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Charmaine Morrow Walton
chapter@tuscaloosaallinksinc.org
CharmaineWaltonTuscLinks@gmail.com
Last Updated: March 20, 2024
The Tuscaloosa (AL) Chapter
Tuscaloosa (AL) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated
2023-2025
“Anchored in Our Commitment to Our Friendship and Our Communities”
30 Years of Service
Tuscaloosa (AL) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated Charter Members
April 17, 1993
About The Tuscaloosa (AL) Chapter
In May 1989, a group of twenty-two friends from the Tuscaloosa and Greene County area embraced membership in The Links, Incorporated as a means of enhancing the quality of life for African-Americans. Two years later on April 17, 1993, the group (The Tuscaloosa Aspirants) was granted a Links Charter with jurisdiction within a 50-mile radius of Tuscaloosa. Currently, that chapter has 32 active members.
In keeping with the national philosophy of The Links, Incorporated, the Tuscaloosa (AL) Chapter has consistently honored The Links' vision of impacting the quality of life for humankind through community service via The Links' five national program facets: Services to Youth, The Arts, National Trends and Services, International Trends and Services, and Health and Human Services. Chapter activities include an annual Walk for Healthy Living, SuccessLinks Mentoring Program, partnerships with area elementary schools, support for underfunded communities, including some in Jamaica and parts of Africa, and the annual Young Artists Showcase.
Charter Members
Gladys Carlisle Edith Moton
Charlotte Carter Hattie Nash
Euradell Fredd Sarah Palmore
Ruth Fields Sandral Hullett Robertson
Irene Hubbard Yvonne Rodgers
Debbie Hughes Deborah Thomas
Alma Wyatt Jones Sonya Waldrop
Rhoda Johnson Dorothy Bostic Williams
Nellie Lewis Nancy Williams
Emma Melton A. Marie Wynn
Evelyn Mims Bernice Young
Chapter Presidents
A. Marie Wynn (1993-1995)
Charlotte Carter (1995-1997)
Yvonne Rodgers (1997-1999)
Bernice Hughes Young (1999-2001)
Debbie Lewis Hughes (2001-2003)
Barbara Scarbrough (2003-2005)
Earnestine Green McNealey (2005-2006)
Hattie Wells Nash (2006-2009)
Josephine Dantzler (2009-2011)
Katrena Grant (2011-2013)
Cynthia Crawford Brown (2013 -2015)
Pamela Hudson Pruitt (2015- 2017)
Phillis Branch Belcher (2017- 2019)
Carmella Anderson, M.D. (2019- 2021)
Charmaine Morrow Walton (2021- 2023)
Keisha Lowther, M.D. (2023 - Present)
About The Links, Incorporated
The Links, Incorporated is an international, not-for-profit corporation, established in 1946. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations committed to enriching, sustaining, and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other people of African ancestry. The two Co-Founders of The Links, Incorporated envisioned an organization with a threefold aim--civic, educational, and cultural programs that would foster cultural appreciation through the arts; develop richer inter-group relations; and help women who participated to understand and accept their social and civic responsibilities. Currently, the membership consists of more than 17,000 professional women of African descent in 299 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and the United Kingdom.
The First Members: On November 9, 1946, Margaret Rosell Hawkins and Sarah Strickland Scott, two young Philadelphia visionaries, co-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 Rosell 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. Along with Hawkins and Scott, the original members of the Philadelphia Club, were Frances Atkinson, Katie Green, Marion Minton, Lillian Stanford, Myrtle Manigault Stratton, Lillian Wall, and Dorothy Wright. The club elected Margaret Hawkins as president, Sarah Scott as vice president, Myrtle Manigault Stratton as recording secretary,
Frances Atkinson as corresponding secretary, and Dorothy Wright as treasurer.
Service: The outstanding programming of The Links, Incorporated has five facets which include: Services to Youth, The Arts, National Trends and Services, International Trends and Services, and Health and Human Services. The programs are implemented through strategies such as public information and education, economic development, and public policy campaigns.
Services to Youth
The Links, Incorporated focuses on providing a range of innovative, substantive and sustainable Pre-K-16 programming which contributes proven results to key educational or social/community issues. The primary goals of this facet are to:
- Promote early literacy
- Implement local mentoring programs from kindergarten through college
- Close the academic achievement gaps from kindergarten through college
- Introduce and support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S.T.E.M.) education and career readiness
- Implement college readiness programs
- Increase high school and college graduation rates
- Award college scholarships and build educational endowments
- Promote and support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
The Arts
The Links, Incorporated has a strong and rich record of support for the performing and visual arts, especially where it focuses on the presentation of artists of color.
National Trends and Services
The Links, Incorporated focuses on eliminating disparities to reduce barriers to service through leadership, education, and services. The mission of this facet is to empower the membership to effectively empower the various communities served.
International Trends and Services
The Links, Incorporated has a mission through it's Global Trilogy of International Trends and Services, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), and the Signature Program, "Education Across the Miles" to expand the global platform for programs designed and developed to service the educational, health and cultural needs of people of African descent throughout the world.
Health and Human Services
The Links, Incorporated established the Health and Human Services facet in response to the chronic health disparities that persist in our communities and result in the decreased life expectancy of African-Americans. This new facet brings greater focus, resources, and coordination to The Links, Incorporated's health initiatives already in existence.
Southern Area of The Links, Incorporated
The Links, Incorporated