Copyright 2014. International Region - Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. 

The International Region of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated was established in 1957 with the chartering of Eta Beta Omega Chapter in Monrovia, Liberia. A group led by Mrs. Anne E. Cooper petitioned the 1954 Boule for a charter.  Mrs. Cooper, the first dean of the College of Liberia, had attended Howard University in 1917 and was initiated in Alpha Chapter.  Supreme Basileus Arnetta G. Wallace chartered the chapter in Liberia and Mrs. Cooper was elected Basileus.

Alpha Kappa Alpha celebrated her 50th Anniversary in 1958 and elected Dr. Marjorie Holloman Parker as the new Supreme Basileus.  Sorors participating in the Golden Jubilee post-Boule tour went with Dr. Parker to Europe and Africa and visited with the Sorors in Liberia before traveling on to Ghana and Nigeria.  It was a heady time as Ghana and Guinea were newly independent and liberation was on the minds of people of African descent all over the world.

With the change in Liberia’s government in 1981, and the subsequent years of Civil War, Eta Beta Omega Chapter became inactive. Soror Cooper became on Ivy Beyond the Wall in January 1987 while living in the United States in exile.  Many others were exiled in the USA as well.  Notwithstanding the political upheavals, Eta Beta Omega women achieved distinction in the global arena.  Soror Angie Brooks (1969) was the first African woman to lead the UN General Assembly and Liberian President Soror Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (2006) was the first woman to be elected chief of state on the African continent.

The region did not add a second chapter until 1964 when Eta Psi Omega Chapter was chartered in Nassau, Bahamas during the presidency of Dr. Julia Brogden Purnell.  Subsequently, Mu Gamma Omega Chapter in the US Virgin Islands and Mu Psi Omega Chapter in Germany were chartered in 1978 and 1979 respectively under the leaderships of the 19th Supreme Basileus Bernice I. Sumlin and 20th Supreme Basileus Dr. Barbara Kinard Phillips.  The 21st Supreme Basileus Faye B. Bryant established Pi Upsilon Omega Chapter in Freeport, Grand Bahamas in 1987.

22nd Supreme Basileus, Janet Jones Ballard adopted a national program theme of “Service With A Global Perspective” and the sorority experienced it’s most aggressive years of international expansion and outreach during that time.  Rho Nu Omega Chapter, Seoul Korea (1988), Sigma Theta Omega Chapter of St. Thomas /St. John USVI, (1990) and Sigma Xi Omega Chapter, Bermuda (1990) were all chartered during Supreme Basileus Ballard’s tenure. Furthermore, in 1988, Soror Ballard initiated Barbadian Honorary Soror Dame Nita Barrow, who had served as Secretary General for the Nairobi, Kenya UN Women’s Conference in 1986, and UK General Members MP Diane Abbott and Public Relations firm owner Jenni Francis.

Soror Ballard also led an Alpha Kappa Alpha delegation to the 1986 UN International Women’s Conference and held the first Alpha Kappa Alpha Leadership Conferences outside of the Continental US in 1986 (Montego Bay, Jamaica) and 1988 (Freeport, Grand Bahamas).  The AKA/Africare “Adopt a Village” partnership grew during this time and became a model for other African American fraternal and civic organizations.

Under the leadership of Mary Shy Scott, the 23rd Supreme Basileus, the International Region became the tenth Legislative Region of the sorority in 1990 by Boule vote and Dr. Bella G. Parker was the first appointed International Regional Director.  Before that time, the Supreme Basileus had also served as the International Regional Director.  In 1992, Soror Scott also chartered Tau Sigma Omega in London, England.

In May 1996, the Eva Evans administration chartered the first two undergraduate chapters in the region on campuses of the University of the Virgin Islands; Rho Xi Chapter on St. Croix and on Rho Omicron Chapter on St. Thomas.  Dr. Phyllis Robinson, the region’s Second appointed Regional Director oversaw these chartering ceremonies which were witnessed by sitting Directorate members and visiting sorors from chapters throughout the United States.

Alpha Kappa Alpha entered a partnership with Dr. Leon Sullivan’s IFESH during the Norma Solomon White administration.  The sorority built 10 schools in post-apartheid South Africa and Mrs. White led a post-Boule tour to South Africa in 2000 and another small delegation to dedicate the schools in May of 2002.  The White administration also oversaw the 3rd International Regional Director Wilma Holmes Tootle’s 2000 chartering of Alpha Kappa Alpha’s second Asian chapter, Phi Omicron Omega in Okinawa Japan.  In 2006, during the tenure of 26th Supreme Basileus Linda Marie White, Mrs. Nadine Bonds, the 4th International Regional Director chartered Psi Beta Omega in Tokyo, Japan, thus bringing to three the number of Asian chapters.  Tau Sigma Omega Chapter, London, England was also dissolved in 2006 by vote of the Detroit, Michigan Boule.

In 2007, during the tenure of Centennial Supreme Basileus Barbara A. McKinzie, Psi Delta Omega Chapter was chartered in Ontario, Canada and Eta Beta Omega Chapter, Monrovia, Liberia was reactivated.

The International Region celebrated its Golden Jubilee July 11, 2008 at the International Regional Conference in Washington, D.C. while the sorority continued its 100th Anniversary celebrations at the (63rd) Centennial Boule.

The International Region added a third undergraduate chapter in 2012 with the chartering of Tau Nu Chapter at the College of the Bahamas – Nassau Campus under 28th Supreme Basileus Attorney Carolyn House Stewart and the 7th appointed International Regional Director, Evelyn Sample-Oates.  The African continent also experienced expansion with the addition of Psi Tau Omega Chapter in Johannesburg in 2013.

At the 66th Boule held in Charlotte, North Carolina, Supreme Basileus Dorothy Buckhanan Wilson made history again for the International Region with the appointment of Attorney Gizette L. Thomas as the International Regional Director.  Attorney Thomas is the first International Regional Director, from the International Region to serve in this leadership role.  Another historic appointment made by Supreme Basileus Buckhanan Wilson is Attorney Mavis Johnson-Collie of Nassau, Bahamas who serves as the Chairman of the International Archives Committee, the first International Region soror to serve as Chairman of an International Committee.

The International Region is currently comprised of 12 Graduate Chapters, 3 Undergraduate Chapters and over 300 sorors.  

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