In March 1951, Black women in Houston chartered a chapter of The Links, Incorporated. Seventy-five years later it has more than 70 members, has awarded more than $500,000 in scholarships to Houston-area young people, and is holding an anniversary celebration on Saturday.
The date matters because of where the chapter began. In the 1950s, segregation left Black women in Houston with few places to gather, chapter president Janice Hale-Harris told the Houston Defender. The Blue Triangle Community Center gave the chapter space to meet. A Black women’s service organization found its first rooms inside a Black institution because the city offered it no others.
The Links itself was founded in Philadelphia in 1946 by two women who brought together seven friends. It now counts 299 chapters in 41 states, Washington, D.C., the Bahamas and the United Kingdom. Houston’s is one of eight in the Houston area, seven in the city and one in Beaumont.
The chapter’s work runs through five program areas: services to youth, the arts, national trends and services, international trends and services, and health and human services. Its own account puts the scholarship total above $500,000. Current projects include dental screenings for children from birth to age 12, in partnership with Colgate-Palmolive, plus voter participation and financial literacy work. On Nov. 21 it will join Bread of Life for a food giveaway and health fair.
Hale-Harris joined 11 years ago, introduced by Carolyn Codwell, whose grandmother was among the chapter’s founders. That is how a group like this lasts: one generation brings in the next.
Scholarship funds built over seven decades by volunteers rarely make headlines. This one has put more than half a million dollars toward Houston students, and it began in a room Black Houstonians had to build for themselves.
The 75th anniversary celebration is Saturday, Nov. 14, at 11:30 a.m. at the Junior League. It is open to the public by ticket, and national Links leaders are expected.
Have your say