[2] The organization's constitution outlines four goals: establish a network among the membership, promote Black women in the profession, disseminate information about opportunities in the field, and suggest research topics and repositories.

Before the organization was launched in late 1979 in New York, meetings were held across the United States in Cincinnati, California, and Massachusetts, where the women established its framework.

[3] The first members of the executive committee were Darlene Clark Hine, Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, Janice Sumler-Lewis, Bettye J. Gardner, Sharon Harley, Cheryl Johnson, Juanita Moore, Sylvia M. Jacobs, Maria A.

The organization has held research conferences and annual luncheons, and published an anthology to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its founding.

The keynote speakers included Nell Irvin Painter, Elizabeth Clarke Lewis, and Mary Frances Berry.