Joyce Ladner
Encyclopedia
Joyce Ann Ladner is a former United States civil rights activist, author, civil servant and sociologist who was born in Waynesboro, Mississippi
on October 12, 1943 and who grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
. She was raised with four brothers and four sisters. Ladner began school at the age of three and graduated high school in 1960 with her older sister, Dorie. She married Walter Carrington in 1973 and divorced him in 1984. She went to Tougaloo College
in Tougaloo, Mississippi where she earned her B.A. in sociology in 1964. Then she went to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
to earn her Ph.D.
in 1968. During college, Ladner and her sister, Dorie, organized civil rights protests alongside Medgar Evers
and other students from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
. She and her sister were arrested and jailed for their activism. She told PBS of her activism in Mississippi:
In 1968 she was appointed assistant professor of sociology and curriculum specialist at the South Illinois University at East St. Louis. In 1969 she became a senior research fellow at the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. Other major research positions that followed include transracial adoption work funded by the Cummins Engine Foundation, and a visiting fellowship at the Metropolitan Applied Research Center.
In 1970 she conducted postdoctoral work as a research associate at the University of Dar es Salaam
in Tanzania. In Tanzania she completed research on "The Roles of Tanzanian Women in Community Development." In 1977 she embarked on a study of "The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement on the Career Patterns of Ex-Activists," which was funded by the Ford Foundation
. The next year she served on the committee on Evaluation of Poverty Research at the National Academy of Sciences
.
Ladner taught at colleges and universities in places such as Illinois, Connecticut, Tanzania and Washington D.C. She first joined Howard University
in 1973, then left for Hunter College
, and then returned to Howard in 1981. At Howard she worked for the academic affairs office, served as vice president of academic affairs, and in 1994, as interim president, becoming the first woman to hold the position at the university. She said she liked the job and was disappointed to be passed over for the full presidency.
In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed her to the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority to oversee the financial restructuring of the D.C. public school system. She has been a member on the board of directors of the American Sociological Association
, of the review committee of the Minority Center for the National Institute of Mental Health
, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, on the board of directors of the 21st Century Foundation, on the board of directors of the Caucus of Black Sociologists, the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, the Woman’s Forum, the Washington Urban League, Coalition of 100 Black Women, a senior fellow (1969–71) at the Institute of the Black World, a senior fellow in government at the Brookings Institution
, a fellow at the Social Science Research Council, has sat on the U.S. Department of Justice's Advisory Council on Violence Against Women, and the Council on Foreign Relations
.
She has written numerous reports on children's issues and has often been consulted for her expertise. In 1998 she provided congressional testimony on the "District of Columbia Public School Academic Plan," before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee of the District of Columbia.
Ladner has served on a number of editorial boards and as a reviewer for grants institutions. In 1983 she was a guest editor of the special edition of the Western Sociological Review. She has reviewed manuscripts for major presses, including Cambridge University Press
, Greenwood Press, University of California Press
, Simon & Schuster
and the Brookings Press. Ladner has also reviewed grants for the National Institute of Mental Health, the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation
and the 21st Century Foundation.
Ladner has served as a key commentator on national social issues. She has appeared on such news programs as the CBS Evening News
, NBC Evening News, CBS Sunday Morning, ABC's Nightline and the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour
.
She has been named among distinguished alumni by Tougaloo College and by Washington University. She received first fellowship in 1970–71 to the Black Women's Community Development Foundation for the study of "Involvement of Tanzanian Women in Nation Building." She received the Russell Sage Foundation
grant and the Cummins Engine Foundation grant for 1972-73. In 1986 the Howard University School of Social Work awarded her the Most Inspiring Teacher Award and followed that in 1991 with the Outstanding Achievement Award. In 1996 Ladner was named Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine. In 2000 Ladner was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Tougaloo College.
Books she has written include Tomorrow's Tomorrow: The Black Woman, The Ties That Bind: Timeless Values For African American Families and Mixed Families: Adopting Across Racial Boundaries. Books she co-wrote include The New Urban Leaders, and The Death Of White Sociology, of which she was the editor.
Forced into early retirement in 2003 due to fibromyalgia
, Ladner moved to a lakeside home in Sarasota, Florida
to be an abstract painter. In January 2008, Ladner started a blog called The Ladner Report for which she commented on the 2008 United States presidential race and openly supported the campaign, and now supports the presidency of, Barack Obama
. Ladner also frequently posts news articles, posts from other blogs or other media that relate to Obama, national politics and the black community.
Ladner was also able to attend the inauguration of Barack Obama
on January 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C. She sat behind the Tuskegee airmen on the steps of the Capitol building.
