Alpha Kappa Alpha Just Dedicated A Highway in Eufaula, Ok In Honor Of Founder Ethel Hedgeman Lyle

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. dedicated a highway in Eufaula, Oklahoma in honor of their founder Ethel Hedgeman Lyle today.

Eufaula, Oklahoma has special meaning to the women of Alpha Kappa Alpha because it was the first place Ethel Hedgeman Lyle went after graduating in 1909 with a Bachelor of Arts in liberal arts from Howard University.  She moved there for her first job as a teacher and taught music in Sumner Normal School between 1909 and 1910. While she had made history by founding the first Black sorority in the nation, she made history again as 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.

The highway dedication was attended by AKAs from all over including the sorority’s International President, Dorothy Buckhanan Wilson.