The Mississippi Health Project II — Revived in the Delta 85 Years Later
Supreme Basileus Glenda Glover and Soror Ora B . Douglass , International Program Committee Chair
In the 1930s , 8th Supreme Basileus Ida Jackson recognized that the residents of the Mississippi Delta needed basic healthcare . “ Back then , the sorority launched its first Summer
School for Rural Teachers , a program created in Lexington to improve the educational skills among Black teachers ,” explained Soror Glenda Glover , 30th Supreme Basileus . “ Quickly , the leadership of the sorority recognized the lack of access to quality healthcare for Black families in that region of the country needed to take priority . This set us on a trajectory to open community health clinics that offered vaccinations and medical care for children and families . The Mississippi Health Project ( MHP ) was born out of necessity and a call to serve .” Alpha Kappa Alpha members would travel to the Mississippi Delta to provide free medical services to more than 15,000 community residents for nearly a decade .
Today , the Magnolia State has the highest rate of COVID-19 deaths than any other state in the nation . Currently , African American residents are disproportionately impacted by access to care and inequities exacerbated by the pandemic . The stakes could not be higher .
AKA sojourned the same route as the mobile health clinic of the 1930s — this time during a global pandemic — to deliver much-needed healthcare services throughout the Mississippi Delta . Over three days in October , Alpha Kappa Alpha hosted five pop up health events across the state in Clarksdale , Greenville , Greenwood , Lexington , and Mound Bayou as part of Mississippi Health Project II .
48 I vyL eaf ® fall 2021 Centennial edition