The Kappa Psi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., will celebrate a historic milestone this weekend, June 5-7, as it marks 50 years of sisterhood, scholarship, and service to the Madison community.
The Golden Anniversary celebration, branded as KΨΩ Homecoming Weekend, will take place with a series of commemorative events open to members, family, friends, supporters, and community partners.
Over the last half-century, there have been so many members of the Kappa Psi Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. who have contributed to the greater Madison community in a variety of important ways. Members have served in government, education, nursing, law enforcement and many other professions and have mentored thousands of people who have come after them. Notable members include Frances Huntley-Cooper, Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, Dr. Corinda Rainey-Moore, Barbara Nichols and Nichlle Nichols.
Huntley-Cooper, the former mayor of Fitchburg, who was the first African American mayor elected to office in the state of Wisconsin, is the only original Kappa Psi Omega member left living in Wisconsin.
“I was 24 years old when we were chartered on May 15, 1976,” Huntley-Cooper tells Madison365. “I’m so excited that I’m here to help celebrate 50 years, and so I’m so excited that we still have young people who are involved in the sorority with a lot of fire and energy. I love seeing that in the young folks. We have so many members across generations, and I can’t wait to have people get together and celebrate and learn the great history of our sorority.
“I chaired the first fundraiser that we had for this chapter, which was a fashion show held at the Edgewater Hotel,” she adds. “We have had so many great fundraisers over the 50 years and I hope to see some of the men who cooked at our ‘Men Who Cook’ fundraiser show up this weekend at our 50th anniversary events.”
Kappa Psi Omega is the second-oldest graduate chapter in Wisconsin, with the oldest being Epsilon Kappa Omega in Milwaukee. Chartered in 1976, the Kappa Psi Omega Chapter has built a five-decade legacy of impactful service initiatives, educational programming, and civic engagement throughout Madison and the surrounding area.
Stephanie Bradley Wilson, the current Kappa Psi Omega chapter president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., has been an AKA sorority sister for 50 years, starting in the college Episilon Delta chapter while at UW-Madison before moving on to the Kappa Psi Omega when she graduated.
“I was initiated at the UW campus in the Epsilon Delta chapter, and my initiation date was May 8, 1976, at Mrs. [Rebecca] Graves’ home,” Bradley Wilson remembers. “And then Kappa Psi Omega was initially chartered that following weekend. That’s where I first met Frances Huntley-Cooper in 1976. I’ve known her for a very long time.”
Bradley-Wilson says that she is looking forward to seeing women of all ages get together at the AKA 50th anniversary activities this weekend. It’s something that makes the AKAs special.
“I love how we are so intergenerational in this sorority. At our regional and international conferences, you will see women there from 19 to 90,” she tells Madison365. “We are a lifelong membership, unlike white sororities, where they might join a sorority because it’s the popular thing to do while they’re in college. But we expect that you’re going to be a member for life, and so that helps to perpetuate the sorority and the things that we do.”
Tara Jackson, the chairperson for the 50th anniversary celebration, has been an AKA for 39 years and a member of the Kappa Psi Omega Chapter for 15. “In this community for Kappa Psi Omega in Madison, Wisconsin, we are a very tight sisterhood, because our chapter is small, and we depend on each other because there is no other sisterhood like ours,” Jackson tells Madison365. “I truly believe that, and I know every woman in Alpha Kappa Alpha believes that also.”
Golden Anniversary weekend events
Jackson says she is excited for the big Golden Anniversary weekend ahead, which kicks off with a community tailgate Friday, June 5, 6-9 p.m. at the Urban League of Greater Madison’s Black Business Hub on Madison’s South Side.
“We are excited to be getting together at the Hub and having some music and fun. The event on Friday night is completely free. We’re going to be doing some crafts there to support the Hub and to start the celebration of our 50th anniversary of giving to the community,” Jackson says. The AKA kickoff event is designed to bring together community members, partners, and supporters in a festive and welcoming setting and will take place in the large community space of the first floor of the Hub next to the four restaurant establishments and Rasta Barista, the Jamaican coffee shop.
On Saturday, the AKAs will host two signature events.
A Rededication Brunch on early Saturday afternoon, which is for AKA members only, will take place from noon to 2 p.m at The Madison Marriott-South Hotel, 706 John Nolen Dr. in Madison, providing a meaningful opportunity to reflect on the chapter’s history and recommit to its mission.
Later that evening, the highly anticipated Homecoming Block Party will run from 7-10 p.m. at the same location, offering music, fellowship, and celebration for invited guests and supporters.
“On Saturday night, we have a 50/50 event. The tickets are $50 and it is called ‘Homecoming’ because Madison is our home, and since COVID, we’ve been a little shy to get back into the community like everyone else,” Jackson says. “But this is our homecoming, and we’re coming back home to Madison, and we’re going to have games, live music, gifts and souvenirs, and we’re going to do line dancing, we’re going to play spades. It’s going to be like a family reunion.”
