LINKS, INCORPORATED. The Texas chapter of Links, Incorporated, was established in Houston in 1951. The Links, a national organization to promote friendship among black women across the country, had been organized in 1946 by Sarah S. Scott and Margaret Hawkins in Philadelphia. The program includes services to youth, data on national and international trends, and support of the arts. The organization sponsors a grants-in-aid program for financial aid to such organizations as the United Negro College Fund, NAACP, the Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Schomberg Center for Research. Other recipients have been the National Achievement Scholarship Fund, Africare-African Water Wells, and the Haitian Refugee Center. The Links Foundation, Incorporated, was formed as the philanthropic arm of the organization. On August 30, 1984, Links, Incorporated, purchased a building in Washington, D.C., to serve as headquarters for both organizations.
The first six Texas chapters were Houston (1951), Dallas (1957), Fort Worth (1959), Austin (1960), San Antonio (1960), and East Texas (1961). In 1971 a chapter was formed in the Golden Triangle (Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange); later chapters included Midland (1973), Waco (1974), El Paso (1977), Missouri City (1979), Tri-Cities (1981), Mid-City (1985), and Port City (1987). In 1987 Texas had fourteen Links chapters, most of which were actively involved in support of the arts and education, black history, youth programs, and the fight against teen pregnancy and drug abuse; strengthening the black family was also an important goal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Stephen Birmingham, Certain People (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977). Marjorie Holloman Parter, The History of the Links (Washington: National Headquarters of the Links, 1982).
