The Jack and Jill of America, Inc. Pittsburgh Chapter held their biennial Presentation Ball on Dec. 30, 2016, at the beautiful Omni William Penn Hotel in the grand ballroom. This year, hundreds of attendees learned the back story of the Jack and Jill Presentation Ball. Judith Davenport, DMD, the Legacy Ball chair, shared the story of how the ball began.
The first ball was held on Dec. 30, 1982. The Jack and Jill Presentation Ball was conceived after Davenport’s daughter was not invited to attend a ball that her Ellis School classmates were attending. The Jack and Jill mothers got together and planned a ball that included young men and women in the 11th and 12th grades. The first ball had 10 participants and the proceeds benefited NEED (The Negro Emergency Education Fund). The 2016 event was the 17th consecutive Jack and Jill Presentation Ball and a portion of the proceeds were presented to Gateway Medical Society’s Journey to Medicine program.
Each year, participating teens decide the theme. For the event, the group selected a quote from Malcolm X, “the future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” The participating debutantes and beaus were Master Curtis Aiken Jr.; Master Michael Clyde Bridges; Miss Taylor Janet Brown; Miss Katherine Ermintrude Davenport; Master Evan Scott Frazier Jr.; Miss Samantha Josephine Graves; Miss McKenzie Noel Morrissey; Master Kendall Milton Thomas; and Miss Liza Blair Wilson.
Thomas, the grandson of Nancy Washington who served on the first ball committee, and Katherine Ermintrude Davenport is the granddaughter of Judith and Ronald Davenport, are the first legacy children to be presented. Lisa Washington Rushing, of KDKA-TV, and Brian Cook, of American Urban Radio Network and Golden Sky Media Company, served as grand marshalls while Janis Burley Wilson and Tammy Miles Brown, PhD, were ball co-chairs.
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