Ethel Hedgeman Lyle | |
|---|---|
 Ethel Hedgeman Lyle, original founder of Alpha Kappa Alpha | |
| Born | February 10, 1887 |
| Died | November 28, 1950 (aged 63) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Howard University (BA) |
Ethel Hedgeman Lyle (born Ethel Hedgeman, sometimes spelled Hedgemon; February 10, 1887 – November 28, 1950) was a founder of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority (ΑΚΑ) at Howard University in 1908. It was the first sorority founded by African-American college women. Lyle is often referred to as the "Guiding Light" for the organization.
Lyle had a forty-year career as an educator and was active in public life. She was National Treasurer of the sorority for more than twenty years. Ethel Hedgeman Lyle was the first president of AKA's first alumnae chapter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lyle also founded the West Philadelphia chapter of the League of Women Voters and the Mothers Club in the city. In 2000, the Ethel Hedgeman Lyle Academy, a charter school in St. Louis, Missouri, was founded in her honor.
All these activities helped create social capital in the city in a time of rapid growth and population changes. Lyle demonstrated in her committed life how African-American sororities supported women "to create spheres of influence, authority and power within institutions that traditionally have allowed African Americans and women little formal authority and real power".[1]
- ^ Tamara L. Brown, Gregory Parks, Clarenda M. Phillips, African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2005. p. 342.