Ethel Hedgeman Lyle

Ethel Hedgeman Lyle (born Ethel Hedgemon, February 10, 1887 - November 28, 1950) was a founder of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (ΆKΆ) 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 Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. 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, and founder and first president of Omega Omega, its 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...