Psi Omega Celebrates 95 Years of

Phenomenal Dimensions in Sisterhood and Service

Since 1926

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.

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

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• 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 94 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.

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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.

The program theme for 2018-2022 is Exemplifying Excellence Through Sustainable Service. The targets are designed to advance the mission of Alpha Kappa Alpha with excellence and underscore our commitment to sustainable service.

Target 1: HBCU for Life: A Call to Action

Target 2: Women’s Healthcare and Wellness

Target 3: Building Your Economic Legacy

Target 4: The Arts! 

Target 5: Global Impact

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