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Psi Omega Celebrates 97 Years of

Phenomenal Dimensions in Sisterhood and Service

Since 1926

Lucy Miller Mitchell

Lois Johns Allen

Dr. Jessie Gideon Garnett

Clara Burrill Bruce, Esq.

Alice Porter Turner Walton

Beatrice Burson Miller

Dr. Edna Robinson Brown

PSI OMEGA CHAPTER HISTORY

Psi Omega is the oldest graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.  in New England. In 1926, the chapter was chartered at the Phillips Brooks House on the campus of Harvard University by Regional Director Nadine Wright Goodman, a teacher in the Cambridge Public Schools.

The following seven women came together that year as sorority sisters in the spirit of sisterhood, scholarship and service:

  • Lois Johns Allen - Howard University graduate (1914), and wife of the Secretary of The Boston Urban League

     

  • Edna Robinson Brown – Dentist and graduate of Columbia University. She was the first black woman to practice dentistry in Cambridge.

     

  • Clara Burrill Bruce – Attorney and graduate of Boston University Law School. She was the first black person in the nation to serve as Editor-in-Chief of a law review (Boston University Law Review, 1925), the first black woman (and fourth black person) in the nation elected to a law review (Boston University Law Review, 1924), and the second black woman admitted to the Massachusetts Bar

     

  • Jessie Gideon Garnett – Dentist and a graduate of Tufts College. She was the first black woman graduate of Tufts Dental School (1919), and the first black female dentist in Boston

     

  • Beatrice Burson Miller - Howard University graduate and initiate of Alpha Chapter at Howard University. She was the sister-in-law of Lucy Miller Mitchell and became the first President of Psi Omega Chapter

 

  • Lucy Miller Mitchell – Educator and graduate of Talladega College (1922) with a certificate from the Nursery Training School,  and a national pioneer in child care services

 

  • Alice Porter Turner Walton – Journalist at the Boston Chronicle and a graduate of Howard University (1916)

 

Psi Omega Chapter mentors and supervises three undergraduate sorority chapters in the Boston Metropolitan Area: Epsilon Chapter, a city-wide chapter, chartered in 1924; Iota Gamma Chapter chartered in 1974 at Northeastern University; and Lambda Upsilon Chapter chartered in 1977 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for coeds matriculating MIT, Harvard University, and Wellesley College. In August 2005, the members of Psi Omega Chapter established The Boston Pearl Foundation, Inc., a 501 (c) 3 non-profit entity, as a vehicle to complement the Chapter's initiatives to expand the scope of scholarly assistance and community enrichment available in the Boston area.

Psi Omega Chapter is the oldest graduate chapter of the sorority within the New England states.

For 97 years, Psi Omega Chapter has maintained an ongoing commitment to promote leadership development among Black women, support scholarship awards to promising young women and to provide in-kind and financial assistance to a number of organizations important to the welfare of Black people.  The Psi Omega Debutante Program, Along with our International Programs foster the development of young women by providing mentoring, educational services and community service opportunities.

Under the sorority's international programs, Psi Omega Chapter has donated backpacks filled with school supplies to students and Cleaned up and refreshed community playgrounds. In support of community elders, Psi Omega, in partnership with the Edgar P. Benjamin Health Care Center, located in Roxbury, Massachusetts, periodically renovates residential rooms for residents of the facility. The Chapter has led the IVY AKAdemy, the Teen Mothers Project, the Emerging Young Leaders, and the A.S.C.E.N.D. program to enhance young women and girls. 

Psi Omega organized, in partnership with several local Masonic organizations, a child identification program to promote child safety and recovery in Boston.  The chapter has sponsored programming and donated books to promote childhood reading at the Dudley Branch of the Boston Public Library. Psi Omega has supported national initiatives such as Sickle Cell Anemia Research, the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Alliance, Alzheimer's Association, American Heart Association, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Breast Cancer Awareness and Research, and an African Village Development Program.

 

Implementing the exciting international programs of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® is incredibly important to Psi Omega Chapter. Service and sisterhood have been the cornerstone of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® since 1908. With the theme Soaring to Greater Heights of Service and Sisterhood, the 2022-2026 administration seeks to build upon Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s rich legacy of service by galvanizing our sisterhood of more than 120,000 active members to lead on the front lines of change, education, and advocacy.

This administration has six initiatives. Strengthen Our Sisterhood will serve as the administration’s “Foundation Initiative” as we strengthen our bonds to support our service mission.

The remaining five initiatives will serve as the “Program Initiatives” which include:

  • Empower Our Families

  • Build Our Economic Wealth

  • Enhance Our Environment

  • Advocate for Social Justice

  • Uplift Our Local Community

These initiatives are designed to improve the lives of those we serve. We will work collaboratively to maximize our outreach on progressive endeavors and consistently produce leaders who will advance our credo of service.

Volunteers and staff of the Mississippi Health Project in 1935.

Volunteers and staff of the Mississippi Health Project in 1935.

Members at the North Atlantic Regional Conference in the 1930's.

1947 United Nation's Dance

1959 United Nation's Dance

First Job Corp Enrollee Leaves, June 1965

Harvest Ball at the Hampshire House, November, 1961.

Metropolitan Boston Alumnae Chapter, 1970's.

