Nellie Pratt Russell (1890-1979)

S-92

Nellie Pratt Russell, educator, attended Howard University and was one of six incorporators of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the first Greek letter organization founded by African American women. The sorority, established in 1908, was incorporated in Jan. 1913, preserving its traditions and securing its right to charter new chapters. In 1931 Russell earned a Master of Arts degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. For about 50 years, she taught English at the Saint Paul Normal and Industrial School (later Saint Paul's College), where she helped found Gamma Lambda Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha. Russell led women’s organizations in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia.

Department of Historic Resources, 2016

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

www.aka1908.com Norfolk Journal and Guide, 13 Sep. 1930, 26 Dec. 1931, 7 Aug. 1937, 11 June 1938, 12 Aug. 1939, 9 Aug. 1941, 8 Aug. 1942, 3 Mar. 1951, 10 Jul. 1954, 7 Sep. 1957, 31 Dec. 1966, 21 Feb. 1959, 23 Jan. 1971, 21 Dec. 1979. Washington Post, 1 June 1911. Alpha Kappa Alpha incorporation document, Washington, D.C. Lawrence C. Ross Jr., The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities (Kensington Publishing Corp., 2000). Tamara L. Brown, Gregory S. Parks, and Clarenda M. Phillips, eds., African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2005). Gregory S. Parks, ed., Black Greek-Letter Organizations in the Twenty-first Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2008). Earnestine McNealey, The Pearls of Alpha Kappa Alpha: A History of America’s First Black Sorority (Chicago, 2010). Lottye W. Russell, “Reflections on the Life of Soror Nellie Pratt Russell, Incorporator,” Ivy Leaf, (Spring 1980). Marjorie Parker, Past is Prologue: the History of Alpha Kappa Alpha, 1908-1999 (Alpha Kappa Alpha, 1999). Marjorie Parker, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, 1908-1958 (Alpha Kappa Alpha, 1958). Who’s Who in Colored America (1950).