A Sisterhood ~ From the Inaugural Stage, to the Center of Bedford

January 19, 2021

 

Sharon McDonald’s Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority pin

Bedford has a little-known connection to the Inauguration this week. The new Vice President is the sorority sister of Bedford’s own Sharon McDonald through the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

McDonald was the beloved children’s librarian at the Bedford Free Public Library for nearly four decades. Currently, she satisfies her love of history and research by serving as the Bedford Town Historian. She is the author of three books about Bedford history.  They are The Bedford Flag Unfurled; A Meeting House and Its People, a history of First Parish on Bedford Common; and Bedford History for Kids.

The AKA connection began when McDonald walked through the lounge of her college dorm at Stetson College in DeLand, Florida.  She had no idea that she would be forming a connection to an historic moment in American history.  The year was 1968 and Martin Luther King had been assassinated. A group of black women were gathered to launch a local chapter of the AKA sorority. When asked what they were doing, they said they were trying to find a tenth woman with $50 for dues and a grade average of least 3.0 (B.) McDonald said she had such a grade level and $50. Their first response was, “but you are the wrong color.” Later some of the women found Sharon in her room and invited her to join.

The Dean of Women offered meeting space in the dorm and the fledgling chapter began to form. The group had not yet been recognized by the national organization, but McDonald suggested they call themselves just AK while they sought recognition. McDonald recalls that they organized a show, which they put on for a local black church and later were invited to perform at the county fair.

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“Before we were officially a chapter, we still wanted the green and pink colors, so we all bought pink moccasins from the local shoe store and green sweatshirts upon which we applied iron-on “AK” McDonald explained. “The “real” sorority girls thought we were weird, at best. We pledged women who were black, who weren’t pretty (egad) and three women in the second year were disabled. We had a whole different view of sisterhood. And we turned out well. One became a university professor, another a doctor, another the president of Hillsborough College.

Meanwhile AKA, founded in 1908, continued to grow as a prestigious and now diverse women’s sorority supportive of Black women with emphasis on education and public service. The sorority boasted many remarkable women as members.

Kamala Harris joined when she was at Howard University and credits AKA as an important influence. The spotlight grew stronger as AKA member Harris was elected Attorney General and later Senator from California. Harris is now the Vice President-elect, and will be inaugurated on Wednesday, Jan. 20. When she made her acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention she wore an AKA 20-pearl necklace, a symbol of the sisterhood.

So there may be an extra loud cheer in the center of Bedford on Jan. 20, and maybe McDonald will be wearing her very own AKA badge of 20 pearls.

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Kathryn Rifkin
January 25, 2021 4:06 pm

Wow, Sharon, what a fantastic connection!

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