The Links, Incorporated

The Links, Incorporated is an exclusive non-profit organization based upon the ideals of combining friendship and community service. The organization was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 9, 1946, from a group of ladies known as the Philadelphia Club to focus on civic, cultural, and educational endeavors. The organization was formally incorporated five years later, in 1951.

Links, Incorporated comprises primarily of professional African-American women. Membership is extended to candidates nominated and approved by currently active Link members. In addition, membership is also extended to daughters of active Link members, who are called "Heir-O-Links." For example, ninth National Link President, Regina Jollivette Frazier, was the first "Heir-O-Link" president in 1986. Currently, the Links, Incorporated, has over 10,000 members and 274 chapters internationally, including Germany, South Africa and the Bahamas. The Links, Incorporated celebrated their sixtieth anniversary on November 9, 2006. In honor of the achievement, commemorative medals were issued to celebrate the organization's achievements.

Mission statement

Within the organization, the Links, Incorporated's overall goals are to:

• Redefine Links's purposes, sharpen its focus and expand its program dimensions in order to make Links, not only a chain of friendship, but also a chain of purposeful service.
• Use the talent of each member to help fulfill the hopes and dreams of others.
• Enrich and support those who are educationally disadvantaged and culturally deprived.
• Remain committed to making history and providing hope.

Four facets of The Links, Incorporated

The Links, Incorporated focuses primarily on four strategic areas of interest ("facets"):

• National Trends and Services: Currently, The Links sponsor Linkages to Life: Organ Tissue and Bone Marrow Donation Awareness Program, which promotes organ donation. In addition, in October 2006, the Links, donated one million dollars to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, which will be used to create "The Links Incorporated Educational and Cultural Center," promoting social and civil progress in America.
• Services for Youth: The Links, Incorporated, offers programs such as Operation SEED and "Just Say 'No'!" in order to educate youth about the perils of drug and substance abuse as well as improve the self-esteem of teens.
• International Trends and Services: The Links are active in African and Caribbean affairs. For example, in "Education Across the Miles," the Links donated more than US$300,000 in order to build schools in South Africa and Nigeria. On October 21, 2005, the Links were honored at the United Nations's 60th Anniversary Gala in New York City.
• The Arts: The Links, Incorporated, are actively involved in promoting African and African American art, in order to educate youth and adults about the artwork's significance. The art component of the Links was put into place by Link Margaret Hough and was placed into the organization in 1964 after the Links' Fourteenth National Assembly in Nassau, Bahamas.

History

The Philadelphia Club

In 1946, two homemakers, Sarah Strickland-Scott and Margaret Rosell Hawkins, had a vision to found a club for colored women which would aim to enrich the community through education and the arts. As a result, on November 9, 1946, Scott and Hawkins formed the Philadelphia Club.

During its early years, meetings were held in members' homes. If a meeting was held in a member's home, she would have to serve as hostess. The Philadelphia Club was limited to fourteen members, and if a member missed a meeting, her membership would be revoked. Meetings were held monthly, and dues were fifty cents per month (2005 value of $5.00, according to the Consumer Price Index). Most of the Link members were also members of Jack-and-Jill, an organization for African-American mothers with young children, (now known as Jack-and Jill of America) and sought to expand the Links organization to other cities. Potential members were invited by members of the original Philadelphia Club through relatives, acquaintances, or via membership through other organizations such as the National Medical Association, the American Dental Association, the Urban League, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Original club membership

Two home-makers are credited with the group's foundation:

• Margaret Rosell Hawkins
• Sarah Strickland-Scott

The seven original members of the club were:

• Frances Atkinson
• Katie Murphy Green
• Marion Minton
• Lillian Stanford
• Myrtle Manigault Stratton
• Lillian Wall
• Dorothy Wright

Expansion

Before the incorporation of The Philadelphia Club, fourteen chapters were established between 1947 to 1949, which are shown below:

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Clusters of The Philadelphia Club

