Current:Home > InvestDorie Ann Ladner, civil rights activist who fought for justice in Mississippi and beyond, dies at 81 -LegacyBuild Academy
Dorie Ann Ladner, civil rights activist who fought for justice in Mississippi and beyond, dies at 81
View
Date:2025-04-26 12:35:50
Dorie Ann Ladner, a longtime fighter for freedom and equality in her home state of Mississippi with contributions to the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and voter registration drives, has died, her family confirmed.
“My beloved sister, Dorie Ladner, died peacefully on Monday, March 11, 2024,” her younger sister, Joyce Ladner, wrote on Facebook. “She will always be my big sister who fought tenaciously for the underdog and the dispossessed. She left a profound legacy of service.”
Dorie Ladner was 81.
In a telephone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, Joyce Ladner said she and her sister were born 15 months apart and grew up in Palmer’s Crossing, a community just south of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
“My sister was extraordinary. She was a very strong and tough person and very courageous,” she said.
One example of that courage, she recalled, happened when they were about 12 years old and went to a store to buy donuts.
“The white cashier came up behind Dorie and hit her on the butt. She turned around and beat him over the head with those donuts,” Joyce Ladner said with a giggle.
“We were scared but you know how you have that feeling of knowing you had done the right thing? That’s what overcame us,” she said.
Dorie Ladner and her sister went on to help organize an NAACP Youth Council Chapter in Hattiesburg. When they attended Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi, they continued demonstrating against the segregation policies within the state. Those activities ultimately got both of them expelled from the school but in fall 1961, they both enrolled at Tougaloo College where they became active members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
“SNCC was the green beret of the civil rights movement,” Joyce Ladner said. “She dropped out of college three times to work full time with SNCC. She was extremely intense about the rights of Black people. She would tell me ‘I can’t study while our people are suffering.’”
Dorie Ladner was one of the first workers to go to Natchez, Mississippi in 1967, to help people register to vote, her sister said. The experience was harrowing at times, amid heightened Ku Klux Klan activity.
“Oftentimes the phone would ring at 3 a.m. which was never a good sign,” she said. “The person on the other end of the line would say ‘Dorie, y’all have two choices. You can stay in there and we’ll burn you and the house up or you can come outside and we’ll shoot you to death.’ That kind of stress would be unbearable for almost anyone, but they stayed.”
Ladner said one of the people her sister helped register to vote was Fannie Lou Hamer, who often said that experience and her involvement with SNCC helped her find her voice for freedom. She also knew other civil rights luminaries such as NAACP state field representative Medgar Evers, who was assassinated in 1963; Hattiesburg NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer and Clyde Kennard, another NAACP leader who had attempted to integrate the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
Dorie Ladner was a key organizer for Mississippi Freedom Summer, a volunteer campaign launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi. She also attended every major civil rights protest from 1963 to 1968, including the March on Washington and the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, Joyce Ladner said.
Dorie Ladner died in Washington, D.C., where she called home since 1974, her sister said.
“She became a social worker and worked in the ER at DC General Hospital for 28 years,” she said. “That was an extension of her organizing and fighting for people, helping people through their crises.”
In addition to Ladner, Dorie Ladner’s survivors include her daughter, Yodit Churnet, and a 13-year-old grandson “who she doted on,” Ladner said.
A memorial service is pending.
veryGood! (368)
Related
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- Supreme Court rejects Trump ally Steve Bannon’s bid to delay prison sentence
- In Georgia, conservatives seek to have voters removed from rolls without official challenges
- Argentina, Chile coaches receive suspensions for their next Copa America match. Here’s why
- Selena Gomez engaged to Benny Blanco after 1 year together: 'Forever begins now'
- 'The Bear' Season 3 finale: Is masterful chef Carmy finally cooked?
- Lightning strike near hikers from Utah church youth group sends 7 to hospital
- Tom Cruise Steps Out With His and Nicole Kidman’s Son Connor for Rare Outing in London
- Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
- Court revives lawsuit over Detroit-area woman who was found alive in a body bag
Ranking
- Skins Game to make return to Thanksgiving week with a modern look
- 2024 NBA draft grades for all 30 teams: Who hit the jackpot?
- Delaware Supreme Court reverses ruling invalidating early voting and permanent absentee status laws
- Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi Enjoy Italy Vacation With His Dad Jon Bon Jovi After Wedding
- 'Most Whopper
- Travis Kelce Has Enchanting Reaction to Taylor Swift Cardboard Cutout at London Bar He Visited
- Nigel Farage criticizes racist remarks by Reform UK worker. But he later called it a ‘stitch-up’
- Supreme Court limits scope of obstruction charge levied against Jan. 6 defendants, including Trump
Recommendation
Sam Taylor
Some cities facing homelessness crisis applaud Supreme Court decision, while others push back
Number of homeless residents in Los Angeles County decreases in annual count
8 homeless moms in San Francisco struggled for help. Now, they’re learning to advocate for others
EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
'The Bear' Season 3 finale: Is masterful chef Carmy finally cooked?
FDA says new study proves pasteurization process kills bird flu in milk after all
A Nebraska father who fatally shot his 10-year-old son on Thanksgiving pleads no contest