Zahara Jolie Pitt, the adopted daughter of movie stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, has set the internet ablaze as footage of her performing an Alpha Kappa Alpha stroll makes its rounds. Enrolling in Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia fall of 2022, the 19-year-old is seemingly flourishing at her HBCU, finding her identity in sisterhood by joining the AKA sorority in late 2023.
The internet has rejoiced in Zahara’s joy and praised Jolie for being so supportive in this chapter of her daughter’s life. Beyond all else, it’s highlighted an important conversation: the significance of staying culturally connected when you’re Black and adopted.
Who Is Zahara Jolie Pitt?
Born on January 8th, 2005, in Awasa, Ethiopia, Zahara was adopted by Angelina Jolie on July 6th, 2005 and by Brad Pitt in early 2006. From trips back to Ethiopia to dawning traditional garb, Jolie has made it a point to ensure Zahara’s connection to her African roots. She regularly sings her daughter’s praises, sharing in 2020 “My daughter is from Ethiopia and I have learned so much from her. She is my family, but she is an extraordinary African woman and her connection to her country, her continent, is her own and it’s something I only stand back in awe of.”
Zahara has expressed interest in social justice and philanthropy, similar to Jolie. So much so, in fact, that she and her sister Shiloh traveled with their mother to meet the first female president of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde, in 2019 to discuss education and sanitary pad solutions for girls in the region.
Zahara’s HBCU Era
A proud mom first and movie star second, Jolie shared the Spelman news alongside a photo of Zahara and her new friends, writing “Zahara with her Spelman sisters! Congratulations to all new students starting this year. A very special place and an honor to have a family member as a new Spelman girl.”
At Zahara’s probate ceremony, she made a dazzling entrance as a new member of the “Sweet” Mu Pi Chapter, introducing herself by declaring “Hey everyone, I’m Zahara Marley Jolie, coming all the way from the Golden State— Los Angeles, California. And yep, I’m number seven on this line!”
While every adoptee story is different, witnessing Zahara’s palpable joy reinforces the significance of maintaining a connection to your homeland and cultural bloodline, in order to understand yourself all the more. It’s clear Zahara has been made to feel both comfortable with and connected to her roots, developing her identity not only as an Ethiopian but as a Black American. Having undergone a lot of strife since Pitt and Jolie’s hasty divorce and being picked apart by the public media since she was an infant, it’s a sigh of relief to witness her bask in her college youth and unabashed Blackness.