Kansas University’s first historically black sorority is celebrating a century on campus.

Past and present members of the Delta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha say that while much has improved for black women at KU in 100 years, AKA sisterhood still provides strong support as they pursue academic and life goals.

The founding women and the sorority’s mission, “Service to All Mankind,” inspire member Camille Douglas, KU junior and chairwoman for the AKA centennial event.

“These women were one generation removed from slavery,” Douglas said. They had the presence of mind to consciously “band together for the common good, even though their common good wasn’t good.”

Women of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Chapter, at Kansas University, 1930. Photo courtesy of the Spencer Research Library, Kansas University Libraries, Dorothy Hodge Johnson Collection.

At the time KU’s chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha formed on Feb. 15, 1915, its founders not only sought sisterhood but also a place to live. Though KU has always admitted black students, in the early years they could not live in campus residence halls, AKA members said.

Cynthia Lartigue Eubanks, who came to KU to study architecture and urban design and joined AKA in 1974, describes the friendship and support she found as a “security blanket” that helped her pursue her education even though, outside the sorority, it was not easy.

Following a period of race riots on campus, Eubanks said animosity lingered. She remembers feeling distrusted and ostracized by many white students, especially in a field where she was a super-minority — female and black.

“There were hardly any women in the school of architecture, and absolutely no other African-American females,” Eubanks said. “It was a difficult time for me.”

Douglas, whose mother and sister also were AKAs, said the sorority’s commitment to service, which doesn’t stop after graduation, also attracted her to join. In addition to undergraduate chapters, AKA has graduate chapters that remain active in their communities and mentor collegiate women.

Delta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha members and friends gathered in Lawrence this weekend for a Centennial Celebration that included a campus tour, visit to the archives, luncheon and gala dinner. The group collected donations for Lawrence’s Willow Domestic Violence Center and — throughout the month of February — is partnering with the Oread and Eldridge hotels to donate $3 from each sale of this month’s “Cause Martini,” the Pink Stiletto, to Willow.

Today, KU is home to six registered National Pan-Hellenic Council sororities and fraternities, according to the university. NPHC is a collaboration of historically black greek letter organizations.