The weekend concludes on Sunday, June 7, with Family & Friends Praise and Worship from 10:45 a.m. to noon, at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 2019 Fisher Street. A Sunday Brunch will follow from 2-4 p.m.
“We are going to party on Friday and Saturday,” Jackson says. “But on Sunday, we are going to dial it back down, and we are going to church, and we’re going to pray that what we give back to the community is what the community needs, wants, and desires.”
Big impact in their community
The Kappa Psi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated has historically enjoyed hosting fun events over its 50 years, but it also always emphasizes giving back to the community in which it resides in a variety of ways. The sorority volunteers its time around multiple initiatives, including empowering families, building economic wealth, enhancing the environment, promoting social justice, and uplifting their community.
For decades, the AKAs have been famous for supporting graduating high school students with scholarships.
(Photo by David Dahmer)
“We awarded 11 scholarships to graduating seniors this year, and so we’re very happy that we’re able to continue that practice. We’ve given thousands of dollars over the years that we’ve been doing this program, so we want to be able to continue that,” Bradley Wilson says.
“We do a lot of community work, one of the biggest ones is the scholarship and giving back to the future generation,” she adds. “So we have forged our way, and we want to help the young men and women who come behind us to be able to forge their way by raising money to help them every year.”
(Photo by David Dahmer)
Over the years, one of the signature events that the AKAs would fundraise for the young students was Men Who Cook. The annual event would gather distinguished men from throughout the community to cook various entrees, side dishes, and desserts and then compete for awards both from professional judges and from people attending the event, called “People’s Choice Awards.”
“Men Who Cook had been our signature program up until COVID, and many of the men who have participated have looked forward to having that started again,” Bradley-Wilson says. “Men Who Cook was always a very popular event. It was our primary way to raise money for scholarships.”
The Kappa Psi Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority has also hosted workshops on mental health awareness and collaborated with the Urban League on various functions. For many years, the sorority hosted AKAs’ Walk It Out health and wellness conference.
“Supporting health and wellness has always been a big thing for us, along with supporting women and entrepreneurship,” Bradley-Wilson says.
(Photo by A. David Dahmer)
The AKAs support Wright Middle School with its Child Hunger Initiative Power Pack program.
“We’ve hosted youth leadership activities. We work with seniors at the Madison Senior Center. We have always participated in the Divine Nine food pantry at Mount Zion [Baptist Church], and have done work in the past with Second Harvest [Food Bank],” Bradley Wilson says. “We are involved in so many things in our community here in Madison, and I think over the last 50 years, we have had a big impact.”
The Kappa Psi Omega chapter has spearheaded activities to support homeless families and feed children, and has distributed book bags to students as they get ready for the school year.
“We have done things in the community like help people with their rent and helped them with different financial things during the COVID era. We have also been planting trees in the community. We went out just a few weeks ago, and we planted trees, and we planted trees last year. So, it’s not just that we’re pretty,” Jackson laughs, “but we are willing to get our hands dirty.
“We have also done things in collaboration with other organizations. At Madison East High School, we used to have an event where the seniors came in, so they could apply to colleges, or even be introduced to different colleges, and most of the colleges were HBCUs,” she adds. “The students were able to see people in our community who went to those schools and to help them put their application in, or to further their education at that institution.”
“You become part of the sisterhood.”
Beyond the great community work, the Kappa Psi Omegas have proven to be wonderful mentors to the next generation of sisters coming up.
“I think it’s so important to feel that you’re part of a community. When you come from somewhere else, you may not know anybody but the people you work with, or know anybody with whom you have something in common. I know meeting the other AKAs in the community was a big thing for me,” Jackson remembers.
“To have that connection with other ladies who think like you in the community is priceless,” she continues. “It was priceless for me, and I think it’s priceless for every other AKA that comes into the community. You become part of the sisterhood. One thing they do when they know you are here is they reach out to you and invite you to things and make you feel welcome and they help you navigate this new community. To have that kind of sisterhood is so real.”
And that AKA sisterhood connection is worldwide.
“We have chapters throughout the world, not just in the US,” Bradley Wilson says. “So, if you are in Japan or Germany, Dubai, the Bahamas, there’s a good likelihood you have a chance of being able to go through our directory, send an email, make a phone call, smoke signals, whatever, and you’re able to reach out, and there will be someone who will connect you with an AKA. And they will take you to lunch or grab a coffee with you and help you navigate this new place. You’re always going to find someone that you can connect to with the AKAs.”
The 50th anniversary weekend celebration will bring women and families together in Madison from all over the world and will honor both the chapter’s founding members and the generations of women who have continued its mission of service to all mankind.
“I’m looking forward to all of the events, but probably looking forward most to the rededication event this Saturday, which is for AKAs only,” Huntley-Cooper says. “I’m looking forward to us revisiting our history and being able to understand what we have done in the last 50 years and looking ahead to what we plan on doing in the next 50 years.”
For tickets or for more information on any of the Golden Anniversary celebration events, click here.
