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This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of W NYC Studios and the New Yorker.

This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. You can often hear

Kamala Harris on the campaign trail talking about growing up middle class,

being raised by a single mom. She talks about a summer job at McDonald's and Harris talks a great deal

too about the early part of her career as a prosecutor in California. But there's one aspect

of her background that's relatively overlooked and it's critical to understanding her

Harris's membership in the sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha becauseA is no simple drinking club.

It is an identity, I would say, probably as important to them, or you know, on the same list as their race, their gender,

political affiliations, religion, what have you.

It is a lifetime commitment.

It is a community service organization. It is a secret

society. It is Alpha Kappa Alpha Incorporated.

Jasmine Hughes writes in this week's New Yorker about Alpha Kappa Alpha and its role in shaping the

woman who would be the first black female president.

Who are some of the more prominent members of a k

toney Morrison

Sonia sanchez

poet elin surleaf jonson the first woman elected president of any African nation.

As well as the first black woman in space, the first black female bishop,

it's a long, long list.

It's a long, long list. I have a quote from a woman from an

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