Dorie Ladner | |
|---|---|
 Ladner in 2015 | |
| Born | Dorie Ann Ladner (1942-06-28)June 28, 1942 Hattiesburg, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | March 11, 2024(2024-03-11) (aged 81) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Education | Tougaloo College (BA) Howard University (MSW) |
| Known for | Freedom Riders,Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee |
| Children | 1 |
Dorie Ann Ladner (June 28, 1942 – March 11, 2024) was an Americancivil rights activist and social worker. Along with her sisterJoyce, she was a leadingcommunity organizer inMississippi for theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) andStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the 1960s. She was a key organizer of theFreedom Summer Project, whichpromoted voter registration forAfrican Americans in Mississippi. She participated in theMarch on Washington and theMarch from Selma to Montgomery.
In 1974, Ladner became a social worker in theWashington, D.C. area. She counseled patients in the emergency rooms and therape crisis centers atDistrict of Columbia General Hospital andSt. Elizabeths Hospital.
Dorie Ladner was born inHattiesburg, Mississippi, on June 28, 1942, to homemaker Annie Woullard Ladner and dry cleaner Eunice Ladner.[1][2] She grew up in nearby Palmers Crossing, a predominantly Black community where she and her siblings were raised by their mother and stepfather, mechanic William Perryman.[3] In high school, Ladner joined theNAACP Youth Council in Hattiesburg.[3] In this organization, she metNAACP state presidentMedgar Evers.[4]
Ladner was expelled fromJackson State University in 1961 for her support of theTougaloo Nine. Dorie and her sisterJoyce Ladner were invited to enroll atTougaloo College, but instead became devoted to the civil rights movement, working with theCongress of Racial Equality on anti-poverty programs.[3][5] In 1973, Ladner returned to Tougaloo earning her B.A. degree in history. In 1975, she moved toWashington, D.C., where she earned a master's degree in social work (MSW) from theHoward University School of Social Work.[6]
In 1961, Ladner became involved with theFreedom Riders. She joined theStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was arrested in 1962 while she was trying to integrate theWoolworthlunch counter in downtown Jackson.[7]
Ladner was jailed for picketing in the 1962Jackson,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.[8]
Ladner attended every major civil rights protest from 1963 to 1968.[9] In August 1963, she took part in theMarch on Washington in response to the Juneassassination of Medgar Evers.[10] In 1965, she participated in theMarch from Selma to Montgomery.[9]
In 1964, she became a key organizer in theFreedom Summer Project topromote voter registration amongAfrican Americans in Mississippi. She received death threats during a voter registration campaign inNatchez, Mississippi, in 1964. She became the first woman to head aCouncil of Federated Organizations (COFO) project in 1964.[9][11] From 1964 to 1966, she was the SNCC project director in Natchez.[12] InIndianola, Mississippi, one of the people she assisted in becoming a voter was community organizerFannie Lou Hamer.[9][13][14]
Ladner had lived in theWashington, D.C. area since 1974, where she was a social worker, counseling patients in the emergency rooms and therape crisis centers atDistrict of Columbia General Hospital[9][14] andSt. Elizabeths Hospital.[15]
Ladner was frequently invited to speak on panels and interviewed for documentary film projects. In 2014 she was interviewed for theAmerican ExperiencePBS documentary onFreedom Summer[16] and spoke on a panel withStanley Nelson Jr. andKhalil Gibran Muhammad, hosted byNew America in New York.[17] In August 2017, Ladner was one of the panelists for a workshop called "SNCC: Civil Right Activism to DC Statehood" at theNational Lawyers Guild 80th annual convention in Washington, D.C. along withJudy Richardson, Courtland Cox,Frank Smith, and others.[18] In October 2017, Ladner took part in a discussion after the screening of the short filmThis 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.[19]
Ladner's marriage to Hailu Churnet ended in divorce.[3]
Ladner died on March 11, 2024, in Washington, D.C.,[9][14] at the age of 81.[20] At the time of her death, Ladner was survived by her daughter, Yodit Churnet, four sisters, three brothers and a grandson.[3] Ladner's sister, Joyce Ladner, said the cause of death wasrespiratory failure due to complications fromCOVID-19,bronchial obstruction andcolitis.[2][3]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | Herself | TV series, February 15, 2017, episode:[23] |
| 2016 | Well-Behaved Women Don't Make 'Her-Story': The Dorie Ladner Story | Herself | Documentary by Kendall Little[24] |
| 2015 | This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer | Herself | Documentary by Robin Hamilton[25] |
| 2013 | An Ordinary Hero: The True Story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland | Herself | Documentary by Loki Mulholland[26] |
| 2009 | Soundtrack for a Revolution | Herself | Documentary byBill Guttentag and Dan Sturman[27] |
| 2003 | Standing On My Sisters' Shoulders | Herself | Documentary by Laura Lipson[28] |
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)| International | |
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