Dorie Ann Ladner (born 1942) is an American

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

activist.

Early life

Dorie Ladner was born in

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 ...

, Mississippi on June 28, 1942. In high school, Ladner joined the

NAACP Youth Council The NAACP Youth Council is a branch of the NAACP in which youth are actively involved. In past years, council participants organized under the council's name to make major strides in the Civil Rights Movement. Started in 1935 by Juanita E. Jackson, ...

in Hattiesburg. In this organization, she met NAACP state president

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 ...

Education

Ladner was expelled from

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of studen ...

in 1961 for her support of the Tougaloo Nine. Dorie and her sister Joyce Ladner were invited to enroll at Tougaloo College. In 1973, Ladner earned her B.A. degree from

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 Yor ...

, and in 1975, she earned a master's degree in social work (MSW) from the

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

School of Social Work.

Activism

In 1961, Ladner became engaged with the Freedom Riders. She joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was arrested in 1962 trying to integrate the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Jackson. Dorie was jailed for picketing in the 1962

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

, Mississippi boycotts: In August 1963, Dorie took part in the March on Washington in response to the June assassination of Medgar Evers. In 1964, she became a key organizer in the Freedom Summer Project. She became the first woman to head a COFO

Council of Federated Organizations The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) was a coalition of the major Civil Rights Movement organizations operating in Mississippi. COFO was formed in 1961 to coordinate and unite voter registration and other civil rights activities in the sta ...

project in 1964. She served as the SNCC project director in

Natchez Natchez may refer to: Places * Natchez, Alabama, United States * Natchez, Indiana, United States * Natchez, Louisiana, United States * Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States * Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...

, Mississippi (1964-1966).

Current work

She currently lives in Washington, D.C. where she is frequently invited to speak on panels and interviewed for documentary film projects. For example, in 2014 she was interviewed for the

American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

documentary on Freedom Summer and she spoke on a panel with Stanley Nelson Jr. and Khalil Gibran Muhammad, hosted by New America in New York. In August 2017, Ladner was one of the panelists for a workshop called "SNCC: Civil Right Activism to DC Statehood" at the

National Lawyers Guild The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is a progressive public interest association of lawyers, law students, paralegals, jailhouse lawyers, law collective members, and other activist legal workers, in the United States. The group was founded in 19 ...

80th annual convention in Washington, D.C. along with Judy Richardson, Courtland Cox, Frank Smith, and others. In October 2017, Ladner took part in a discussion after the screening of the short film ''This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer''. The other panelists included filmmaker Robin Hamilton and Kim Jeffries Leonard, President and CEO of Envision Consulting and Member of LINKS, Inc., in a discussion of women activists during the Civil Rights Movement''.''

Recognition

* 2011: "Humanitarian Award" from Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute of Citizenship and Democracy * May 18, 2014: Awarded an honorary doctorate from Tougaloo College. * October 23, 2015: Natchez, MS designates Dorie Ladner Day * 2016: "Well-Behaved Women Don't Make 'Her-Story': The Dorie Ladner Story" documentary produced by Kendall Little. * June 2017: Awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of the District of Columbia."Conferral of Honorary Degree upon Dorie Ann Ladner, Civil Rights Activist"
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Filmography

References

External links

SNCC Digital Gateway: Dorie 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
''We're Still Not There: A Practical Guide to Resistance''
on

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' is an American late-night talk and news satire television program that aired on TBS from 2016 to 2022. The show was hosted by comedian Samantha Bee, a former correspondent on ''The Daily Show''. In July 202 ...

"In Memory of Mattie Bivens & George Greene"
by Dorie Ladner a
CRMvet.org"Honoring the Memory of Fannie Lou Hamer at NYU DC,"
Dorie Ladner taking part in a panel discussion after the screening of the short film ''This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ladner, Dorie 1942 births People from Hattiesburg, Mississippi American civil rights activists American social workers African-American activists Tougaloo College alumni People from Washington, D.C. Living people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people