Norma Solomon White, LHD
25th International President
1998 – 2002
Administration Theme: Blazing New Trails
Administration/Program Focus: “Blazing New Trails” through Family, Economics, Education, Health, Arts and Leadership Development. Middle School Educational Intervention; African Presence; Officer Training and Certification; Eradication of Poverty; Anti-Hazing Task Force; AKA Heritage
Initiated into the Beta Alpha Chapter at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (Tallahassee, Florida). As a student of FAMU, White was the first female member of the famed FAMU Marching 100 Band.
Current Membership: Gamma Rho Omega Chapter in Jacksonville, Florida
Dr. Norma Solomon White was the First Legacy International President. In 2000, Dr. White and her mother, the late Ruth C. Solomon, served as Grand Marshals in the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated ® (AKA) Legacy Parade.
Dr. White served as the 8th Regional Director for the South Atlantic Region from 1974 until 1978. The sorority was successful in raising $100,000 for the United Negro College Fund. She later was elected to the office of First Supreme Anti-Basileus at the 56th Boule in Indianapolis, Indiana. In that capacity, she also served as the first vice president of the sorority’s Educational Foundation Board. Then, in 1998, Norma became the 25th Supreme Basileus of Alpha Kappa Alpha at the Boule held in Chicago, Illinois. The theme for her administration embraced six target areas: leadership development, education, health, the black family, economics and the arts. Under her leadership, chapters adopted the sorority’s “On Track” after-school program, which targeted 15,000 at-risk students in grades third through sixth to prepare them for middle school. The sorority expanded its African presence by building 10 schools in South Africa.
In 2018, Dr. Norma Solomon White was awarded a historical marker, which is traditionally given posthumously, and is located near West 8th Street and Interstate 95 across from the AKA House. The marker approximately sits one mile from Danell Cookman Middle High School (Duvall County, Jacksonville) where Dr. White was the first female Band Director in the Duval School District.
Dr. White is the author of two books – A Legacy Supreme: Voices of Leadership in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated ® published in 2002, and My Story published in 2022.