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A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of BLACK STUDIES RESEARCH SOURCES Microfilms from Major Archival and Manuscript Collections General Editors: John H. Bracey, Jr., Sharon Harley, and August Meier TheIvyLeafLeaf 19211998 A Chronicle of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of BLACK STUDIES RESEARCH SOURCES Microfilms from Major Archival and Manuscript Collections General Editors: John H. Bracey, Jr., Sharon Harley, and August Meier The Ivy Leaf, 1921–1998 A Chronicle of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Consulting Editor Gloria Harper Dickinson Project Coordinator Randolph H. Boehm Guide Compiled by Daniel Lewis Martha N. Miers A microfilm project of UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA An Imprint of CIS 4520 East-West Highway • Bethesda, MD 20814-3389 The materials in this microform publication come from The Ivy Leaf, the official magazine of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. The ISSN assigned to the print version of The Ivy Leaf is 0021-3276. ISBN 1-55655-773-6 (printed guide only) Copyright © 2000 by University Publications of America. All rights reserved. ISBN 1-55655-773-6. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ........................................................................................................................... v Scope and Content Note ...................................................................................................... xiii Source Note ........................................................................................................................... xvii Editorial Note ......................................................................................................................... xvii Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................ xix State Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ xxi Reel Index Reel 1 1921–December 1932 (Vol. 1, No. 1–Vol. 10, No. 4) ....................................................... 1 Reel 2 March 1933–December 1939 (Vol. 11, No. 1–Vol. 17, No. 4) .......................................... 7 Reel 3 March 1940–December 1948 (Vol. 18, No. 1–Vol. 26, No. 4) .......................................... 14 Reel 4 March 1949–June 1954 (Vol. 27, No. 1–Vol. 32, No. 2) ................................................... 27 Reel 5 September 1954–June 1959 (Vol. 32, No. 3–Vol. 37, No. 2) ............................................ 36 Reel 6 September 1959–December 1965 (Vol. 37, No. 3–Vol. 41, No. 4) ................................... 43 Reel 7 February/March 1966–November 1971 (Vol. 42, No. 1–Vol. 47, No. 4) ........................... 52 Reel 8 February 1972–Summer 1977 (Vol. 48, No. 1–Vol. 53, No. 2) ......................................... 61 Reel 9 Fall 1977–Winter 1980 (Vol. 53, No. 3–Vol. 57, No. 4) ..................................................... 71 Reel 10 Spring 1981–Spring 1984 (Vol. 58, No. 1–Vol. 61, No. 1) ................................................ 77 iii Reel 11 Summer 1984–Spring 1988 (Vol. 61, No. 2–Vol. 65, No. 1) ............................................. 83 Reel 12 Summer 1988–Summer 1991 (Vol. 65, No. 2–Vol. 68, No. 2) .......................................... 90 Reel 13 Fall 1991–Winter 1994 (Vol. 68, No. 3–Vol. 72, No. 4) ..................................................... 97 Reel 14 Spring 1995–Winter 1998/1999 (Vol. 73, No. 1–Vol. 77, No. 3) ....................................... 107 Name Index .............................................................................................................................. 119 Subject Index ........................................................................................................................... 173 Geographic Index .................................................................................................................... 187 iv INTRODUCTION The founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority were scholar-activists whose reverence for the written word was embodied in the organization’s earliest statements of purpose and objectives. It is not surprising, therefore, that within eight years of incorporating, the membership inaugurated a national magazine. They called their publication The Ivy Leaf, and it has been continuously published since 1921. The Ivy Leaf microfilm collection, spanning the years 1921–1998, vividly chronicles Alpha Kappa Alpha’s rich and complex organizational history while simultaneously offering both experienced scholars and student researchers information on multiple subjects during the period between the Harlem Renaissance and the end of the twentieth century. The magazine accounts form an almost eighty-year construction of black women’s history, exploring African American social and political history, the Harlem Renaissance, women’s studies, African women, black feminism, the working-class consciousness of African American women, and the black women’s club movement. The topics covered in The Ivy Leaf run the gamut from detailed news about AKA members and chapters to creative writing and political commentary. Moreover, scholars as well as genealogical researchers will find the name, subject, and geographic indexes invaluable. These data are essential to a comprehensive and inclusive understanding of twentieth- century America. Alpha Kappa Alpha’s charter lists among the organization’s goals a commitment to “promote intellectual standards and mutual uplift of its members.” The sorority pursued these goals through a myriad of activities. Sorors sponsored programs encouraging the intellectual development of women and girls. They promoted social responsibility both as an individual ethic and as a group collaborative effort. They encouraged and practiced black economic development, including vocational training and professional development. They encouraged art appreciation and promoted the accomplishments of black artists. They strove to ensure access to education at all levels. And they promoted a comprehensive philosophy of health care. Running through all of these initiatives, however, are three overarching themes: leadership development, black feminism, and working-class consciousness.1 v Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, the oldest Greek-letter organization established by black college women, was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University. The organization was formally incorporated on January 21, 1913. The leading force for establishing the sorority was St. Louis, Missouri, native Ethel Hedgeman Lyle. Until the founding of AKA in 1908, fraternal organizations at the Howard campus were exclusively male. Lyle’s determination to use sorority organization to enrich the social and intellectual aspect of college life for women was well received; all but one of the sophomore women enrolled at Howard that year became founders of the organization. With the restrictions of the antebellum and post-Reconstruction eras still fresh in their collective memory, the 1908 Howard University student-founders knew that a few years earlier the punishment for literacy had been death. These turn-of-the-century college women also realized that many Americans fully accepted derogatory and stereotypical images of black women as wayward, immoral, and unlettered that had been promoted by the nineteenth- century journalist John Jakes. The Alpha Kappa Alpha founders knew that they were privileged; they also knew that their collegiate status made them atypical. Most importantly, they realized that the dual restrictions of race and gender would shape their lives. From its inception, sisterhood, scholarship, and service were Alpha Kappa Alpha hallmarks. The sorority has grown from one undergraduate chapter to an international organization whose membership approaches two hundred thousand women in the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Close to nine hundred chapters engage in local, national, and international service; personal growth; and social activities that emphasize high scholastic and ethical standards, unity and friendship among college women, empowerment of women and girls, and leadership development. The Ivy Leaf In 1921, the members of Alpha Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha at Howard University released a magazine entitled The Ivy. That same year, the national body, at the urging of Alpha Kappa Alpha’s second president, Loraine Richardson Green, also circulated their first publication. The Ivy Leaf quickly supplanted the local magazine and became the national organ of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. The Ivy Leaf was published annually from 1921 to 1927 and biannually for the next two years. Its current quarterly status began in March 1929. By the time the magazine began, the organization’s membership had spread throughout the United States. In the 1920s, the original founders had become “thirty-something” educators, political activists, homemakers, graduate students, and members of varied professions. Alpha Kappa Alpha vi was eight years past its 1913 incorporation and had become a two-tiered organization of student (undergraduate) and graduate members. The newly enfranchised students of 1921 had been active in the suffrage movement and were in the vanguard of those whom Alain Locke would label “The New Negroes.” Not surprisingly, they did what many of their peers did: they wrote, painted, sculpted, danced, and composed. And, as was true of many