Bernice Irene Sumlin (November 29, 1926 – January 11, 2018) was an American educator. She became the nineteenth international president of the

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...

sorority in 1974. She was a national vice president of the National Council of Negro Women.

Early life

Berniece Irene Sumlin was born in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of Wright R. Sumlin and Gussie Bingham Sumlin. She graduated from Dunbar High School, and from Wilberforce College in 1948, and earned a master's degree in education administration at Miami University in 1951. She became a member of

in 1946, and continued working with the sorority for the rest of her life.

Career

Sumlin was a teacher, guidance counselor, special education coordinator, and high school principal in the

Dayton Public Schools Dayton Public Schools is the school district in the U.S. state of Ohio that serves Dayton, Ohio. The district covers 49 square miles. Dayton Public Schools (DPS) is the 12th largest PreK-12 district in the state, with a 2017–2018 enrollment o ...

. In 1961, she helped organize the Westwood neighborhood of Dayton against a zoning variance for a storage yard. From 1970 until she retired in 1980, she was principal of an alternative high school for pregnant students. She was active in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and served on the board of directors at Unity Bank. After several regional and national leadership roles, Sumlin was elected the nineteenth international president of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority in 1974, and completed her term in 1978. She used her leadership position to focus the organization on literacy and education causes. In 1975 Sumlin represented the sorority at International Women's Year events in Washington, D.C., and Mexico City. In 1977, she was named one of Dayton's Top Ten Women. She later received the sorority's Woman of the Decade Award. In 1997 Sumlin gave a presentation at the Fourth African American Summit in Harare, Zimbabwe. She was also a national vice president of the National Council of Negro Women, and a fundraiser and organizer for the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

Personal life

Sumlin died in 2018, aged 91 years, in a nursing home in Dayton.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sumlin, Bernice I. 1926 births 2018 deaths People from Dayton, Ohio American women educators Alpha Kappa Alpha presidents Wilberforce University alumni Miami University alumni 20th-century African-American educators 20th-century American educators American educators 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women