First black woman to join Daughters of American Revolution governing board
NEW YORK (AP) — The Daughters of the American Revolution is having a milestone moment.
On Sunday, the lineage-based group is officially installing the first African American woman on its national governing board.
Wilhelmena Rhodes Kelly is from the New York City borough of Queens.
Kelly and others in the historically white organization have been encouraging women of color to research their family roots to see if they can find a tie to the country's founding.
That's after a past that's included Eleanor Roosevelt quitting the Daughters of the American Revolution after it refused to allow black singer Marian Anderson to perform at its Constitution Hall in 1939.
Kelly joined in 2004 after discovering she was related to a white Virginian who donated supplies to war efforts.
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