Minnie B. Smith

        Minnie Beatrice Smith was an incorporator of Alpha Kappa Alpha.  
"Beadie" Smith lived in Washington, D.C. and taught at the Mott School near 
Howard University.  She attended the university while she worked and 
graduated with the class of 1912.
        Ms. Smith, an initiate of Alpha Kappa Alpha and a very close friend 
of Nellie Quander, was still working in Washington when she was contacted by 
Ms. Quander and advised of the following situation.  In the fall of 1912, an 
extraordinary meeting had been called.  Some members of Alpha Kappa Alpha 
urged that the name, motto, colors, and symbol of the sorority be changed and
that the organization move in a new defined direction, Nellie Quander, who 
had graduated that summer and was the past president of the sorority, had 
been invited to the meeting.  She was horrified by the radical proposals, but
had been unable to prevail upon the young women attending the meeting.  She 
decided to contact as many of the graduate members of the sorority as 
possible to explain the situation.  Ms. Smith was responsible for writing 
many of the letters to graduate members, advising them of what was happening 
at Howard University, and seeking their support for the continuation of Alpha
Kappa Alpha.  Nellie Quander, Minnie Smith, and Norma Boyd formed a committee
to discuss plans for the continuation and the national expansion of the 
sorority, On January 29, 1913, the three young women signed the Articles of 
Incorporation of the first national sorority among Black women.  
        The first Directorate was established with Nellie Quander as basileus
and Minnie Smith as grammateus.  Other officers selected were Ethel Jones 
Mowbray, first anti-basileus; Nellie Pratt Russell, second anti-basileus-I 
Norma Boyd, epistoleus; and Julia E. Brooks, tamiouchos.  According to the 
Articles, they were to retain their position until five ancillary chapters 
were established and a national election held.
        In 1916, when Nellie Quander took a leave of absence from her 
teaching position in Washington to study mentally retarded children in 
Delaware and the socioeconomic conditions affecting them, Ms, Smith acted as 
basileus in Ms. Quander's absence.
        Minnie Beatrice Smith died in the influenza epidemic of 1919 after 
an illness of only a few days.  She is remembered by Alpha Kappa Alpha 
members throughout the world for the key role she played in the growth and 
development of the sorority.