Michelle Obama to become honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Wife of presidential hopeful says “yes” to the pink and green
By Wendy L. Wilson


PHOTOS: See other famous AKAs»

The 100-year-old sisterhood of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (AKA), announced Sunday that Michelle Obama has accepted its invitation to become an honorary member. The sorority gathered for a weeklong celebration to commemorate its centennial anniversary in Washington, D.C.

In a press release issued Monday, AKA president Barbara A. McKinzie expressed her pride and joy of bestowing the organization's highest honor to Obama by simply stating, “It’s great!”

McKinzie shared the good news with more than 20,000 cheering members during the organization’s festivities at the Washington Convention Center.

Once the rite of induction has commenced, Obama will join more than 225,000 members in 975 chapters worldwide who are committed to the AKA mission of “sisterhood and service.” Honorary members are selected based on their outstanding achievements in their communities.

Obama’s accomplishments as an attorney, healthcare executive, community activist and change agent made her an ideal candidate. Past honorary inductees include Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys, poet and author Maya Angelou, and the late civil rights pioneers Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King.

Among the other women to be inducted at the AKA ceremony are physician and medical consultant for the hit show “Grey’s Anatomy,” Zoanne Clack, M.D.; automotive industry trailblazer Deborah S. Stewart-Parker; Rutgers University basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer; advertising industry giant Carol H. Williams; as well as environmental and political activist and the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai.

RELATED LINKS:

PHOTOS: See other famous AKAs»

Michelle Obama tells what made her fall in love with Barack Obama »

Our on-the-road talk with Barack Obama »

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What do you think


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-5 latest comments

?She supposedly signed a non exclusive agreement which means she would be able to receive this designation from other sororities. ?

That statement is false. AKA by-laws state that if you join AKA, you cannot join another sorority (the other sororitiesy be the same but I don?t know for sure). However, that does not mean that you cannot align yourself with another sorority or organization. Michelle did not sign anything to that affect. We love Michelle Obama but we aren't going to change our by-lawsor make that excep

-Andrea

I am a woman of AKA and I was at the convention. No, Michelle was not inducted that week during the already scheduled induction ceremony that Tuesday for our other honorary members. Michelle Obama accepted the invitation to join AKA and will be inducted at a later date. The ?when and where? will most likely not be released before hand but when it does happen it will be posted on the AKA national website. I think it is AWESOME but I?m an AKA! I?ve been reading other blogs and some of the other Gregive us a ?congratul

-Lisa

As a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha congratulations to Michelle on accepting the invitation into the sisterhood. While I think her timing, may cause a little flack for her hubby (but then doesn't everything), if it was in her heart and she truly wanted to do it then more power to her. I wish her the best as she enjoys our wonderful sisterhood.

Also Just to clarify...Princeton DOES have an AKA Chapter (a city chapter that is not affiliated with the university) which was not chartered until some years AFTER Michelle's gr

-Dr. J9

Now that the AKA convention is over, can I hear from someone who actually saw Michelle Obama get pinned as an AKA? I heard she was not even at the convention, is this true?

-Anonymous

Congratulations to Michelle, I believe she probably has always wanted to be an AKA. For those saying this will divide black women and cost votes, I urge you to step out of the Greek matrix for crying out loud. For this to sway any member of DST, SGRho orZeta would be silly as Michelle is not running for office, OBAMA is. But since I know so many women in each of these great orgs I doubt they would submit to such foolishness. Congrats to Michelle and to AKA!

-The Voice of ReasON