington DC and signed the MOU as did business women owners and corporate leaders who represented 33 countries around the globe. Stacey Chambers a proud graduate of Rutgers University, Newark New Jersey, and Edgewood Regional High School in Atco New Jersey, University of Pennsylvania, Rowan University and Gloucester County College, followed the advice of friend and role model Dr. William Cosby, Jr. and (ANC)President Winnie Mandela who inspired Chambers to continue post-baccalaureate education and certifications in the areas she was lead to change. Chambers who Inducted into the Library of Congress National Registry of Who's Who in 1993 and 1994 is recognized for Phenomenal Entreprenural Leadership in the Business Community, and is well on her way to becoming an iconic figure of her generation. She is also given credit for founding the Puma USA Road Racing, Track and Field Team, North America and continues in her commitment to identify and bring together entities that take on social and economical American issues. She is also a recognizable face in the World Series of Poker Championship and World Poker Tour circuit, and is the entertainment consultant to Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack of the WSOP. Stacey Chambers who resides in Bel Air, California and Las Vegas Nevada, organized the 2008 Inaugural Gospel Choir which involved singers from all 50 states, is on the front line as a Surrogate Supporter for President Elect Barack Obama. Chambers is the owner of the actual campaign speech and acknowledgement notes read by Barack Obama at Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 25, 2008. The former educator who is a film casting consultant and television producer, is planning a national summit on education in 2011."

Thanks. miranda 22:13, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

Descent

"Consisting of college-educated women of African, Caucasian, Asian, and Hispanic descent..." - I suggest to change "descent" into "appearance" or "phenotype". The current formulation has several problems: In the concept of "Caucasian Race", Hispanics do belong to it, and the descent might be mixed, not all parts influencing the phenotype of a person in an obvious way. --KnightMove (talk) 08:21, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

How about Consisting of college-educated women descending from African, Caucasian, Asian, and Hispanic races? or Consisting of college-educated African, Caucasian, Asian, and Hispanic women? I would pick option 2. Thanks for noticing this. miranda 08:44, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

I agree with version 2, that's simpler and better. --KnightMove (talk) 18:13, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

 Done miranda 20:53, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

We have members of all races and backgrounds. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.146.87.33 (talk) 16:03, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

Big sales pitch

What a great big advert this is. Disappointing it's a main page FA. Tempshill (talk) 23:34, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

It's not an advertisement, but has to deal with an organization of notable importance. Here's a challenge for you, make any article featured, rather than making snide comments about "the process". Thank you. miranda 00:04, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

This is not at all notable. It's about some school club in America - why would anybody who's not already in the club be interested in reading it? I think it should be proposed for deletion. Seconders?86.156.31.23 (talk) 18:32, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

How about, you re-look at this. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean that the content should be censored on the project. miranda 00:05, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

BTW, if you would actually read the article, the organization is international, and not "in America". Reading is fundamental. miranda 00:08, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

To answer the IP's question: For Europeans it's not a matter of course that there existed an African-American sorority in the first decade of the 20th century. That was a very interesting read. --KnightMove (talk) 15:10, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Mrs. Clinton declines membership

I can, just barely, accept that Mrs. Clinton's declination of membership is worth mentioning, but certainly there is no reason to have her photo. Her decision is not one of the important moments in the history of this organization, and it was based on uncontroversial reasoning. I think it should be removed unless someone has a good argument for keeping it. Nicmart (talk) 00:54, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

Change to admission of all Races

I have found a good secondary reference for the date (1946 Boule) and circumstances for when Alpha Kappa Alpha opened its membership to all races. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wBomAAAAIBAJ&sjid=of0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4664%2C4141052 . Does anyone have opinions on where this fact should be put?

• In the chronological order with the history (which would put it either before or after the ACHR information which occured at the 1946 Boule)
• In the membership section?
• Elsewhere?

My general thoughts are to put it in the membership section.Naraht (talk) 15:11, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

Secrets and Rituals published on WikiLeaks

I believe it is encyclopedic that the fact that WikiLeaks published the secrets and rituals of Alpha Kappa Alpha should at least be noted here (without acutally listing the rituals). http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Alpha_Kappa_Alpha_Secret_Ritual_circa_1977 Thoughts? 166.82.169.51 (talk) 15:40, 22 August 2010 (UTC)

Women's Suffrage March 1913

Wasn't participation in the Women's Suffrage March rejected by the membership of Alpha Kappa Alpha with the resulting discord inciting the founding of Delta Sigma Theta? It is well documented that a policy at Howard during this period required that female students be chaperoned by male faculty/staff. Archived records identify that members of Deltas Sigma Theta applied for and confirmed chaperones in February of 1913 for the express purpose of marching in the demonstration; no such data identifying women of Alpha Kappa Alpha can be located or verified. As a result, the reference regarding participation of AKA's in the Suffrage March on March 3, 1913 should be deleted. Imhotep40 (talk) 05:35, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

The reference to Alpha Kappa Alpha's participation should not be deleted because at that date and time all the members of Alpha Kappa Alpha were graduates of Howard. Thus, they did not need chaperones to participate in the Women's Suffrage March.

Copyright problem removed

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File:AKAspacebanner.jpg Nominated for Deletion

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FAR/FA standards

This article was from a much earlier time and having a majority of sources that is to the subject itself would not be accepted by any contemporary standards Bumbubookworm (talk) 12:29, 11 September 2021 (UTC)

Agreed. As a specific example, Pearls of service : the legacy of America's first black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. This is undoubtedly a valuable source, but it is published by the sorority itself, and should NOT be used to demonstrate encyclopedic significance. It should instead be used to fill-in information that has been shown to be significance by independent sources (or for basic info that is uncontroversial and important).

As an example, the significance of Ida Jackson's school visits need to be contextualized as they relate to this sorority, not just in isolation. It appears the article currently fails to do this, which makes it difficult to differentiate important info from trivia or puffery. Lacking this context, if details or specific incidents have reliable, independent sources, they can be mentioned at Ida Louise Jackson.

From past experience, I am concerned that the raw quantity of information in this article may create a misleading impression when evaluated for FA status. Good editing means being willing to trim content until adequate sources can be found.

In addition, the article fails WP:TONE and WP:NPOV. Having "Bridging toward the twenty-first century" as a subsection title is a warning sign that the article is not written from a neutral point of view. Grayfell (talk) 02:01, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

Grayfell, yours is a very fair analysis. This is a decent article about a valued member of the GLO community. However, it needs unbiased editing --This from the perspective of someone who wants substantially more Greek Letter organization content across the board. It's certainly graphically interesting, and follows a decent progression of milestones. But woven into many paragraphs is too much fluff, minutiae, and outright peacock language. I'd also remark that the Alpha Kappa Alpha article isn't alone among the Divine nine that ought to address this issue. Jax MN (talk) 03:10, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

• Since this issue has not been further discussed, I have made an edit as an example of the kinds of changes that I think will be needed to restore the article to good standing. There is much more work needed, especially with finding independent sources, but hopefuly this edit demonstrates the problem somewhat. I would remind any interested editors that people who are members of this sorority will have a conflict of interest in editing this article, and should take appropriate measures to comply with Wikipedia's attempt at keeping a neutral point of view. Grayfell (talk) 05:03, 8 December 2021 (UTC)