Jack & Jill: Where elite black kids are

separated from the restExamples

By: Crystal Gordon

Membership Invitation “The way one gets into Jack and Jill is by

knowing someone who already belongs. And that’s how my parents got in: my parents’ attorney and his wife, a pharmacist, proposed us in the early 1960s."

Wealth and Membership There is no minimum family income threshold

required for those being considered for membership. But, because members are often required to entertain fellow chapters families in their homes, in between larger events that take place in country clubs, hotels, and restaurants, its no surprise that most successful applicants are the ones who have the space, money, and time to entertain and host parties and fund- raisers.

Wealth and Membership

“My own experiences in the group belies the notion that wealth of members isn’t noticed.”

“I still remember the day I came home feeling bereft after a backyard Jack and Jill picnic at a friend’s house.”

Wealth and Membership “I was approximately 12 years old at the

time, and the friend had been bragging that his family had 2 live-in-workers, a maid, a caretaker, and a part-time worker who was on hand at their private dock for the family yacht moored at the base of their Tudor estate on New York’s Long Island Sound.

“How are we going to compete with that?”

Avoidance of Interracial Dating “I got so busy and put my son in Jack and

Jill. i know it sounds desperate but it was the best move I could make in order to let him know that there are black girls who are smart, attractive, well-to-do, and well- bred."

Discrimination within the Black Elite club " I cant tell you how many Jack and Jill

gatherings I went to where somebody would say something like ' you're pretty for somebody so dark. you have nice white teeth.”

“The Jack and Jill crowd was so into long, pretty hair-light-skin-nice features scene that it really devastated me.”