When she was 20, Kamala Harris joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) sorority, which belongs to the vast black network of the Divine Nine. Little did she realise that, several decades later, this would be one of her major assets in her bid to defeat Donald Trump on 5 November.
By Nora Bussigny“To my line sisters, the 38 Jewels of Iridescent Splendour: Oh, you’re an incredible part of my journey” That’s what Kamala Harris said on 10 July in front of a sold-out crowd. This audience is none other than the members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, which, along with eight other black fraternities and sororities, makes up the century-old American network of the Divine Nine.
Alpha Kappa Alpha, an extremely influential university sorority throughout the country, has once again decided to unite its powerful strike force in support of Kamala Harris in the elections on 5 November. A major advantage that could perhaps swing the election in favour of the Democratic candidate.
A sisterhood with a committed history
Founded in 1908 at Howard University (nicknamed the “black Harvard”) in Washington State, the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority has welcomed such historic figures as Toni Morrison, Cassandra Wilson, Maya Angelou, and Rosa Parks. Ella Fitzgerald and Michelle Obama have also been inducted into the sorority on an honorary basis.
In 1950, Kamala Harris’s aunt joined Alpha Kappa Alpha, a sorority which the current Vice-President of the United States also joined in 1986. With over 360,000 members today, the organisation was conceived and created to offer black women a genuine network to fight together and support each other against racial discrimination.
For each of its anniversaries, its members wear the colours of its logo, green and pink. It is a detail that Kamala Harris never fails to respect, as she did on the cover of Vogue magazine in 2021. “The founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. believed in the power of sisterhood and service. For 116 years, we have been fighting for the promise of America: a promise of freedom, opportunity, and equality for all”, said the American Vice-President on 9 August in a video on her X account (formerly Twitter), wearing an outfit in the colours of her sorority.
A year earlier, in 2020, in her very first speech as a vice-presidential candidate, Kamala Harris paid tribute to her “family” of Alpha Kappa Alpha and the “Divine Nine”. It’s a reference that the women who vote for her don’t hesitate to return by discreetly wearing a pearl necklace when they vote, a necklace that is regularly found around Kamala Harris’s neck, and which is far from being a simple coquetry: the founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha were nicknamed the “Twenty Pearls” at the time because they gave their new members a badge made of pearls, a tradition that they continue to this day.
A major asset for victory
Much more than a self-help network, the Divine Nine and Alpha Kappa Alpha have made voting education their hobbyhorse. Officially non-partisan, the commitment of the members of the sororities and fraternities that make up the “Divine Nine” is to mobilise black voters to turn out and vote in the various elections.
In 2020, when Joe Biden declared his support for Kamala Harris’ candidacy for Vice-President, Alpha Kappa Alpha managed to raise several hundred thousand dollars in the form of $19.08 donations from its members. It is an extremely specific amount, and far from insignificant, as it pays tribute to the date on which the sorority was founded: 1908!
The “Stroll to the Polls” campaign was another way of encouraging people to vote, with sorority members posting videos of themselves dancing to the rhythm of the nearest polling stations on social networks. Seemingly innocuous videos that played a key role in Biden’s election.
According to the New York Times, the “Divine Nine” have at least 4 million members across the country who are determined to defend social justice by supporting candidate Kamala Harris? This enabled the Democratic candidate to overtake Donald Trump in the polls. Harris was the first member of the Divine Nine to run for the US presidency. On 21 and 22 July 2024, when Joe Biden had just dropped out of the presidential race, leaving his place to Kamala Harris, a flurry of donations amounting to $19.08 each was recorded in support of the new Democratic candidate.
The current representative of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Frederica S. Wilson, told the New York Times how grateful she was to Kamala Harris for her candidacy, which has raised the profile of the “Divine Nine”, who had previously kept a low profile in the media landscape. Discreet, but highly influential economically. With combined operational budgets more than 150,000 million dollars, the “Divine Nine” have been redoubling their efforts since the announcement of Kamala Harris’ candidacy to motivate black voters to cast their ballots on 5 November.
The same is true of Elsie Cooke-Holmes, national president of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and Willis Lonzer III, head of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, both also members of the Divine Nine. They both publicly praised the candidacy of Kamala Harris and reiterated the importance of Kamala Harris winning the election and becoming a symbol of “diversity” and “inclusion” not only for the black community but for all Americans.
In this respect, the “Divine Nine” have not hesitated to highlight Kamala Harris’ candidacy to motivate their members to “break the glass ceiling.” On TikTok, videos featuring Alpha Kappa Alpha have reached tens of millions of views, especially “likes”, illustrating the influence of the sorority, particularly among first-time voters. The proof is that on 10 July this year in Dallas, 25,000 women members of the sorority gathered around Kamala Harris, chanting the famous rallying cry “Skee-Wee”, the Alpha Kappa Alpha slogan designed to support and cheer the candidate.
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