Celebrating 35 years for the STL Chapter with Francille Rusan Wilson, Ph.D.
The St. Louis Chapter of The Girl Friends, Inc. will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Girl Friends, Inc. and the 35th anniversary of the St. Louis Chapter at a luncheon and book signing by Francille Rusan Wilson, Ph.D., author of the book, The Segregated Scholars. The luncheon will be held at Bellerive Country Club on Sunday, May 20.
The Segregated Scholars: Black Social Scientists and the Creation of Black Labor Studies, 1890-1950 is Wilson’s first published book. In the book, Wilson explores the lives and work of 15 black labor historians and social scientists as seen through the prisms of gender, class and time. She makes a crucial and unprecedented contribution to our understanding of our black intellectual heritage, as well as the history of the social sciences and of many of the practices and policies with which we now live and work.
Wilson is a native St. Louisian who grew up in Richmond Heights. She is currently a professor of African American Studies at the University of Maryland and a Distinguished Lecturer for the organization of American Historians (2003-2007).
She earned a BA in political science from Wellesley College where she co-founded Ethos, Wellesley’s black student organization. She was also a part of the student activist movement that brought black studies to Wellesley and Harvard University, where she earned an M.A.T. in social studies, followed by an MA and Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsylvania.
Wilson is married to Dr. Ernest Wilson III and they have two sons, Malik and Rodney. She is the daughter of the late Dr. Thomas and Mrs. Georgia Tallier Rusan, a charter member of the St. Louis Chapter of The Girl Friends, Inc.
Girl Friends, Inc. is one of the oldest and most highly respected social organizations of African-American women in the United Sates. It was founded in New York City during the creative ferment of the Harlem Renaissance in 1927. Under the legal guidance of the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (whose wife was a Girl Friend), GF’s was incorporated September 23, 1938.
Although the original concept was purely social, Girl Friends, Inc. has expanded its purpose to include a national scholarship fund along with support for charitable and cultural activities. The St. Louis Chapter is proud of celebrating 35 years of friendship and service to the St. Louis community.
There May 20 event will include a special tribute to charter members.
R.S.V.P. to GF Ellene Nash at 314- 997-0661 or hnash0741@sbcglobal.net.