February 28, 1947	Leonore S. Garland, Carrie Esters, Emily Fowler, Anna Freeman, Helen Hoxter, Sara Washington-Logan, Louise Martin, Omega Mason, Edythe Marshall, Viola Murray, Isabelle Scott, and Myrtle Usry
2nd	Washington, D.C.	Late April 1947	Bernice Thomas, Ruth Young, Vasti Cook, Katie Harris, Anne Cook-Reid, and Eula Trigg
3rd	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	1948	Jessie M. Vann, Daisy Lampkin, Jewel Blow, Lillian Brown, Betty Butler, Gladys Curtis, Lucille Cuthbert, Kathleen Douglass, Gertrude Holmes, Harriet Lewis-Jamerson, Rachael Lewis, Corinne Lindsay, Winifred Moss, Carolyn Stevenson, and Esther Summers
4th	St. Louis, Missouri	February 20, 1948	Blanche Sinkler, Joy Blacke, Orlie Carpenter, Mary Evans, Charlotte Ford, Anna Lee Scott, and Alice Harding.
5th	Petersburg, Virginia	May 1948	Eunice Brown-Robbins, Cleopatara Armstrong, Ruth Baker, Gladys Bland, Alma Brown, Marietta Cephas, Gladys Green, Evelyn Jenkins, Josephine Jones, Uarda Parnell, Susie Verdell, Adelaid White, Helen Williams, and Virginia Williams
6th	Wilmington, Delaware	June 1948	Beulah Anderson, Edith Barton, Alice Brown, Grace Goens, Lorraine Hamilton, Ann Harris, Marjorie Hopkins, Marjorie Jackson, Sarajane Hunt, Rozelia O'Neal, Elizabeth Parker, and Sara Taylor
7th	Baltimore, Maryland	September 1948	Audrey Norris, Etta Phifer, Theresa Weaver, Mae Adams, Catherine Adams, Helen Burwell, Beatrice Butler, Marie Hicks, Pauline Watts, Lillian Berry, Pearl Pennington, Xaveria McDonald, and Florence Gloster
8th	Rocky Mount, North Carolina (Wilson, Rocky Mount, and Tarboro)	April 18, 1949	Esmerelda Rich-Hawkins, Ann Armstrong, Nan Delany-Johnson, Marguerite Armstrong, Sally Armstrong, Grace Artis, Addie Butterfield, Norma Darden, Vera Esmeralda Hawkins, Vera Shade Green, Ethel Hines, Jessie Pash, Helen Quigless, and Jennie Taylor
9th	Princeton, New Jersey (Central New Jersey)	May 1949	Madeline Broaddus, Lottie Lee-Dinkins, Claudine Lewis, Bernice Munce, Christine Howell, Louise Granger, Eddye Mae Shivery, and Augusta Smith
10th	Dayton, Ohio	May 28, 1949	Lillian Taylor, Melissa Bess, Hortense Campbell, Beatrice Darnell, Viola Finley, Remitha Ford, Bessie Jones, Ruth Lewis, Cora Peters, Margaret Robinson, Letitia Rose, Ruth Smith, Lucie Taylor, and Louise Wesley
11th	Harlem/New York City, New York (Greater New York)	May 1949	Dorothy Reed, Bernia Austin, Myrtle Howard, Estelle Jarrott, Ethel Lowry, Emilie Pickins, Mable Trent, and Marie Vidal
12th	North New Jersey	June 1949	Lillian Alexander, Fannie Curtis, Mamie Jean-Darden, Elizabeth Ghee, Margurite Gross, Bessie Hill, Alvan Martin, Ella McLean, Gertrude Norris, Gladys Shirley, and Mildred Morris-Williams
13th	Raleigh, North Carolina	June 1949	Julia Delany, Blanche Daniels, Ruby Fisher, Amelia Hamlin, Ernestine Hamlin, Gertrude Harris, Nannie Inborden, Willie Kay, Mamie McCauley, Louise McClennan, Louise Perrin, Mildred Taylor, Geraldine Trigg, and Marguerite White

While the Raleigh chapter was founded, the group decided to nationalize. During June 1949, delegates, one representing each of the thirteen daughter chapters, met with the original members of the Philadelphia Club in Philadelphia to discuss incorporating the society and to showcase the involvement of each chapter. After the members decided to rename the group, The Links, Incorporated, one of the founders — Sarah Strickland-Scott was named as the first president. The organization was incorporated on March 28, 1951.

Members co-involvement with National Pan-Hellenic Council Sororities

Several members of The Links, Incorporated, are also members of the four National Pan-Hellenic Council Sororities (mainly Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated). For example:

• Founding Link Katie Murphy Greene was member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
• Writer of Link History (1st and 2nd Editions) Marjorie H. Parker, is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
• Immediate Past National President, Gladys Gary Vaughn, is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. Also, current National President Gwendolyn B. Lee is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Future impact

Almost forty years after The Links's founding in Philadelphia, the Links's National President Dolly Adams honored the five living founding members of the Philadelphia Club in their home city during the 24th National Assembly,

We will strive to love each other as you have loved us, and keep The Links' chain of friend-ship ever flourishing and expanding. We thank you for your vision, wisdom, guidance, and abundant talent unselfishly shared with all Linkdom.

