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 Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

in 1908. It was the first sorority founded by

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

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 Omega Omega, its first alumnae chapter in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. 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 St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, 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".

Early life

Ethel Hedgeman was born in 1887 in

. 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

, 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 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 A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

, and the Christian Endeavor, as well as participating in

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

plays. She was described as lively and charming, despite her delicate health."A Visionary Woman": Ethel Hedgeman Lyle
Accessed November 18, 2007.

Career

Alpha Kappa Alpha

Hedgeman was instrumental in founding Alpha Kappa Alpha, America's first Greek-letter organization established by

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

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.Lawrence C. Ross, Jr., ''The Divine Nine: The History of African-American Fraternities and Sororities.''New York: Kensington Publishing Corporation, 2001, p. 166.To establish the sorority, Hedgeman began recruiting interested classmates in the beginning of 1907.McNealey 2006, op. cit., p. 19. Hedgeman and eight other classmates founded Alpha Kappa Alpha on January 15, 1908.McNealey 2006, op. cit., p. 37. Hedgeman served as vice-president of the sorority, and designed the insignia for the sorority.

Education

After graduating in 1909 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

, Hedgeman moved to

Eufaula, Oklahoma Eufaula is a city and county seat of McIntosh County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,813 at the 2010 census, an increase of 6.6 percent from 2,639 in 2000. Eufaula is in the southern part of the county, north of McAlester and ...

for her first job as a teacher. She taught music in Sumner

Normal School A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

between 1909 and 1910. She was the first African-American female college graduate to teach in a normal school in Oklahoma and the first to earn a Teacher's Life Certificate from the Oklahoma State Department of Education. In 1910, Hedgeman moved to

Centralia, Illinois Centralia is a city in Clinton, Jefferson, Marion, and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Illinois with the largest portion in Marion County. The city is the largest in three of the counties; Clinton, Marion, and Washington, but is not a ...

, where she also taught in public schools. On June 21, 1911, Ethel Hedgeman married George Lyle, whom she had dated in high school and college. They moved to

, where Ethel gave birth to George, III, her only child. George Lyle also worked as a teacher, considered by both to be a critical profession for the future of African Americans. Ethel continued her education career in Philadelphia by teaching English at the Thomas Purham School and Chester A. Arthur School. She retired in 1948, after almost forty years of teaching generations of students. In addition to her work as an educator, Lyle was active in public life. She helped found civic institutions such as the West Philadelphia League of Women Voters and the Mother's Club of the city. In addition Lyle was a member of the Republican Women's Committee of Ward 40 and active in her church. As national treasurer of Alpha Kappa Alpha from 1923 to 1946, Lyle helped lead the sorority through years of rapid social change, including the Great Migration of more than a million African Americans from the South to the North, the Depression and challenges of World War II. In Philadelphia 1926 she chartered and was the first president of Omega Omega, the first alumnae chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha in Philadelphia. (Eighty years old and with 400 members in the 21st century, the Omega Omega chapter continues to provide services to women and children in the city.) 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 An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saint ...

Anniversary of the Adoption of the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...

Death

On November 28, 1950, Lyle died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."Ethel Hedgeman Lyle.
Beta Upsilon Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated
Accessed on June 7, 2007.

Honors

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. In 1951, the sorority established the ''Ethel Hedgeman Lyle Endowment Fund''. In 1994 Lyle's granddaughters, Andrea Lyle-Wilson and Muriel Lyle-Smith, were inducted as honorary members of Alpha Kappa Alpha. In 2018, Lyle’s great-great granddaughter, and Lyle-Smith's granddaughter, Chantél Harris, was inducted as an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha. In 2020, Lyle's great-great granddaughter, and Lyle-Wilson's granddaughter, Scierra Hall, was initiated as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, Alpha Chapter, at Howard University. In Lyle's birthplace of St. Louis, members of Omicron Theta Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, set up a charter school, named Ethel Hedgeman Lyle Academy in her honor. It has expanded since 2000 to cover grades K-10 (as of 2005), serving several hundred children.Ethel Hedgeman Lyle Academy
Accessed June 7, 2007.

References

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External links

Honoring the Past: Alpha Kappa Alpha Founders

Centennial Celebration: Founders

Ethel Hedgeman Lyle Academy

Ethel Hedgeman Lyle at Find a Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyle, Ethel Hedgeman 1887 births 1950 deaths Howard University alumni People from St. Louis Alpha Kappa Alpha founders 20th-century American educators Educators from Missouri 20th-century American women educators Sumner High School (St. Louis) alumni 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American educators