Joyce Ann Ladner (born October 12, 1943) is an American civil rights activist, author, civil servant, and sociologist.
Early life and education
Ladner was born in Battles,
Wayne County,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
, on October 12, 1943, and grew up in nearby
Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County (where it is the county seat and largest city) and extending west into Lamar County. The city population was 45,989 at the 2010 census, with the populat ...
. She was raised with four brothers and four sisters. Ladner began school at the age of three and graduated high school in 1960 with her older sister,
Dorie Ladner. She went to
Tougaloo College
Tougaloo College is a private historically black college in the Tougaloo area of Jackson, Mississippi. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It was originally established in 1869 by New Yo ...
in Tougaloo, Mississippi, where she earned her B.A. in sociology in 1964, and then to
Washington University
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...
in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, where she earned her
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in 1968.
["Joyce A. Ladner"]
The Mississippi Writers Page. April 2003. During college, Ladner and her sister Dorie organized civil rights protests alongside
Medgar Evers
Medgar Wiley Evers (; July 2, 1925June 12, 1963) was an American civil rights activist and the NAACP's first field secretary in Mississippi, who was murdered by Byron De La Beckwith. Evers, a decorated U.S. Army combat veteran who had served i ...
and other students from the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segrega ...
. She and her sister were arrested and jailed for their activism. She told PBS of her activism in Mississippi:
In 1968, she was appointed assistant professor of sociology and curriculum specialist at the Southern Illinois University at
East St. Louis
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...
. In 1969, she became a senior research fellow at the
Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
. Other major research positions that followed include transracial adoption work funded by the Cummins Engine Foundation, and a visiting fellowship at the Metropolitan Applied Research Center.
In 1970, Ladner conducted postdoctoral work as a research associate at the
University of Dar es Salaam
The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in 1 ...
,
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
. In Tanzania, she completed research on "The Roles of Tanzanian Women in Community Development." In 1977, she embarked on a study of "The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement on the Career Patterns of Ex-Activists," which was funded by the
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
. The next year she served on the committee on Evaluation of Poverty Research at the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
.
Ladner taught at colleges and universities in places such as Illinois,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, Tanzania and
Washington D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
["Joyce Ladner"]
The History Makers. Retrieved July 11, 2013. She first joined
Howard University
Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...
in 1973, then left for
Hunter College
Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...
, and then returned to Howard in 1981. At Howard she worked for the academic affairs office, served as vice president of academic affairs, and in 1994, was made interim president,
[ becoming the first woman to hold the position at the university. She said she liked the job and was disappointed to be passed over for the full presidency.
]
Other activities
In 1995, President Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
appointed her to the to oversee the financial restructuring of the D.C. public school system.[ She has been a member on the board of directors of the ]American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fif ...
, of the review committee of the Minority Center for the National Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the prima ...
, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, on the board of directors of the 21st Century Foundation, on the board of directors of the Caucus of Black Sociologists, the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, the Woman's Forum, the Washington Urban League, Coalition of 100 Black Women, a senior fellow (1969–71) at the Institute of the Black World, a senior fellow in government at the Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...
,[ a fellow at the Social Science Research Council, has sat on the U.S. Department of Justice's Advisory Council on Violence Against Women, and the ]Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...
.
Ladner has written numerous reports on children's issues and has often been consulted for her expertise. In 1998, she provided congressional testimony on the "District of Columbia Public School Academic Plan," before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee of the District of Columbia.[Ladner, Joyce (March 13, 1998)]
"Testimony to the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, United States House of Representatives"
. DC Watch.
Ladner has served on a number of editorial boards and as a reviewer for grants institutions. In 1983, she was a guest editor of the special edition of the ''Western Sociological Review''. She has reviewed manuscripts for major presses, including Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
, Greenwood Press
Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG), also known as ABC-Clio/Greenwood (stylized ABC-CLIO/Greenwood), is an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which is today part of ABC-Clio. Established in 1967 as Gr ...
, University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
, Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
and the Brookings Press. Ladner has also reviewed grants for the National Institute of Mental Health, the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation and the 21st Century Foundation.
Ladner has served as a key commentator on national social issues. She has appeared on such news programs as the ''CBS Evening News
The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...
'', ''NBC Evening News
''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...
'', ''CBS Sunday Morning
''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (normally shortened to ''Sunday Morning'' on the program itself since 2009) is an American news magazine television program that has aired on CBS since January 28, 1979. Created by Robert Northshield and original host ...
'', ABC's ''Nightline
''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the progra ...
'' and the '' MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour''.
Books she has written include ''Tomorrow's Tomorrow: The Black Woman'', ''The Ties That Bind: Timeless Values For African American Families'' and ''Mixed Families: Adopting Across Racial Boundaries''. Books she co-wrote include ''The New Urban Leaders'', and ''The Death Of White Sociology'', of which she was the editor.[
]
Honors
Ladner has been named among distinguished alumni by Tougaloo College and by Washington University. She received first fellowship in 1970–71 to the Black Women's Community Development Foundation for the study of "Involvement of Tanzanian Women in Nation Building." She received the Russell Sage Foundation
The Russell Sage Foundation is an American non-profit organisation established by Margaret Olivia Sage in 1907 for “the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.” It was named after her recently deceased husband, rail ...
grant and the Cummins Engine Foundation grant for 1972–73. In 1986, the Howard University School of Social Work awarded her the Most Inspiring Teacher Award and followed that in 1991 with the Outstanding Achievement Award. In 1997, Ladner was named Washingtonian of the Year by '' The Washingtonian''.[ In 2000, Ladner was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Tougaloo College.
]
Retirement
Ladner retired in 2003 and moved to a lakeside home in Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...
, to be an abstract painter. She subsequently moved back to Washington, D.C. where she now resides. In January 2008, Ladner started a blog called The Ladner Report, for which she commented on the 2008 United States presidential race and openly supported the campaign and presidency of Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
. Ladner also frequently posts news articles, posts from other blogs or other media that relate to Obama, national politics and the black community.
Personal life
Ladner married Walter Carrington
Walter C. Carrington (July 24, 1930 – August 11, 2020) was an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Senegal and Nigeria.
Carrington served as the U.S. Ambassador to Senegal from 1980 ...
in 1973 and divorced him in 1984.
She is mentioned in poet Robert Pinksy's "The Poem of Names," which appeared in the October 14, 2019, issue of ''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''.
References
External links
The Ladner Report
(personal blog)
SNCC Digital Gateway: Joyce Ladner
Documentary website created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University, telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee & grassroots organizing from the inside-out
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladner, Joyce
1943 births
American sociologists
American women sociologists
Hunter College faculty
Living people
People from Waynesboro, Mississippi
Presidents of Howard University
Tougaloo College alumni
Washington University in St. Louis alumni
Women heads of universities and colleges