The exclusiveness of the Links organization, as well as its selection process, helped to shape the importance and impact of each member's involvement. Most Link members are involved with professions relating to business, education, law, politics, military, government, medicine, and entertaiment. For example, current Links President Gwendolyn B. Lee proclaimed December 7, 2006 a day for NASA STS-116 astronaut and fellow Link Joan Higginbotham.

Presidents

To date, The Links, Incorporated, has had fourteen National Presidents, each of whom (except one) served (or serves) a four-year term. Each National President is selected by her peers and must have fulfilled certain guidelines outlined by the organization before running for the position.

National Assemblies

• 1st – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1949)
• 2nd – Atlantic City, New Jersey (1950)
• 3rd – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1951)
• 4th – San Francisco, California (1952)
• 5th – Buffalo, New York (1953)
• 6th – Bluefield, Virginia (1954)
• 7th – Columbus, Ohio (1955)
• 8th – Denver, Colorado (1956)
• 9th — Atlanta, Georgia (1957)
• 10th – New York, New York (1958)

• 11th – Chicago, Illinois (1959)
• 12th – Los Angeles, California (1960)
• 13th – French Lick, Indiana (1962)
• 14th – Nassau, Bahamas (1964)
• 15th – Boston, Massachusetts (1966)
• 16th – Oakland/Berkeley, California (1968)
• 17th – Cincinnati, Ohio (1970)
• 18th – New Orleans, Louisiana (1972)
• 19th – Washington, D.C. (1974)
• 20th – Seattle, Washington (1976)

• 21st – Chicago, Illinois (1978)
• 22nd – Atlanta, Georgia (1980)
• 23rd – Las Vegas, Nevada (1982)
• 24th – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1984)
• 25th – Nashville, Tennessee (1986)
• 26th – Syracuse, New York (1988)
• 27th – Washington, D.C. (1990)
• 28th – Dallas, Texas (1992)
• 29th – Louisville, Kentucky (1994)
• 30th – New Orleans, Louisiana (1996)

• 31st – Boston, Massachusetts (1998)
• 32nd – San Francisco, California (2000)
• 33rd – Chicago, Illinois (2002)
• 34th – Atlanta, Georgia (2004)
• 35th – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2006)
• 36th – Seattle, Washington (2008)

Note: The History of The Links, Incorporated, ends the listing of the national assemblies in 1982. Also, each national assembly was held annually, until 1960, when conventions were held bi-annually.

Stamp

In Link-to-Link (the organization's official newsletter), Link member Edith Hammond revealed a U.S. postal stamp during the organization's thirty-fifth convention on June 28, 2006. The stamp, entitled "Touching Tomorrow Today," marked the sixtieth anniversary of The Links, Incorporated. The illustration of the stamp shows the Links' national headquarters in Washington, D.C. The stamp is the first and only stamp honoring an African-American organization. The side inscription reads the following:

This new "PC Postage" stamp commemorates 60 years of service through friendship by The Links, Incorporated, a not-for-profit organization of more than 10,500 women of color committed to enriching, sustaining, and ensuring the culture and economic survival of children and families of African ancestry by focusing on service to the community.

Hammond, also the designer of the stamp, revealed, "' was an honor to create a living legacy."

Donations to Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Through the implementation of the "Central Area HBCU Fund," scholarship funds were donated to historically black college and universities. The endeavor began in 2005 and assisted fourteen institutions. The largest endowed gift made by the Links was $100,000 donated to Fisk University. Shown are below are the fourteen colleges which received endowment:

• Fisk University — (Nashville, Tennessee)
• Tennessee State University — (Nashville, Tennessee)
• Central State University — (Wilberforce, Ohio)
• Wilberforce University — (Wilberforce, Ohio)
• West Virginia State University — (Charleston, West Virginia)

• Harris-Stowe State College — (St. Louis, Missouri)
• Langston University — (Langston, Oklahoma)
• LeMoyne-Owen College — (Memphis, Tennessee)
• Kentucky State University — (Frankfort, Kentucky)
• University of Arkansas — (Pine Bluff, Arkansas)

• Lane College — (Jackson, Tennessee)
• Bluefield State College — (Bluefield, West Virginia)
• Philander Smith College — (Little Rock, Arkansas)
• Knoxville College — (Knoxville, Tennessee)
• West Virginia State University — (Charleston, West Virginia)

References

• Parker, Marjorie H. (1982). [the stamp] The History of Links, Incorporated. Washington, D.C.: National Headquarters of The Links, Incorporated. 116 pages. Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN): 82-81579.
• Parker, Marjorie H. (1992). [1st edition] A History of Links, Incorporated. Washington, D.C.: National Headquarters of The Links, Incorporated. 194 pages.

Footnotes

External links

• The Links, Incorporated official website