On November 9, 1946, Margaret Roselle Hawkins and Sarah Strickland Scott, two young Philadelphia visionaries, founded The Links, Incorporated. They invited seven of their friends to join them in organizing a new type of inter-city club. This organizing meeting of The Links was not a spontaneous action. In 1945, Margaret Roselle Hawkins had conceived the idea of a group of clubs composed of friends along the eastern seaboard and had spent many hours with Sarah Strickland Scott in thinking, planning and discussing the possibilities of such an endeavor.
Today, The Links, Incorporated consists of nearly 15,000 professional women of color in 288 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the United Kingdom. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.
The Durham (NC) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated was nationally chartered in 1958 and is now one of 74 chapters in the Southern Area of
The Links, Incorporated. During its history, the members of Durham (NC) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated have provided their time, financial resources and talents to over fifty local, state, and national organizations and programs. These organizations and programs have included but are not limited to: Lincoln Hospital; John Avery Boys and Girls Club; Lincoln Community Health Center; Durham City and County Schools; Walk-A-Thons; Health and Educational Programs in Africa; Stanford L. Warren Library; Hayti Heritage Center; Genesis Home, now Families Moving Forward (homeless shelter for families); Mentoring and Scholarship Programs; United Negro College Fund; Durham Striders; Habitat for Humanity (co-sponsored a house: provided funds and labor); Organ and Bone Marrow Donor Programs; Braille Magazine; Community Health Coalition; and programs to eliminate childhood obesity.
