Dorie Ann Ladner (June 28, 1942 – March 11, 2024) was an American civil rights activist and social worker. Along with her sister Joyce, she was a leading community organizer in Mississippi for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the 1960s. She was a key organizer of the Freedom Summer Project, which promoted voter registration for African Americans in Mississippi. She participated in the March on Washington and the March from Selma to Montgomery.
In 1974, Ladner became a social worker in the Washington, D.C. area. She counseled patients in the emergency rooms and the rape crisis centers at District of Columbia General Hospital and St. Elizabeths Hospital.
Early life Dorie Ladner was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on June 28, 1942, to homemaker Annie Woullard Ladner and dry cleaner Eunice Ladner. 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. In high school, Ladner joined the NAACP Youth Council in Hattiesburg. In this organization, she met NAACP state president Medgar Evers.Dittmer, John. "Local People::The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi." Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994. p.85.
Education Ladner was expelled from Jackson State University in 1961 for her support of the Tougaloo Nine. Dorie and her sister Joyce Ladner were invited to enroll at Tougaloo College, but instead became devoted to the civil rights movement, working with the Congress of Racial Equality on anti-poverty programs."Dorie Ladner". History Makers. Retrieved June 26, 2017. In 1973, Ladner returned to Tougaloo earning her B.A. degree in history. In 1975, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she earned a master's degree in social work (MSW) from the Howard University School of Social Work.
Activism In 1961, Ladner became involved with the Freedom Riders. She joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was arrested in 1962 while she was trying to integrate the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Jackson.Ownby, Ted (ed). "The Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi." Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2013, pp. 107–110.
Ladner was jailed for picketing in the 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, boycotts:
Ladner attended every major civil rights protest from 1963 to 1968. In August 1963, she took part in the March on Washington in response to the June assassination of Medgar Evers. In 1965, she participated in the March from Selma to Montgomery.
In 1964, she became a key organizer in the Freedom Summer Project to promote voter registration among African Americans in Mississippi. She received death threats during a voter registration campaign in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1964. She became the first woman to head a Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) project in 1964.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. From 1964 to 1966, she was the SNCC project director in Natchez.Dorie Ann Ladner Collection, The University of Southern Mississippi In Indianola, Mississippi, one of the people she assisted in becoming a voter was community organizer Fannie Lou Hamer.
Later life and death Ladner had lived in the Washington, D.C. area since 1974, where she was a social worker, counseling patients in the emergency rooms and the rape crisis centers at District of Columbia General Hospital and St. Elizabeths Hospital.
Ladner was frequently invited to speak on panels and interviewed for documentary film projects. In 2014 she was interviewed for the American Experience PBS documentary on Freedom Summer"Dorie Ladner, 'The Activist' | Freedom Summer at 50", American Experience, June 4, 2014, via YouTube. and spoke on a panel with Stanley Nelson Jr. and Khalil Gibran Muhammad, hosted by New America in New York."Freedom Summer and Ferguson, MO", New America, December 5, 2014. 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, and others."National Lawyers Guild 80th Annual Convention Program" 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.
Ladner's marriage to Hailu Churnet ended in divorce.
Ladner died on March 11, 2024, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 81. At the time of her death, Ladner was survived by her daughter, Yodit Churnet, four sisters, three brothers and a grandson. Ladner's sister, Joyce Ladner, said the cause of death was respiratory failure due to complications from COVID-19, bronchial obstruction and colitis.
Recognition 2011: "Humanitarian Award" from Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute of Citizenship and Democracy 2014: Awarded an honorary doctorate from Tougaloo College. October 23, 2015: Natchez, Mississippi 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"
Filmography Year Title Role Notes2017Full Frontal with Samantha BeeHerselfTV series, February 15, 2017, episode: We're Still Not There: A Practical Guide to Resistance2016Well-Behaved Women Don't Make 'Her-Story': The Dorie Ladner StoryHerselfDocumentary by Kendall Little"Civil Rights Veteran Dorie Ladner Honored in Documentary"2015This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou HamerHerselfDocumentary by Robin Hamilton"This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer (Film Home Site)"2013An Ordinary Hero: The True Story of Joan Trumpauer MulhollandHerselfDocumentary by Loki Mulholland"An Ordinary Hero (Film Home Site)"2009Soundtrack for a RevolutionHerselfDocumentary by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman"Soundtrack for a Revolution (Film Home Site)"2003Standing On My Sisters' ShouldersHerselfDocumentary by Laura Lipson"Standing On My Sisters' Shoulders (Film and Source Book Home Site)"
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 and grassroots organizing from the inside-out. We're Still Not There: A Practical Guide to Resistance on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. "In Memory of Mattie Bivens & George Greene" by Dorie Ladner at 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.