On this date in 1938 Jack and Jill of America was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from a meeting of 20 mothers by the leadership of Marion Stubbs Thomas with the idea of bringing together children in a social and cultural environment. It grew out of the community work of upper-class African American women, who wanted their children to have cultural opportunities, develop leadership skills, and form social networks even in a segregated society. Today mothers have to be invited into the group, much like memberships in country clubs. Members are usually professional women who are doctors, lawyers, business women, or are married to well-off individuals. Children who graduate out of the program are granted legacy status and automatically join when they have children of their own.

I have my own personal views on the current state of this organization and many of their members but I'll save that for another post.

On this date in 1962 the great Jackie Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

On this date in 1993 Thurgood Marshall the first black Supreme Court Justice died at the age of 84. Marshall will always be known for his work on the case Brown v. Board of Education which said there was no such thing as separate but equal in education. This case would go on to end segregation in schools.