[2] The Afro-American Sons and Daughters was a fraternal organization in Mississippi and one of the leading black voluntary associations in the state.

The founder of the group was Thomas J. Huddleston, Sr., a prosperous black entrepreneur and advocate of Booker T. Washington's self-help philosophy.

[3] In 1928, the association opened the Afro-American Hospital of Yazoo City, Mississippi to give low-cost care to the members.

The hospital, which offered both major and minor surgery, was a leading health care supplier for blacks in Mississippi.

[3] The hospital ceased operation in 1966 as a fraternal entity after years of increasingly burdensome regulation, competitive pressure from government and third-party health care alternatives, and the migration of younger dues-paying blacks to the North.