Suzanne Pharr is an American organizer, political strategist, and author who has worked to build a broad-based

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

movement in the United States. Pharr is the founder of the Women's Project (based in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

), co-founded

Southerners on New Ground Southerners on New Ground (commonly referred to as SONG) is a social justice, advocacy and capacity building organization serving and supporting queer and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, uniquely focusing its work in the south ...

, a regional progressive LGBT organization, and was the director of the Highlander Center. She organized the "No on Nine" campaign against the passage of

Oregon Ballot Measure 9 Oregon Ballot Measure 9 was a 1992 citizens' initiative concerning LGBT rights in the state of Oregon. It sought to amend the Oregon Constitution to prohibit anti-discrimination laws regarding sexual orientation and to declare homosexuality t ...

. Pharr was born in 1939 in Hog Mountain, Georgia, just northeast of Atlanta. She attended colleges in Milledgeville, GA, Buffalo, NY, and New Orleans, LA. She accomplished a MA in English at SUNY/Buffalo, and most of the requirements for the Ph.D. in American literature from

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

. From 1977 to 1978, she was director of the Washington County Head Start Program in Fayetteville, AR. In 1988, she co-chaired

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...

’s presidential campaign in Arkansas. From 1999 to 2004, she served as director for the

Highlander Research and Education Center The Highlander Research and Education Center, formerly known as the Highlander Folk School, is a social justice leadership training school and cultural center in New Market, Tennessee. Founded in 1932 by activist Myles Horton, educator Don West (e ...

, a historic, civil rights organization based in New Market, TN. Pharr is the author of the book ''Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism'' (published in 1988 by Chardon Press). Pharr's ''In the Time of the Right: Reflections on Liberation'' was published in 2008. Pharr is active currently with Project South, the Southern Movement Assembly, the Rural Organizing Project, and Grassroots Arkansas.

References

http://nationalcouncilofelders.com/Bios/suzanne-pharr/ http://www.sinisterwisdom.org/SW93Supplement/Pharr

References

Further reading