Sigma Pi Omega Chapter
Torrance, California
Chapter History
The birth of Sigma Pi Omega began with a small nucleus of Alpha Kappa Alpha women who felt the need to extend the hearts and hands of sisterhood in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County. This group of sorors began by recruiting other sorors in the Torrance and surrounding South Bay cities who felt a profound desire to be of service in their own community.
On May 19, 1990, Sigma Pi Omega became the first chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated to be chartered in the city of Torrance, California. The setting for this historical Occasion was the Sheraton Hotel in the city of Redondo Beach, California. Then Far Western Regional Director, Soror Archalene Amos Martin, officiated the ceremony.
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Charter members of Sigma Pi Omega Chapter are:
Sharon Avril, Philacter Golden Harris
Wanda Ballenger, Epistoleus Virginia Hathaway, Ivy Leaf Reporter
Ladelle Barnett Bernita King, Pecunious Grasmmateus
Diane Bradley, Hodegos Willie Marie Malone, Anti-Basileus
Barbara Brooks Clarine McDonald, Grammateus
*Ruth Day, Tamiouchos * Sheryl Raine
*R. Marie Fegan, Parliamentarian * Lili Sawyer, Basileus
Mary Flake – Fulce Rose Rollin Strong, Anti-Grmmateus
Beverlyn Hardy, Historian **Minerva Whitlow
*Ivy Beyond the Wall ** Ivy Beyond the Wall Prior to Chartering
As an interest group and an infant chapter, Sigma Pi Omega sorors developed a sisterly rapport and a dedicated commitment to service in an area experiencing tremendous international business growth and a diverse ethnic mix of people.
International History
Confined to what she called “a small circumscribed life” in the segregated and male-dominated milieu that characterized the early 1900s, Howard University co-ed Ethel Hedgeman dreamed of creating a support network for women with like minds coming together for mutual uplift, and coalescing their talents and strengths for the benefit of others. In 1908, her vision crystallized as Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first Negro Greek-letter sorority. Five years later (1913), lead incorporator Nellie Quander ensured Alpha Kappa Alpha’s perpetuity through incorporation in the District of Columbia.
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Together with eight other coeds at the mecca for Negro education, Hedgeman crafted a design that not only fostered interaction, stimulation, and ethical growth among members; but also provided hope for the masses. From the core group of nine at Howard, AKA has grown into a force of more than 290,000 collegiate members and alumnae, constituting 997 chapters in 42 states, the District of Columbia, the US Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, Germany, Liberia, South Korea, Japan, Canada, South Africa and the Middle East.
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Because they believed that Negro college women represented “the highest—more education, more enlightenment, and more of almost everything that the great mass of Negroes never had" — Hedgeman and her cohorts worked to honor what she called “an everlasting debt to raise them (Negroes) up and to make them better.” For more than a century, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sisterhood has fulfilled that obligation by becoming an indomitable force for good in their communities, state, nation, and the world.
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The Alpha Kappa Alpha program today still reflects the communal consciousness steeped in the AKA tradition and embodied in AKA’s credo, “To be supreme in service to all mankind.” Cultural awareness and social advocacy marked Alpha Kappa Alpha’s infancy, but within one year (1914) of acquiring corporate status, AKA had also made its mark on education, establishing a scholarship award. The programming was a prelude to the thousands of pioneering and enduring initiatives that eventually defined the Alpha Kappa Alpha brand.
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Through the years, Alpha Kappa Alpha has used the Sisterhood as a grand lever to raise the status of African-Americans, particularly girls and women. AKA has enriched minds and encouraged life-long learning; provided aid for the poor, the sick, and underserved; initiated social action to advance human and civil rights; worked collaboratively with other groups to maximize outreach on progressive endeavors; and continually produced leaders to continue its credo of service.
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Guided by thirty-one international presidents from Nellie M. Quander (1913-1919) to Danette Anthony Reed (2022-2026), with reinforcement from a professional headquarters staff since 1949; AKA’s corps of volunteers has instituted groundbreaking social action initiatives and social service programs that have transformed communities for the better— continually emitting progress in cities, states, the nation, and the world.
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