Last weekend, my husband, a few select friends, and I attended a black-tie dinner dance party like every Memorial Day weekend for the previous two decades. Who does that? The Club Twenty-One social group has been a part of a longstanding annual tradition for the last 20 years.
My husband belongs to Club Twenty-One, which originated in 1946, made up of 21 African American men who found themselves barred from local professional organizations and formed a social club to play cards, hold outings with their families, and promote the black presence in the community. Adopting a name similar to a popular and highly respected club in New York City (all good things happen in the Big Apple, don’t they?), they named themselves The Club Twenty-One, which also denotes the maximum membership at any time. Membership is by invitation only.
Only when someone dies or resigns is another person considered to join.