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Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority members Martha Williams, Carol Brice, and Ursula Murrell at a sorority event, Los Angeles, 1935-1950

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Title: Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority members Martha Williams, Carol Brice, and Ursula Murrell at a sorority event, Los Angeles, 1935-1950
Alternative Title: Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority
Contributor: Cutler, George M. (George Miles), 1901-1949
Date Created and/or Issued: [1935-1950]
1935/1950
Contributing Institution: UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library
Collection: Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
Rights Information: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
Description: Carol Brice was an American contralto. She studied at Palmer Memorial Institute, Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama (BA, 1939), and the Juilliard School of Music (1939-1943). She attracted considerable attention for her role in a production of The Hot Mikado at the New York World's Fair (1939), where she worked with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Brice made her recital debut in 1943, that year becoming the first African-American to win the Walter Naumburg Award. Her concerts often featured the piano accompaniment of her brother, Jonathan Brice.
Group photograph of five women (left to right): (2) Martha Williams, (3) Carol Brice, (4) Ursula Murrell standing in front of a curtain decorated with the AKA symbol at an Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority event.
Martha Williams was a member of the Los Angeles branch of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She was also a participant in civic clubs.
Alpha Kappa Alpha (ΑΚΑ) is a Greek-lettered sorority, the first established by African-American college women on January 15, 1908 at Howard University. The membership is for college-educated women.
Ursula Pruitt Murrell received a BA and MA in education from USC and was a music teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 30 years. A member of several civic, cultural and charitable organizations, she was known for her involvement in civic work.
Photographer's stamp on back: Gro M. Cutler, Jr. / Commercial, Portrait and Photo Arts / Photography / Phone AD. 11407 * 2710 Griffith Ave. / Los Angeles 11 Calif. Written on back of photo: From Left: (1)___, (2) Martha Williams, (3) Carol Brice, (4) Ursula Murrell (5)__. Caption on Drapes: AKA
Type: image
Identifier: uclalsc_1889_b25_f04_010a.tif
ark:/21198/z1hx2wt4
Subject: African American Greek letter societies
Murrell, Ursula Pruitt, 1905-1995
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
Brice, Carol, 1918-1985
Williams, Martha
Source: Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
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