Waynesboro, Mississippi
Waynesboro is a city in Wayne County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,197 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Wayne County.-Geography:Waynesboro is located at , just east of the Chickasawhay River....
on October 12, 1943 and who grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
. She was raised with four brothers and four sisters. Ladner began school at the age of three and graduated high school in 1960 with her older sister, Dorie. She married Walter Carrington in 1973 and divorced him in 1984. She went to Tougaloo College
Tougaloo College
Tougaloo College is a private, co-educational, liberal arts institution of higher education founded in 1869, in Madison County, north of Jackson, Mississippi, USA.Academically, Tougaloo College has received high ranks in recent years...
in Tougaloo, Mississippi where she earned her B.A. in sociology in 1964. Then she went to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
to earn her Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1968. During college, Ladner and her sister, Dorie, organized civil rights protests alongside Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers
Medgar Wiley Evers was an African American civil rights activist from Mississippi involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi...
and other students from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
. She and her sister were arrested and jailed for their activism. She told PBS of her activism in Mississippi:
"It was very, very difficult to continue because the local police and all the towns had almost crushed us. They were closing in like… They murdered people, they beat people, arrest was about the least harmful thing to occur."
In 1968 she was appointed assistant professor of sociology and curriculum specialist at the South Illinois University at East St. Louis. In 1969 she became a senior research fellow at the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. Other major research positions that followed include transracial adoption work funded by the Cummins Engine Foundation, and a visiting fellowship at the Metropolitan Applied Research Center.
In 1970 she conducted postdoctoral work as a research associate at the University of Dar es Salaam
University of Dar es Salaam
The University of Dar es Salaam is a university in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam. The university was born out of a decision taken in 1970 to split the then University of East Africa into three independent universities; Makerere University , University of Nairobi and University of Dar es...
in Tanzania. In Tanzania she completed research on "The Roles of Tanzanian Women in Community Development." In 1977 she embarked on a study of "The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement on the Career Patterns of Ex-Activists," which was funded by the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
. The next year she served on the committee on Evaluation of Poverty Research at the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
.
Ladner taught at colleges and universities in places such as Illinois, Connecticut, Tanzania and Washington D.C. She first joined Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
in 1973, then left for Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
, and then returned to Howard in 1981. At Howard she worked for the academic affairs office, served as vice president of academic affairs, and in 1994, as interim president, becoming the first woman to hold the position at the university. She said she liked the job and was disappointed to be passed over for the full presidency.
In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed her to the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority to oversee the financial restructuring of the D.C. public school system. She has been a member on the board of directors of the American Sociological Association
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association , founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society , is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions to serve society.The ASA holds its...
, of the review committee of the Minority Center for the National Institute of Mental Health
National Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health...
, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, on the board of directors of the 21st Century Foundation, on the board of directors of the Caucus of Black Sociologists, the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, the Woman’s Forum, the Washington Urban League, Coalition of 100 Black Women, a senior fellow (1969–71) at the Institute of the Black World, a senior fellow in government at the Brookings Institution
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
, a fellow at the Social Science Research Council, has sat on the U.S. Department of Justice's Advisory Council on Violence Against Women, and the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
.
She has written numerous reports on children's issues and has often been consulted for her expertise. In 1998 she provided congressional testimony on the "District of Columbia Public School Academic Plan," before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee of the District of Columbia.
Ladner has served on a number of editorial boards and as a reviewer for grants institutions. In 1983 she was a guest editor of the special edition of the Western Sociological Review. She has reviewed manuscripts for major presses, including Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, Greenwood Press, University of California Press
University of California Press
University of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
, Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
and the Brookings Press. Ladner has also reviewed grants for the National Institute of Mental Health, the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
and the 21st Century Foundation.
Ladner has served as a key commentator on national social issues. She has appeared on such news programs as the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
, NBC Evening News, CBS Sunday Morning, ABC's Nightline and the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
PBS NewsHour is an evening television news program broadcast weeknights on the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States. The show is produced by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, a company co-owned by former anchors Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil, and Liberty Media, which owns a 65% stake in the...
.
She has been named among distinguished alumni by Tougaloo College and by Washington University. She received first fellowship in 1970–71 to the Black Women's Community Development Foundation for the study of "Involvement of Tanzanian Women in Nation Building." She received the Russell Sage Foundation
Russell Sage Foundation
The Russell Sage Foundation is the principal American foundation devoted exclusively to research in the social sciences. Founded in 1907 and headquartered in New York City, the foundation is a research center, a funding source for studies by scholars at other institutions, and a key member of the...
grant and the Cummins Engine Foundation grant for 1972-73. In 1986 the Howard University School of Social Work awarded her the Most Inspiring Teacher Award and followed that in 1991 with the Outstanding Achievement Award. In 1996 Ladner was named Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine. In 2000 Ladner was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Tougaloo College.
Books she has written include Tomorrow's Tomorrow: The Black Woman, The Ties That Bind: Timeless Values For African American Families and Mixed Families: Adopting Across Racial Boundaries. Books she co-wrote include The New Urban Leaders, and The Death Of White Sociology, of which she was the editor.
Forced into early retirement in 2003 due to fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a medical disorder characterized by chronic widespread pain and allodynia, a heightened and painful response to pressure. It is an example of a diagnosis of exclusion...
, Ladner moved to a lakeside home in Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
to be an abstract painter. In January 2008, Ladner started a blog called The Ladner Report for which she commented on the 2008 United States presidential race and openly supported the campaign, and now supports the presidency of, Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. Ladner also frequently posts news articles, posts from other blogs or other media that relate to Obama, national politics and the black community.
Ladner was also able to attend the inauguration of Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
on January 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C. She sat behind the Tuskegee airmen on the steps of the Capitol building.