On August 19, 2020, then-Senator Kamala Harris wore a necklace of pearls as she accepted the Democratic vice presidential nomination. When the suit-clad former prosecutor stepped onto the podium to give her speech, she commended the women who fought for the right to vote and the women in her family who nurtured her.

“My mother instilled in my sister, Maya, and me the values that would chart the course of our lives,” Harris said, smiling at the camera. She added, “She taught us to put family first—the family you’re born into and the family you choose.”

Then, she named an important member of her chosen family.

“Family is my beloved Alpha Kappa Alpha,” she said.

Widely known by the abbreviation AKA, Alpha Kappa Alpha is one of the nation’s storied Black sororities, counting such luminaries as novelist Toni Morrison, actress Phylicia Rashad and poet Maya Angelou among its members.

AKA had a profound impact on the vice president’s life. Harris, who is slated to give her speech accepting the presidential nomination later Thursday evening at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, joined the sorority in 1986, when she was a senior at Howard University, a federally chartered, historically Black university (HBCU) in Washington, D.C. But Harris’ affiliation with the group didn’t end when she graduated. Her sorority sisters became close friends, and many of them encouraged her on the 2020 campaign trail by making donations of exactly $19.08, a reference to the year AKA was founded.

Harris’ tribute to AKA during her speech highlighted her affection for the group. Her emotional connection to the sorority was also reflected in the jewelry she wore: a 34-inch necklace adorned with Akoya and South Sea pearls. Pearls have been a symbol of AKA for decades. Its founders are referred to as the “Twenty Pearls,” and every inductee is given a badge with 20 pearls.

“The strand of pearls speaks to solidarity among the members,” Glenda Glover, international president of AKA, told Vanity Fair in 2020. “It’s a great moment for AKA. For African Americans. For women. Whether she wears pearls or not, it’s an inspiration.”

Harris has previously expressed this solidarity by wearing pearls at important events, from her college graduation photoshoot to her swearing in as a United States senator from California in 2017.

“Pearls represent refinement and wisdom,” Glover told Vanity Fair. “We train young ladies to be leaders and to make sure they have the wisdom to lead … and that goes hand in hand with the true meaning of what Alpha Kappa Alpha is all about.”

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture houses AKA badges, pendants, pins and other items in its collections.

Highlights include a pendant for an AKA member’s diamond anniversary, which has a sorority seal at its center. A diamond rests at the peak of the seal, honoring members who were initiated 75 years earlier. Another item, a pin for an honorary member of AKA, is festooned with three green ivy leaves, each of which is adorned with a gold letter. The leaves, which spell out the abbreviation AKA, are affixed to a gold circle border decorated with 20 opalescent pearls.

Pin for Honorary Members of the AKA Sorority
A pin for honorary members of the AKA sorority that features three ivy leaves and 20 pearls National Museum of African American History and Culture

Leadership is a principle that underscores the “Divine Nine,” a group of nine historically Black fraternities and sororities that is formally known as the National Pan-Hellenic Council. Most of the Divine Nine were created in the early 20th century to foster communities of like-minded individuals and to improve the world around them, Lawrence C. Ross Jr., author of The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities, told NPR in 2020.

“You really begin to see development of African American fraternities right around 1906,” Ross said. “A lot of this is tied basically to the idea that college moved from being the place of the elite, where they would just go to be able to get a degree as part of the educated class, to a place where college was part of the social and economic movement in society.”

The author emphasized that these groups were important for building a sense of belonging and accountability, not just on an individual level, but to “enrich the community.”

In 1908, Ethel Hedgeman Lyle, then a student at Howard University, co-founded AKA with similar aims. She wanted to create a support network for Black women so that they could uplift themselves and others. According to the sorority’s website, Hedgeman and eight of her classmates formed a group that “fostered interaction, stimulation and ethical growth among members.” Five years later, members incorporated the group, ensuring its continuation in perpetuity.

From its inception, AKA has focused on learning, providing aid for the poor and advancing civil rights. Currently, the AKA site notes that the sorority boasts more than 360,000 initiated members across 12 nations and territories, including the United States, Canada and Germany.

During her 2020 acceptance speech, Harris said, “Every human being is of infinite worth, deserving of compassion, dignity and respect.” Her message resonated with thousands of women across the U.S., many of whom proposed wearing pearls on Inauguration Day in support of Harris. One Facebook group, previously named “Wear Pearls on Jan 20, 2021,” and now called “United by Pearls,” currently has nearly 500,000 members.

“When you think about a pearl, it’s created by the roughness, you know, and we have pearls in every color, shape and size,” Hope Aloaye, founder of the Facebook group, told Smithsonian in 2021. “Pearls are linked to every woman.”

Though Aloaye is not a member of AKA, she still believes that championing other women is important and that wearing pearls can publicly display this camaraderie. “[We] have women of every color, race, size, ethnicity and vocation,” Aloaye said of the 2021 movement. “We have one common goal, which is to represent women on [January] 20 supporting a woman.”

Kamala Harris in North Carolina
Harris speaks on her presidential policy platform at the Hendrick Center For Automotive Excellence on August 16, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina Grant Baldwin / Getty Images

In the three and a half years since her inauguration as vice president, Harris has continued the tradition of wearing pearls. Recently, the Democratic nominee for president has been pictured in pearls at rallies, from Eu Claire, Wisconsin, to Raleigh, North Carolina, as well as during a sit-down conversation with her vice presidential pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Pearls have proved to be fundamental in expressing the AKA sorority sisterhood and experience, just as Harris has described attending Howard and pledging AKA as being fundamental for her.

“We weren’t just told we had the capacity to be great; we were challenged to live up to that potential,” Harris wrote in her 2019 autobiography, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey. “There was an expectation that we would cultivate and use our talents to take on roles of leadership and have an impact on other people, on our country and maybe even on the world.”

This July, Harris again showcased her love for her sorority. She spoke at the AKA convention in Dallas, which was attended by an estimated 20,000 women.

“Sorors, as many of you know, this sisterhood has been a part of my life since my earliest days, starting with my aunt, Ms. Christine Simmons, who was initiated in 1950 at Howard University,” she said.

She continued, detailing what was happening in the nation when the sorority was created: “Our sisterhood was also founded, as we know, in the face of profound challenges in our country. Think about it. In 1908, women were not guaranteed the right to vote. There was not a single Black person in the United States Congress. And that year, 89 Black Americans were lynched, and that was just the number that was documented. And yet, despite all of this, and perhaps because of it, our founders believed in the power of sisterhood and service.”

For the occasion, Harris wore a pink pantsuit, representing one of the sorority’s signature colors, pink and green. And, of course, she wore pearls.

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Isis Davis-Marks

Isis Davis-Marks is a freelance writer and artist based in New York City. Her work has also appeared in Artsy, the Columbia Journal, and elsewhere.

Kayla Randall is Smithsonian magazine's digital editor, museums.