Ethel Hedgeman Lyle

Founder of Alpha Kappa Alpha (1887–1950)

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 is the first president of aka , 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 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".

Ethel Hedgeman was born in 1887 in St. Louis, Missouri. Throughout her educational career, Hedgeman attended public schools in St. Louis. In 1904, Hedgeman graduated from Sumner High School with honors. She was the first student from Sumner to receive a scholarship to Howard University, a highly ranked historically black college. Hedgeman went to Howard at a time when only one in three hundred African Americans and 5% of whites of eligible age attended any college. In 1904, Hedgeman enrolled at Howard University. However, due to illness in her sophomore year, Hedgeman had to take a break from her studies. Throughout college, she belonged to Howard's choir, YWCA, and the Christian Endeavor, as well as participating in drama plays. She was described as lively and charming, despite her delicate health.

Hedgeman was instrumental in founding Alpha Kappa Alpha, America's first Greek letter organization established by Black college women. She was inspired by the accounts of Miss Ethel Tremaine Robinson, a faculty member at Howard who shared her sorority experiences at Brown University. To establish the sorority, Hedgeman began recruiting interested classmates in the beginning of 1907. Hedgeman and eight other classmates founded Alpha Kappa Alpha on January 15, 1908. Hedgeman served as vice president of the sorority, and designed the insignia for the sorority.

After graduating in 1909 with a Bachelor of Arts in liberal arts, Hedgeman moved to Eufaula, Oklahoma for her first job as a teacher. Lyle's leadership skills were called on in 1937, when the Mayor of Philadelphia appointed her to chair the Committee of 100 Women, organized to plan the Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the Adoption of the U. S. Constitution.

The spirit of AKA hovering over us and our little deeds and acts—smoothing here, covering there, broadening younger, and making us do our best to think, to act, up to the highest in us. It is a force bigger than we are, stronger than we are, and it compels us to climb to the heights where it dwells.|Ethel Hedgeman Lyle|
Lyle received many accolades for her achievements. In honor of her role as founder of AKA, in 1926 Alpha Kappa Alpha designated her Honorary Basileus, the only member with that title.