Carrie Snowden was born in Washington D.C. Little is known about the time of her birth or death. She was one of the sixteen founders of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority established at Howard University in 1908. The organization was the first sorority founded by African-American women. She has been described as a small, slim, gracious young woman who was very eager to join the sorority. She was also described as introverted and reserved and shunned the spotlight in favor of background roles in the group. She served as the epistoleus, the corresponding secretary, of the Alpha chapter. Snowden was born to parents who encouraged her pursuit of education. She attended the public schools in Washington D.C, and she was admitted to Howard University, the top historically black college in the nation. Only 1/3 of 1% of African Americans and 5% of whites attended any college in the early part of the century. It was important for supporting women in college, career and community life in a segregated society. Her legacy in creating and participating in the sorority was an organization that has generated social capital for nearly 100 years. Only a small amount of information can be found about this member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Carrie Snowden entered the School of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, in 1906. She was a very close friend of Harriet Terry, and in February 1908, while a sophomore, she was accepted into the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority founding group without initiation. When members of the sorority returned to the campus for the school year of 1909, they held a meeting to elect officers. Harriett J. Terry was elected basileus for the first semester and Ms. Snowden was elected the new Epistoleus. Ms. Snowden graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in May 1910. She studied English, French, German, history, geography and science. Over the years, she continued to take additional subjects such as commerce, economics, social work and mathematics. She became a teacher after graduation and taught in the Baltimore and Washington D.C school system. Ms. Snowden was a charter member of Xi Omega Chapter in Washington D.C, which was established in 1923. She remained active in Xi Omega Chapter, always participating on the membership and amenities committees, Ms. Snowden was shy and retiring and her work with the sorority was her only civic activity. Her last registration at Howard University was in 1943, when she took a course in typing. In later years, she was employed at Howard University as a switchboard operator, a position which she held until her retirement. Carrie E. Snowden died in Washington, D.C. in 1948 and is buried there. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was founded on January 15, 1908 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC. Its founders were among the fewer than 1,000 Negroes enrolled in higher education institutions in 1908 and the 25 women who received Bachelor of Arts degrees from Howard University between 1908 and 1911. Ethel Hedgeman-Lyle, the and the fifteen Howard University students who came together to form Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority were the scholastic leaders of their classes. Each had a special talent or gift that further enhanced the potential of this dynamic group. The formation of Alpha Kappa Alpha spawned what has become an incorporated, international women’s organization in possession of more than 30 registered copyrights, among many other achievements. More than 109 years later, it has grown to an active international membership of nearly 300,000, working through its more than 1,000 national and international graduate and undergraduate chapters, and a multi-million-dollar-endowed educational foundation, with the goal of effecting positive and enduring social, economic, educational, political, and cultural change in this nation, and around the globe. While it is true that Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, was not the first organization formed in this country by and for black women, it now remains as one of the very few to have endured and grown beyond the span of a century, and it is a fact that the organization that Hedgeman-Lyle founded has since served as a prototype from which subsequent organized women’s groups with similar longevity have evolved. Sources Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Snowden