Dorie Ladner

Dorie Ann Ladner (born 1942) is an American civil rights activist.

Dorie Ladner
Ladner in 2015. Photo by Deborah Menkart.
Born
Dorie Ann Ladner

(1942-06-28) June 28, 1942
Hattiesburg, Mississippi, U.S.
EducationTougaloo College
Known forFreedom Riders, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Children1

Early life

She was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on June 28, 1942.[1]

Education

In 1973, Ladner earned her B.A. degree from Tougaloo College, and in 1975, she earned a master's degree in social work (MSW) from the Howard University School of Social Work.[2]

Activism

She played a key role in the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi ever since, as a high school student, she joined the NAACP Youth Council in Hattiesburg where she met NAACP state president Medgar Evers.[3] In 1961, she 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.[4]

She was expelled from Jackson State University for her support of the Tougaloo Nine. She and her sister Joyce Ladner were invited to enroll at Tougaloo College.[5]

Dorie was jailed for picketing in the 1962 Jackson, Mississippi boycotts:

Just before Christmas of 1962, after months of discussions and a false start the previous year, a vigorous boycott had finally been launched against downtown merchants in Jackson. Initially, young people carried the spirit of the movement. Dorie and Joyce Ladner were heavily involved. At a time when bail money was unpredictable and most Mississippi-born students were afraid of reprisals against their parents, Dorie was among the first to go to jail for picketing.[6]

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 project in 1964.[7] She served as the SNCC project director in Natchez, 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 PBS documentary on Freedom Summer[8] and she spoke on a panel with Stanley Nelson Jr. and Khalil Gibran Muhammad, hosted by New America (organization) in New York.[9] 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 80th annual convention in Washington, D.C. along with Judy Richardson, Courtland Cox, Frank Smith (D.C. Council), and others.[10] 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.[11]

Recognition
  • May 18, 2014: Awarded an honorary doctorate from Tougaloo College.
  • 2016: "Well-Behaved Women Don't Make 'Her-Story': The Dorie Ladner Story" documentary produced by Kendall Little.[12]
  • June, 2017: Awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of the District of Columbia.[13]

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
2017 Full Frontal with Samantha Bee Herself TV Series, February 15, 2017 episode: We're Still Not There: A Practical Guide to Resistance on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
2016 Well-Behaved Women Don't Make 'Her-Story': The Dorie Ladner Story Herself Documentary by Kendall Little[14]
2015 This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer Herself Documentary by Robin Hamilton[15]
2013 An Ordinary Hero: The True Story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Herself Documentary by Loki Mulholland[16]
2009 Soundtrack for a Revolution Herself Documentary by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman[17]
2003 Standing On My Sisters' Shoulders Herself Documentary by Laura Lipson[18]

References
  1. "Dorie Ladner". Zinn Education Project. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  2. "Civic Makers - Dorie Ladner". The History Makers. 24 July 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  3. Dittmer, John. "Local People::The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi." Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994. p.85.
  4. Ownby, Ted (ed). "The Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi." Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2013, p. 107-110.
  5. "Dorie Ladner". History Makers. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  6. Payne, Charles. I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2007, p. 286.
  7. O'Brien, M.J. We Shall Not Be Moved: The Jackson Woolworth's Sit-In and the Movement It Inspired. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2013, p. 279.
  8. "Dorie Ladner, "The Activist"
  9. "Freedom Summer and Ferguson, MO"
  10. "National Lawyers Guild 80th Annual Convention Program"
  11. "Honoring the Memory of Fannie Lou Hamer". NYU.edu. October 11, 2017.
  12. "Civil Rights Veteran Dorie Ladner Honored in Documentary"
  13. "Conferral of Honorary Degree upon Dorie Ann Ladner, Civil Rights Activist"
  14. "Civil Rights Veteran Dorie Ladner Honored in Documentary"
  15. "This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer (Film Home Site)"
  16. "An Ordinary Hero (Film Home Site)"
  17. "Soundtrack for a Revolution (Film Home Site)"
  18. "Standing On My Sisters’ Shoulders (Film and Source Book Home Site)"
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