Sunlight Girls Club

Sunlight Girls Club. . When desegregation began in Calhoun County in 1955, many African American students made educational and cultural adjustments. The summer before the 1955-56 school year, long-time educator Naomi B. Chase took a group of students from the all Black Alice O. Wilkins School on a picnic to Indianola at the La Salle monument. With concern for students adjusting to the changes brought on by integration, Mrs. Chase founded the Sunlight Girls Club on January 19, 1960 in her garage. In 1966, the Calhoun County School District provided the Wilkins School cafeteria as the Sunlight Girls' Clubhouse, and the group obtained their charter. , The objectives of the club were to bridge the gap of integration, to instill and promote finer womanhood, to instill principles of honesty, fair play, and justice, to develop good character through precepts and examples, to promote leadership, complete high school, strive for higher education, and to provide scholarships for furtherance of education. The first Sunlight Girls Club formed with fourteen girls, ages nine through sixteen. Regular attendance at school and church were mandatory, and music was an integral part of the organization. To promote growth and achievement, the girls were provided instruction in religious studies, music, typing, first aid, cooking, sewing, and ceramics. In 1964, to continue with the girls' growth and exposure, Edna Brown organized a band with instruments donated by the community. Approximately 312 girls were members of the Sunlight Girls Club during its 40 years of existence. Both sponsors and directors helped open the doors that parents could only dream for their children.