Alpha Kappa Alpha members live in communities around the globe and are engaged in countless professions. They are fighters for civil and human rights…college presidents, deans, rural and urban teachers…lawyers, judges, high-ranking government officials and legislators…captains of industry and entrepreneurs…poets, musicians, entertainers and artists…engineers, accountants, architects and physicians. They are role models.

Many have made outstanding achievements that set them apart in their communities and careers and make them worthy of recognition with the Sorority’s highest honor—honorary membership.

Jane Addams, Founder of Chicago’s Hull House

Cecilia Nabrit Adkins, 1st female to oversee the Protestant Church-owned Publishers Association

Cheryl Albury, Magistrate, Bahamas

Joyce London Alexander, 1st Black female Chief Judge of any Massachusetts court; 1st Black female U.S. Magistrate Judge

Ethel Alpenfels, Anthropologist

Elena Diaz-Verson Amos, 1st president of the Latin American Studies Club

Lauren Anderson, 1st African American principal dancer in the Houston Ballet

Marian Anderson, Opera star; concert artist

Maya Angelou, Poet; author; filmmaker

Joan Bernard Armstrong, Appeals judge, New Orleans

Elise McDougald Ayer, Vocational education pioneer

(Dame) Nita Barrow, Barbados U.N. representative

Mary L. Bell, 1st Black radio station owner-operator in Detroit

Keva Marie Bethel, 1st female Principal, College of the Bahamas

Charlotte Hawkins Brown, President of Palmer Memorial Institute; 1st African American appointed to National YWCA Board

Gayleatha B. Brown, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Benin (West Africa)

Sara N. Brown, Physician; 1st female alumna trustee of Howard University

Dorothy Brunson, 1st African American female to purchase a radio station

Rosetta Burke, 1st female Assistant Adjutant General in New York State and of the Army National Guard

Margaret Burroughs, Principal founder of Chicago’s DuSable Museum of African American History

Margaret Busby, UK's 1st Black female book publisher; invested by Queen Elizabeth II into the Order of the British Empire

Bebe Moore Campbell, Author

Johnnie Rebecca Carr, Civil rights activist

Emma C. Chappell, 1st African American female founder of a commercial bank in the U.S.

Suzette Charles, Former Miss America

June Jackson Christmas, Founder Harlem Rehabilitation Center; one of the 1st African American Vassar College graduates

Zoanne Clack, MD, MPH, FACEP, medical consultant, writer

Emma Clarissa Clement, U.S. Mother of the year

Carol Thompson Cole, Several high-ranking positions in the District of Columbia

Olivia Cole, Actress

Cardiss Collins, Illinois Congresswoman

Maude Cuney-Hare, Pianist; lecturer; writer

Anna A. Curry, Librarian; literacy advocate

Julie Dash, Filmmaker; 1st Black female to have a full-length general theatrical release in the U.S.

Alice Coachman Davis, 1st African American female to win an Olympic gold medal; 1st African American to win a gold medal in track & field

Belva Davis, 1st African American female TV reporter on the West Coast

Annie (Bessie) Delaney, 2nd African American female licensed to practice dentistry in New York having earned a D.D.S.

Sarah (Sadie) Delaney, 1st African American to teach domestic science at the high school level

Suzanne de Passe, Emmy Award-winning producer

Kathryn Dickerson, 1st female to receive Chicago Urban League "Man of the Year" citation

Virginia Foster Durr, Civil rights activist

Edith Finlayson, Nurse; community service civic leader

Ella Fitzgerald, Jazz singer

Valada S. Flewellyn, Poet; author

Vonetta Jeffreys Flowers, 1st African American female to win a Winter Olympics gold medal

Meta Vaux Warrick-Fuller, Artist; sculptor

Dr. Helen D. Gayle, President-CEO of CARE, USA

Bettiann Gardner, 1st African American female part-owner of an NBA team; co-founder, Soft Sheen Products

Antoinette Garnes, Concert singer; musician

Zina Garrison, Olympic gold medalist, tennis

Marilyn Hughes Gatson, Assistant Surgeon General; pediatrician

Marla Gibbs, Actress

Patricia P. Gibson, Businesswoman; 1st female to receive William F. Nabors Marketer of the Year Award

Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Artist; illustrator

Sarah Moore Greene, Educator; activist

Elinor Guggenheimer, City Commissioner; humanitarian; founder of Women's Forum

Ethel H. Hall, VP Alabama State Board of Education

Hazel L. Harrison, Pianist; concert artist

Carmen de Lavallade Holder, Dancer; actress; choreographer

Chamique Holdsclaw, WNBA player

Catherine L. Hughes, CEO/Owner, Radio One

Jane Edna Hunter, Nurse; social advocate; founder-director of Cleveland's Phyllis Wheatley Association & House

Addie D. Waites Hunton, A founder of the National Association of Colored Women

Caterina Jarboro, Opera singer

Mae Jemison, 1st first Black female astronaut

Virginia Johnson, Prima ballerina

Sheila C. Johnson, Entrepreneur; philanthropist

Alicia Keys, Grammy Award-winning singer-musician

Ann Sunsteen Kheel, Civic leader; philanthropist

Coretta Scott King, Concert artist; activist

Gladys Knight, Grammy Award-winning singer; actress

Bertina Lampkin, Circuit court judge

Julia Lathrop, 1st Children's Bureau director

Margaret M. Lawrence, Child psychiatrist; psychoanalyst

Wilhelmina Lawrence, A.M.E. Church Women's Missionary Society president

Elma Lewis, Teacher; administrator

Muriel Lyle-Smith, TV producer; granddaughter of founding member Ethel Hedgeman Lyle

Andrea Lyle-Wilson, Writer; manager; granddaughter of founding member Ethel Hedgeman Lyle

Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai, Environmentalist; political activist; Nobel Peace Prize winner

Julia Cooper Mack, Senior judge, District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Jewell Jackson McCabe, Businesswoman; founder, National Coalition of 100 Black Women

Enolia P. McMillan, Educator; activist

Delores Parker Morgan, Soloist; pianist

Michelle Miller Morial, Journalist

Jessie Bryant Mosley, Founder-director Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center

Constance Baker Motley, Federal Judge

Nichelle Nichols, Actress; NASA representative

JoMarie Payton Noble, Actress

Jessye Norman, Opera soprano

Edith Mai Padmore, 1st female cabinet member, Republic of Liberia

Vijaya L. Pandit, 1st female & 1st Asian elected President of U.N. General Assembly

Lillian Rogers Parks, White House seamstress; author

Rosa Parks, Mother of the civil rights movement

Mary E. Peabody, Civil & human rights worker

Lois Marion Roselyn Perinchief, 1st female of color in Bermuda to qualify as a horologist

Ernesta Procope, President of 1st Black-owned business on Wall Street

M. Athalie Range, Human Affairs Secretary, Florida

Emma Sarah Ransom, Educator; social worker; activist

Cleo Parker Robinson, Executive Artistic Director, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theater

Eleanor Roosevelt, Humanitarian; former First Lady of the U.S.

Ntozake Shange, Playwright; author

Ruth Simmons, 1st African American to helm one of the Seven Sister colleges

Sheila Makate Sisulu, South African Ambassador to the U.S.

Jada Pinkett Smith, Actress

Edith G. Ssempala, Uganda Ambassador to the U.S.

Alma G. Stallworth, Michigan State representative

Deborah Stewart-Parker, President-CEO, International Business Solutions, Inc.

C. Vivian Stringer, Rutgers University women's basketball coach

Lou Nelle Sutton, Texas State representative

Sylvia Ross Talbot, Vice moderator of World Council of Churches

Marietta Tree, 1st U.S. female ambassador to the U.N.; founder, Harlem's Syndenham Hospital

C. Delores Tucker, Secretary of State, Pennsylvania; 1st Black and 2nd female named to Cabinet-level post in the state

Debbye Turner, Veterinarian; former Miss America

(Madame) Leah Tutu, Director, Domestic Workers' & Employees Project

Jessie L. Vann, Pittsburgh Courier publisher

Iyanla Vanzant, Attorney; author

Laura Wheeling Waring, Artist; painter; writer

Delores D. Wharton, Corporate director; arts advocate

Lynn Whitfield, Emmy Award-winning actress

Carol H. Williams, Founder-President, Carol H. Williams Advertising