About Us

The Links, Incorporated is an international, not-for-profit corporation established in 1946. 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. 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 Southern Maryland Chain, an interest group for Links membership, was organized in the spring of 1980 by Albertine Lancaster. Twenty-seven professional women with diverse talents and abilities came together and determined that the outstanding commonality among them was a commitment to service to the people of the communities in which they lived.   It was felt that their joining together would strengthen their impact on the civic, political and educational life in the area.