Ethel Hedgeman Lyle
Encyclopedia
Ethel Hedgeman Lyle was a founder of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
(ΆKΆ) at Howard University in 1908. It was the first sorority founded by African-American college women. Lyle is often referred to as the "Guiding Light" for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
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, and founder and first president of Omega Omega, its first alumnae chapter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. 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
, 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."
. Throughout her elementary and high school career, Hedgemon attended public schools in St. Louis. In 1904, Hedgemon graduated from Sumner High School with honors. She gained a scholarship to Howard University
, considered the top among historically black colleges. Hedgemon demonstrated her ambition and abilities by the scholarship 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, Hedgemon entered Howard University. However, due to illness in her sophomore year, Hedgemon had to take a break from her studies. Throughout college, she belonged to Howard's choir
, YWCA, and the Christian Endeavor, as well as participating in drama
plays. She was described as lively and charming, despite her delicate health.
organization established by Black college women. Hedgeman was inspired by the accounts of Ethel Robinson, a faculty member at Howard who shared her sorority experiences at Brown University
. Hedgeman was also inspired in her efforts by her friend George Lyle, whom she had dated since high school. He was a charter member the Beta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
at Howard in 1907. To establish a sorority, Hedgeman began recruiting interested classmates during the summer of 1907. Together, the nine classmates founded Alpha Kappa Alpha on January 15, 1908. Hedgeman served as vice-president of the sorority, since she was a junior, and designed the insignia for the sorority. Starting in the 1920s, as national treasurer of Alpha Kappa Alpha for more than 20 years, Lyle (by then married) continued to guide the sorority and its growth.
in liberal arts
, Hedgemon moved to Eufaula, Oklahoma
for her first job as a teacher. She taught music in Sumner Normal School
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
, where she also taught in public schools.
On June 21, 1911, Ethel Hedgemon married George Lyle, whom she had dated in high school and college. They moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, 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, in 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 Anniversary of the Adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
Ethel Lyle also used private activities to keep her mind sharp: doing crossword puzzle
s, playing bridge
and reading. On November 28, 1950, Ethel Hedgeman Lyle died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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.
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha is the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African American college women. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle...
(ΆKΆ) at Howard University in 1908. It was the first sorority founded by African-American college women. Lyle is often referred to as the "Guiding Light" for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
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, and founder and first president of Omega Omega, its first alumnae chapter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. Lyle also founded the West Philadelphia chapter of the League of Women Voters
League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote...
and the Mothers Club in the city. In 2000, the Ethel Hedgeman Lyle Academy, a charter school in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, 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 Hedgemon was born in 1887 in St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. Throughout her elementary and high school career, Hedgemon attended public schools in St. Louis. In 1904, Hedgemon graduated from Sumner High School with honors. She gained a scholarship to Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
, considered the top among historically black colleges. Hedgemon demonstrated her ambition and abilities by the scholarship 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, Hedgemon entered Howard University. However, due to illness in her sophomore year, Hedgemon had to take a break from her studies. Throughout college, she belonged to Howard's choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
, YWCA, and the Christian Endeavor, as well as participating in drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
plays. She was described as lively and charming, despite her delicate health.
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Throughout the fall of 1907, Hedgeman was instrumental in founding Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, America's first Greek-letterGreek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
organization established by Black college women. Hedgeman was inspired by the accounts of Ethel Robinson, a faculty member at Howard who shared her sorority experiences at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
. Hedgeman was also inspired in her efforts by her friend George Lyle, whom she had dated since high school. He was a charter member the Beta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha is the first Inter-Collegiate Black Greek Letter fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations ...
at Howard in 1907. To establish a sorority, Hedgeman began recruiting interested classmates during the summer of 1907. Together, the nine classmates founded Alpha Kappa Alpha on January 15, 1908. Hedgeman served as vice-president of the sorority, since she was a junior, and designed the insignia for the sorority. Starting in the 1920s, as national treasurer of Alpha Kappa Alpha for more than 20 years, Lyle (by then married) continued to guide the sorority and its growth.
Life after Howard
After graduating in 1909 with a Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
, Hedgemon moved to Eufaula, Oklahoma
Eufaula, Oklahoma
Eufaula is a city in McIntosh County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,639 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of McIntosh County.-Geography:Eufaula is located at ....
for her first job as a teacher. She taught music in Sumner Normal School
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
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, Illinois
Centralia is a town located in Marion, Washington, Clinton, and Jefferson Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 13,032 at the 2010 census. The town was founded because it was the point where the two original branches of the Illinois Central Railroad, built in 1853, converged....
, where she also taught in public schools.
On June 21, 1911, Ethel Hedgemon married George Lyle, whom she had dated in high school and college. They moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, 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
League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote...
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, in 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 Anniversary of the Adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
Ethel Lyle also used private activities to keep her mind sharp: doing crossword puzzle
Crossword Puzzle
For the common puzzle, see CrosswordCrossword Puzzle was the second to last album made by The Partridge Family and was not one of the most popular albums. It was released in 1973 and did not produce a U.S. single. This album was finally released on CD in 2003 on Arista's BMG Heritage label...
s, playing bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
and reading. On November 28, 1950, Ethel Hedgeman Lyle died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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 Hedgemon Lyle Endowment Fund. In 1994 Lyle's granddaughters, Andrea and Muriel, were inducted as honorary members of Alpha Kappa Alpha.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.