National History
The History of The Links, Incorporated The year was 1946. In the wake of World War II, Philadelphia matrons Margaret Roselle Hawkins and Sarah Strickland Scott called together seven friends in hopes of starting a new type of organization, a chain of women’s clubs composed of friends along the Eastern seaboard who would respond to the needs and aspirations of Black women. There were other groups in existence, but the two women envisioned a service-oriented organization that would have a twofold purpose - to promote civic, educational, and cultural concerns and to lead Black women into postwar America. The original nine members were Frances Atkinson, Katie Green, Margaret Hawkins, Marion Minton, Myrtle Manigault, Sarah Scott, Lillian Stanford, Lillian Wall, and Dorothy Wright.THE LINKS FACETS
GREAT LAKES CHAPTER
Chartered January 30, 1993
The Beginning
The love, care, guidance and nurturing of what The Links, Incorporated calls our Chapter Organizer Ella Mae finally paid off.
On a Sunday afternoon in 1988, Dr. Ella Mae Stapleton called together a group of women who gathered in the lounge of All Saints Episcopal Church. The purpose of the gathering was to gauge the interest in forming a service group which would one day be connected to a national service organization whose goals were dedicated to the improvement and development of communities with particular focus on minority issues.
From that meeting, the Detroit Area Service Organization (“D.A.S.O.") was born. In 1989 the name of the organization was changed to the Metropolitan Area Service Organization, (“M.A.S.O") to legitimately capture the entire metropolitan area in the name of the group, as it was the group’s intent to provide services to the entire metropolitan Detroit area.1
The original members to that organization were:
The primary focus of MASO was to provide service and financial support to the community with particular focus on minority issues. The motto of the organization was “linked by friends who care and share, committed to each other, and to the community, we go forth."
Timeline
In 26 years of service and 19 years as a Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, the Great Lakes Chapter has donated thousands of service hours and thousands of dollars to charities, including but not limited to:
Combining many talents and time of its members, the Great Lakes Chapter continues to grow and develop through service in the metropolitan Detroit community. The Chapter continues to expand the friendship that was exhibited by our original founding members and in memory of the Links in the chain who are no longer with us.