Complex Civil Rights Organizations: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, an Exemplar

Alabama Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Law Review, 2014

Wake Forest Univ. Legal Studies Paper No. 2537160

42 Pages Posted: 13 Dec 2014 Last revised: 1 Aug 2017

See all articles by Gregory Scott Parks

Gregory Scott Parks

Wake Forest University - School of Law

Rashawn Ray

University of Maryland

Shawna Patterson

University of Pennsylvania

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: December 11, 2014

Abstract

The narrative about African American organizations and their role in blacks’ quest for social equality and civil rights in the United States is often a conventional one. Traditional Civil Rights organizations (e.g., NAACP, NCNW, SCLC) take center-stage with the efforts that they made and make, as well as the model that they employed and continue to employ, being the exemplar. Other African American organizations, too, have played a critical role in the Civil Rights Movement. For example, Theda Skocpol and colleagues, as well as Corey D.B. Walker, in their respective works, highlight the contributions that African American secret societies made to blacks’ struggle for social equality in the United States. In this article, the authors analyze the role that another set of African American fraternal groups have played in African Americans’ Civil Rights struggle and the challenges, and maybe opportunities, created from the complexity associated with these organizations as they pertain to carrying out this mission. Specifically, we focus on the efforts of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. during the mid-20th Century.

Keywords: race, African American, social justice, Civil Rights, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority

Suggested Citation

Parks, Gregory Scott and Ray, Rashawn and Patterson, Shawna, Complex Civil Rights Organizations: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, an Exemplar (December 11, 2014). Alabama Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Law Review, 2014, Wake Forest Univ. Legal Studies Paper No. 2537160, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2537160 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2537160

Gregory Scott Parks (Contact Author)

Wake Forest University - School of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 7206
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
United States
3367582170 (Phone)

Rashawn Ray

University of Maryland ( email )

College Park
College Park, MD 20742
United States

Shawna Patterson

University of Pennsylvania ( email )

Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

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