Lucy Diggs Slowe.(July 4,1885-October 21,1937.)

Was one of the original sixteen founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated,the first sorority founded by African American women.She was one of the nine original founders of the sorority in 1908 at Howard University.Her legacy of Alpha Kappa Alpha has continued to generate social capital for over 100 years.Transcending the era's limits,Lucy was a woman of many "firsts"In 1922,she was appointed the first Dean of Women at Howard University.Lucy continued as a college administrator at Howard for 15, years,service ended by her death.Lucy created and led two professional associations to support college administrators.In her leadership as an educator and college administrator,she created important social capital.Lucy was also a tennis champion,winning the national title of the American Tennis Association's first tournament in 1917,the first  African-American to win a major sports title.Lucy demonstrated in her work as an educator,tennis champion,college administrator and civil organizer how African American sororities supported woman "to create spheres of influences,authority and power within institutions that traditionally have allowed African Americans and women little formal authority and real power.She was born in Berryville Virginia to Henry Slowe and Fannie Porter Slowe.Her father was a hotel operator.After both her parents died when she was young,Lucy was raised by her aunt Martha Price in Lexington,Virginia.At thirteen,Lucy and her family moved to Baltimore,Maryland,where she attended the Baltimore Colored School.She graduated second in her class in 1904.Lucy was the first person from her school to attend Howard University,the top historically black college in the nation,at time when only 1/3 of 1% of African Americans and 5% of whites of eligible age attended college.Lucy was one of the nine original founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority,Incorporated.The sorority was founded on January 15,1908.She was instrumental in drafting the sorority's constitution.She also served as the chapter's first president.Lucy generation created many organizations to support African American college and community life.Her cousin Elder Watson Diggs was a founder of Kappa Alpha Psi,Incorporated.After graduation,Lucy returned to Baltimore for several years,then she returned to Washington,DC to teach.Because the District was run as part of the Federal government,African American teachers in the public schools were paid on the same scale as whites.The system attracted outstanding teachers,especially for Dunbar High School,the academic high school for African Americans.In 1917,Lucy won the American Tennis Association's first tournament.She was the first African-American woman to win a major sports title.Two years later,the District of Columbia her to create the first junior high school in its system and then appointed her principal.She led the school until 1922.That year,at Howard, selected Lucy as the first College Dean of Women.She was the first African-American female to serve in that position.Lucy continued to serve as a college administrator at Howard for the rest of her career,another 15 years.To pool resources,share knowledge,and build collaboration,she founded both the National Association of College Women,which she led for several years as first presidents,and the Association of Advisors to Women Women in Colored Schools.She serve as College Dean at Howard University Until her death.