Dorie Ann Ladner Collection

Dorie Ann Ladner was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on June 28, 1942. As a high school student, she joined the NAACP Youth Council in Hattiesburg where she met NAACP state president Medgar Evers. 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. 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.

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. She served as the SNCC project director in Natchez, Mississippi from 1964-1966.

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. In 2014, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Tougaloo College.

At the time of the donation, Dorie Ann Ladner enjoyed a career as a social worker at D.C. General Hospital and Joyce Ladner was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, both in Washington D.C.