Actress Phylicia Rashad has narrated a new documentary that tells the story of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the first Black Greek-lettered organization for women in 1908.
Twenty Pearls details the sorority’s illustrious history, including the nine women who founded the organization while attending Howard University.
Rashad, who was initiated into the Alpha chapter at Howard in 1968 at Howard University, told CNN, “When you pledge a fraternity or a sorority, you learn the names of the founders and the year in which it was founded. But the detailed history that’s in this documentary, we did not learn that as pledgees.”
Twenty Pearls includes Rashad’s narration and showcases the many well-known members of the sorority that included Coretta Scott King, Mae C. Jemison, the first Black female astronaut; poet Maya Angelou, Comedian Wanda Sykes, journalist Yamiche Alcindor, author, Toni Morrison and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Vice President Harris was just one of the members interviewed for the documentary by filmmaker Deborah Riley Draper.
Draper is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. The filmmaker initiated at Florida State University. She told The Seattle Medium that she wanted to use her filmmaking gift to “elevate” the stories of these Black women who have had such an impact on American life and culture.
“The reach of Alpha Kappa Alpha into American society is at every level. When you get a mammogram, get a scholarship to further your education, attend an HBCU, among many other good things, the women of Alpha Kappa Alpha have had something to do with it. It’s an honor to elevate the stories of Black women who have influenced American society using the tools I know and love,” Draper said.
The woman continued to say that the moment was right for telling this story, given a renewed era of civil rights activism for which she said the organization played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement.
With Vice President Harris, who was also initiated into the Alpha chapter at Howard, representing the sorority’s 300,000 members and 1,024 chapters worldwide in the second most powerful position in the United States, there was a need to tell the history now.
“This story talks about the role that a group of college women, who were still finding their way in the world, yet were intelligent enough to understand that the world was bigger than them and they could do something concrete to make it better for everyone.”
Twenty Pearls is the first feature-length documentary about a Black sorority.