Psi Omega Chapter mentors and supervise three undergraduate sorority chapters in the Boston Metropolitan Area: Epsilon Chapter, a city-wide chapter chapter chartered in 1924; Iota Gamma Chapter chartered in 1974 at Northeastern University; and Lambda Upsilon Chapter chartered in 1977 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for coeds matriculating MIT, Harvard University, and Wellesley College.  In August 2005, the members of Psi Omega Chapter established The Boston Pearl Foundation, Inc., a 501 (c) 3 non-profit entity, as a vehicle to complement the Chapter's initiatives to expand the scope of scholarly assistance and community enrichment available in the Boston area.

Alpha Kappa Alpha women are blazing trails throughout the Boston Metropolitan Area, achieving great heights in the disciplines of medicine, law, banking and finance, science, and the Arts. Notable members in the area include Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Judge Judith Nelson Dilday, Judge Marie Jackson, Carmen Fields, Judge Geraldine S. Hines, Dr. Jocelyn O. Joseph, Dr. Dorothy J. Phillips, Michelle Courton-Brown, Charlotte Golar Ritchie, Professor Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Carol Fulp, the Honorable Joyce London Alexander, the late Muriel Snowden, and the late Elma Lewis, to name a few.

Standing at the forefront of community action, the Psi Omega Chapter members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated are committed to volunteering their time and skills to provide “Service to All Mankind” in the 21st century.

Our Leadership at a Glance

Chapter Presidents

Beatrice Miller* |1~ 1926-1929

Alice Walton* |2~ 1929-1932

Alberta Turner* |3~ 1932-1934

Teresa Lew* |4~ 1934-1936

Jospehine Howard* |5~ 1936-1938

Lucy Miller Mitchell* |6~ 1938-1940

Wilhelmina Crosson* |7~ 1940-1942

Olivia Solomons* |8~ 1942-1945

Dr. Mary Thompson* |9~ 1947-1949

Myrtle Henderson* |10~ 1947-1949

Rowena Taylor* |11~ 1949-1951

Bertha Wormley* |12~ 1951-1953

Mabel Beck* |13~ 1953-1955

Della Taylor* |14~ 1955-1957

Lucille Hayes* |15~ 1957-1959

Anne Mitchem Davis* |16~ 1959-1961

Gertrude Smith* |17~ 1961-1963

Sylvia A. McDowell* |18~ 1963-1965

LeDonia Wright* |19~ 1965-1967

Gertrude Cuthbert* |20~ 1967-1969

Jacqueline Hargrove |21~ 1969-1971

Jean Owens |22~ 1971-1973

Yvonne Husbands* |23~ 1973-1975

Glennie Crawford* |24~ 1975

Carmen Fields |25~ 1975-1979

Pearl Owens* |26~ 1979-1983

Carolyne Lamar Jordan |27~ 1985-1988

Lorita Brockington |28~ 1987-1990

Jacqueline M. Thompson* |29~ 1991-1992

Frances Wade Nelson |30~ 1993-1994

Dr.Jacquelyn Roundtree,Esq.|31~ 1995-1998

Evette Layne |32~ 1999-2000

Janet Roberts-Williams |33~ 2001-2002

Helyn C. Hall |34~ 2003-2004

Angela J. Hunter |35~ 2005-2006

Letitia T. Harris |36~ 2007-2010

Desiree Y. McNeil |37~ 2011-2012

Dr. Kafi N. Meadows |38~ 2013-2014

Chenita H. Daughtry |39~ 2015-2018

Kathy Lucas | 40~ 2019-2022

Kristy Anderson Magras | 41~ 2023-Current

* Deceased

Chapter Officers

Kristy Anderson Magras, President

Chrystal Porter, Vice President

Marsha Charlton, Recording Secretary

Portsha Franklin, Assistant Secretary

Nicole Wise Williams, Corresponding Secretary

Jacqueline Neville, Treasurer

LaKenya Webster, Financial Secretary

Kathy Lucas, Ivy Leaf Reporter

Carmen Fields, Member-At-Large

Kimberly Edwards, Nominating

Renee Robinson, Nominating

Chenita Daughtry, Epsilon Graduate Advisor

Jae'da Turner, Iota Gamma Graduate Advisor

Malika Jeffries-El, Lambda Upsilon Graduate Advisor

Sarah Spencer Roof, Hospitality

Alexia Hudson Ward, Chaplain

Kafi Meadows, Parliamentarian

Alisa Drayton, Philacter

McCall Allen, Historian

Kyndall Saunders, Custodian

Committee Chairmen

McCall Allen, Archives/Historian 

Lisa Braxton Reid, AKA Connections

Kafi Meadows, Bylaws

Barbara Browne, EAF

Kristy Magras, Finance

Angela Jackson, Fundraising
Jae'da Turner, Graduate Advisor Council

Carmen Fields, Grievance

Barbara Browne, Hospitality / Courtesy

Nicole Wise Williams, Logistics

Shamikhah Baker, Membership

Chrystal Porter, Program

Kathy Lucas, Public Relations & Communications

Jae'da Turner, Pan Hellenic Representative

Kirsten Turner, Protocol

Jocelyn Joseph, Rituals

Sheneal Parker, Scholarship

Renee Lunceford, Scholarship

June Handy, Sisterly Relations

Kafi Meadows, Standards

Erika White, Strategic Planning

Tahjan Henry, Technology

Tauyna Garret, Founders' Day

Chenita Daughtry , 100th Anniversary

Kathy Lucas, pINKwell

Trina Bowser, Retreat

Ashlie Perry, Holiday Luncheon

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