What a blessing!
Leona Farris has seen more than her fair share of history. Born in 1917, She was two when the 19th Amendment gave some women the right vote and 48 before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited racial discrimination against all voters. Now, she is thankful she could vote for the first Black woman, who happens to be her soror, to become vice president of the United States.
Nine years before her birth Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority Incorporated, was founded at Howard University in 1908. Her daughter, Laura Farris-Daugherty, spoke to the Akron Beacon Journal about her mother’s designation as a Diamond AKA. Farris has been a member for 82 years, and one receives the Diamond honor after 75 or more active years.
“She’s a rarity in her sorority and is treated like royalty,” Farris-Daughtery told reporters.
Her sorority and her community have cherished Farris. In 1987, the University of Akron, where she taught for two decades, named a scholarship after her. Then, last month, the Stow Parks and Recreation Department Board approved the renaming of Silver Springs Lodge after her. Now, the Stow-Munroe Falls Board of Education plans to pass a resolution in her honor.
She comes from one of the first Black families to move to Stow, Ohio, in 1954, and she now lives in Copley.
We’re grateful for you, Ms. Leona!
Photo Credit: Akron Beacon Journal