CNN –
There was great excitement when Zahara Jolie-Pitt enrolled at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia last year.
Videos of her and her mother, Angelina Jolie, visiting campus went viral and sparked conversations about the importance of historically black colleges and universities.
Jolie and Brad Pitt’s 18-year-old daughter has now joined the sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, Incorporated, and that has once again sparked excitement and dialogue.
Essence magazine posted a video on social media that showed a crowd on campus reacting enthusiastically as Jolie-Pitt introduced herself and shared that she was number seven among her sisters who took their pledge.
Alpha Kappa Alpha, Incorporated is the oldest Greek-letter organization founded by college-educated black women and has more than 355,000 initiated members in undergraduate and graduate chapters around the world. It was founded at Howard University in 1908 and is the subject of the documentary film “Twenty Pearls.”
The sorority also boasts numerous high-profile members, including current Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris.
Many members proudly point to being part of the Divine Nine, a group of sororities and fraternities founded in the early 20th century at a time when racism and discrimination against black Americans were pervasive.
Jolie-Pitt was online and then crossed over, as is said when a person becomes a member of a black sorority or fraternity. This is notable for those who have observed Jolie-Pitt’s connections to her cultural roots.
She was born in Ethiopia and adopted by Jolie and Pitt in 2005. When it comes to transracial adoptions, in which children of color are adopted by white parents, some raise concerns that these parents may not be sensitive to what it means to live in a world that views you as a minority.
This was the case in 2009 when there was a debate over whether Jolie allowed her daughter to wear her hair, which Newsweek’s Allison Samuels described as “wild and unstyled, unkempt and dry.” Basically: a ‘hot mess’.”
“Now I’m not going to jump into the middle of the noisy debate that’s sweeping the internet like wildfire; There’s been enough talk about the issue from both sides without me contributing anything (Should Zahara’s hair be wild and carefree?” wrote author and journalist Denene Millner on her website My Brown Baby). “Should Angie take a course to care for black hair, right?” two so she can “tame” Zahara’s hair? Why are we even criticizing a 4-year-old’s hairstyle?)”
“But I have to say that even as an African-American mother, it’s not easy to be responsible for two frizzy, curly hairs – not counting my own – with little information, great fear and terrible memories of Saturday night’s torture,” she added.
When Jolie arrived at Spelman with her daughter in 2022, it was celebrated that Jolie-Pitt would become part of the famed women’s liberal arts college. The actress fully embraced the choice and was even filmed during a campus visit teaching her how to do the electric slide.
This joy was reiterated and reinforced by the news that Jolie-Pitt had promised.
“It felt like my little cuz or niece crossed the line,” former Amazing Race contestant and influencer Kerri Paul commented on social media.
CNN’s Chandelis Duster and Nicquel Terry Ellis contributed to this report