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[[caption]] Leroy Jeffries, Ersa Posten, Stan Scott [[/caption]]

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[[caption]] Since 1975, reading has been a part of Alpha Kappa Alpha's program foci. Here, Soror Amy J. McLester, Camden, S.C., gives instructions to two of her students.
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While her heritage is Black, Alpha Kappa Alpha has not remained exclusive; membership is open to women of all races, creeds and color who embrace high ethical and scholastic standards and who are pursuing or have completed a course to study leading to a degree at an accredited university or college.

Alpha Kappa Alpha also offers honorary membership to women who have excelled in their fields of endeavor. Among the leaders who have been inducted as honorary members are Representative Cardiss Collins, Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Judge Constance Baker Motley, Coretta Scott King, and Ella Fitzgerald.

Impact

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was organized as a service organization. To that end, she has continuously etched her footprints in the sands of time. From making monetary donations to varied agencies involved in social action to volunteering woman-hours to effect social change, Alpha Kappa Alpha's contributions have been felt.

Among the innumerable imprints which Alpha Kappa Alpha has made are the following:
1935 Waged a war on diphtheria and smallpox and improved nutritional and dental practices by launching the first mobile health clinic (The Mississippi Health Project) in the United States.

1938 Initiated action to assure decent living conditions, permanent jobs and a voice in determining the conditions under which Blacks lived and worked by organizing the first civil rights lobby.

1965 Mounted an attack on poverty, bigotry and ignorance by becoming the first predominantly Black organization to acquire a contract to operate a Job Corps Center (Cleveland).

1972 Financed the purchase of Martin Luther King's birthplace by contributing $20,000 to the Martin Luther King Center for Social Change.

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[[caption]] Congresswoman Cardiss Collins Banquet Speaker [[/caption]]

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[[caption]] During odd years, 30 high school students from throughout the U.S., Virgin Islands, Bahamas, and West Africa participate in a tour of selected sections of the U.S. In 1979, this Alpha Kappa Alpha tour, which focused on Black American historical landmarks, included Eastern and Southern States. Here, the participants visit the monument of Booker t. Washington. [[/caption]]

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