Nellie Pratt Russell

Who was Nellie Pratt Russell?

Nellie Pratt Russell was an incorporator of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, the first sorority founded by African-American college women. The sorority has continued to generate social capital for nearly 100 years.

Earning undergraduate and graduate degrees at Howard University and Columbia University, Nellie Russell worked as an educator for more than 50 years, mostly teaching English at St. Paul's College, an historically black college in Lawrenceville, Virginia. There she inspired generations of students and teachers. Russell was featured in the 1927 volume of Who's Who in Colored America. St. Paul's College named a building after Nellie Russell and her husband Dr. J. Alvin Russell, in honor of their contributions, and endowed a scholarship in their name.