Nellie Quander

Howard University When Quander entered Howard University, only 1/3 of 1% of African Americans and 5% of whites attended any college. While enrolled at Howard University, Quander also taught students at the Garrison School in Washington D.C.'s public school system.

Incorporation of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated Quander became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha at Howard in 1910. She was elected as the chapter's president. She was said to be "horrified" at the proposal and gave the women who disagreed with her a deadline to terminate the efforts of reorganizing the sorority. After the young women withdrew Quander began contacting graduate members to fully establish the incorporation of the sorority that began years before.

Quander, along with Minnie Smith, Norma Boyd, Julia Evangeline Brooks, Nellie Pratt Russell and Ethel Jones Mowbray moved to incorporate Alpha Kappa Alpha on January 29, 1913. With Quander's help, Alpha Kappa Alpha was nationally incorporated in Washington, D.C., as a non-profit under the name Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated on January 29, 1913.

Presidency 1913-1919 After leading the initiative to incorporate the sorority, Quander served as president of Alpha Kappa Alpha. In 1913, at the first Boulé at Howard, she was officially elected president. After having served six years, at the next Boulé in 1919 at Chicago, Illinois, she resigned. Later, Quander was selected as the first director of the North Atlantic Region of AKA.

Quander established the first Alpha Kappa Alpha scholarship for a senior with the highest grade point average in the School of Liberal Arts. The recipient received a ten dollar gold prize. She also expanded the sorority's undergraduate chapters. She assisted fellow founder Beulah Burke to establish Beta chapter in Chicago, Illinois; Gamma Chapter at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Delta chapter at the University of Kansas. Quander was the sole founder of Zeta chapter at Wilberforce University.

Career After graduation, Quander became an educator for the public school system in Washington, D.C., where she served generations of students for 30 years. From 1914 to 1915, Quander studied at Columbia University to earn her Master of Arts degree. Later she pursued additional post-graduate degrees (see below).

From 1916 to 1917, Quander was a special field agent for the Children's Bureau for the Department of Labor.

Quander devoted her life to education and civic activities. She was close to her surviving sister Susie Russell Quander (member of Zeta Phi Beta - Alpha Chapter), nephews and friends. She died on September 24, 1961.