this story Originally reported by Ebony J.J. Curry. 19th. Meet Ebony and read their reporting on gender, politics and policy..
Detroit was the first location where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave an early version of what would become his “I Have a Dream” speech. he Read aloud on June 23, 1963a march that took place weeks before he spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., at the end of Detroit’s Road to Freedom.
This history of Detroit’s firsts defines what Martin Luther King Jr. Day wants from the city. It’s even harder to treat the holiday, celebrated Monday, as a slogan when that dream was first spoken out loud in Detroit. Also, many people choose to mark this day as a holiday every year, which makes it difficult to consider this day a holiday.
The Lambda Pi Omega (LPO) chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated is one of the Detroit institutions founded on that belief.
Their members measure weeks before the day of Martin Luther King Jr.’s labor. They assemble toiletry kits for Detroit residents without stable housing, volunteer with youth assistance programs focused on fighting hunger and developing leadership skills, and step into gaps families are already experiencing, such as hunger and lack of supplies. Crystal Sewell, president of the chapter, said the effort is rooted in service and is more than just an annual event.
“Our job is really to uplift the community. That’s really at the heart of what we do,” Sewell said. “It’s sisterhood and service for the betterment of the community, and that’s really the essence and spirit of our chapter.”
This year, LPO will spend Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Third New Hope Baptist Church on Detroit’s west side for its annual “We Are One” aka Day of Service. Sorority members plan to collect 1,908 toiletry bags for Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, a local nonprofit that provides emergency shelter and support services, including housing programs for families and those working on recovery. The specificity of the number of kits is intentional: 1,908 reflects AKA’s founding year of 1908. After the event, the bags will be delivered to rescue efforts’ family shelters and recovery housing sites.
Sewell said the chapter’s service calendar remains full throughout the year.
“In total, I participate in at least 10 volunteer opportunities a month,” she said. “That means we have 100 to 150 volunteer opportunities a year. We volunteer a few hours, over 2,000 hours a year.”
LPO is part of the Divine Nine. The organization is one of nine historically black fraternities and sororities under the Panhellenic Council, which was founded when black students excluded from the white Greek system established their own organizations centered on scholarship, leadership, and service.
Dr. King was part of that tradition.
He joined the Boston Sigma Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha in June 1952. Alpha Phi Alpha (APA) was founded in 1906 as the first black Greek-letter fraternity. AKA was the first black Greek-letter sorority.
AKA’s statement of purpose includes a directive that its members repeat as a standard: “Service to all humanity.”
Jacqueline Newman has lived by that belief for decades. She became a member of AKA in 1970 at Wayne State University. When the sorority’s LPO chapter was founded in Detroit in 1977, she became a founding founding member. She currently serves as the branch’s history officer.
“What we do is try to help wherever and whenever we can,” Newman said. “We love children, so we help feed students in different schools. We clothed students, we gave them Thanksgiving baskets, we gave them scholarships, and it wasn’t just women and girls, it was men, too. And it doesn’t matter what race you are. I think that’s a service to all of humanity, to all people in need. That’s what we do.”
Newman’s own timeline begins in the South. She was 13 years old and living in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, when Dr. King spoke in Detroit in 1963.
“I was part of the South that he was trying to liberate from the injustices of civil rights,” she said.
She moved to Detroit with her family in 1965. “My mom and dad were teachers, and the employment was better here in Detroit,” Newman said. Her mother became a member of AKA in 1962. Newman described his own membership as a legacy. “So it was mostly a legacy for me. I followed in my mother’s footsteps.”
Her history of service began before she joined AKA. “I’ve seen so much injustice in the South, especially against our people. Before I came here to Michigan, when I was 11, 12, 13 years old, I was marching and doing civil rights protests,” she said.
Those experiences inspired her to take action: “I don’t want anyone else to go through what I went through,” Newman said.
“It’s even more shocking when you see a human being hanging from a tree,” Newman said. “If you’ve been through that, it’s a different story.”
Detroit remembers Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream speech because he heard it early on. Lambda Pi Omega is betting Martin Luther King Jr. Day on simpler goals: what you get done, who you serve, and whether your work will last after the holidays.
As Sewell said, service involves both direct support and long-term civic engagement.
“For me, service is about uplifting those in our community who need it most,” she said. “We advocate for social justice, inform and educate our communities, and get people registered to vote and vote with the whole person in mind from cradle to elderhood.”
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
