Three Generations of Voting Rights Activists
Program 2: June 30, 2020
A conversation with three generations of voting rights activists: Dr. Ellie Dahmer, Dr. Joyce Ladner, and Ms. Arekia Bennett
Program 2: June 30, 2020
A conversation with three generations of voting rights activists: Dr. Ellie Dahmer, Dr. Joyce Ladner, and Ms. Arekia Bennett
Panelists
Dr. Ellie Dahmer
Dr. Ellie Dahmer
Ellie Dahmer has been involved with civil and voting rights in Mississippi for most of her life. She was married to Vernon Dahmer, a successful black businessman and they lived near Hattiesburg. Mr. Dahmer was President of the local NAACP and urged Africans Americans to vote, famously saying, “If you don’t vote, you don’t count.” Ellie Dahmer, a teacher for many years in the segregated schools, lost her job as a result of these advocacy efforts. The local Klan monitored their activities. After the voting rights act passed in 1965, Vernon Dahmer, on January 9, 1966, publicly offered to pay poll taxes for anyone who could not afford them.
That night, the Dahmers awoke to sounds of guns and firebombs as the Klan attacked their home. Mr. Dahmer grabbed a shotgun and stood in his doorway, holding the Klan off while Dr. Dahmer gathered the children and escaped out the back door. While he survived the initial attack, Vernon Dahmer died shortly after from his injuries. Dr. Dahmer stayed in her rebuilt home raising her children while keeping the family farm going. In 1991, she was elected Election Commissioner in Forrest County, MS, in the same district where her husband was killed for his advocacy. She held that position for more than a decade supported by both white and black voters.
In 2019, Ellie Dahmer was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the University of Southern Mississippi for her contributions to the American Civil Rights Movement and her advocacy for literacy and academic achievement.
See background: American Civil Rights Activist and Educator Ellie J. Dahmer to be Awarded Honorary Doctorate
Ellie Dahmer has been involved with civil and voting rights in Mississippi for most of her life. She was married to Vernon Dahmer, a successful black businessman and they lived near Hattiesburg. Mr. Dahmer was President of the local NAACP and urged Africans Americans to vote, famously saying, “If you don’t vote, you don’t count.” Ellie Dahmer, a teacher for many years in the segregated schools, lost her job as a result of these advocacy efforts. The local Klan monitored their activities. After the voting rights act passed in 1965, Vernon Dahmer, on January 9, 1966, publicly offered to pay poll taxes for anyone who could not afford them.
That night, the Dahmers awoke to sounds of guns and firebombs as the Klan attacked their home. Mr. Dahmer grabbed a shotgun and stood in his doorway, holding the Klan off while Dr. Dahmer gathered the children and escaped out the back door. While he survived the initial attack, Vernon Dahmer died shortly after from his injuries. Dr. Dahmer stayed in her rebuilt home raising her children while keeping the family farm going. In 1991, she was elected Election Commissioner in Forrest County, MS, in the same district where her husband was killed for his advocacy. She held that position for more than a decade supported by both white and black voters.
In 2019, Ellie Dahmer was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the University of Southern Mississippi for her contributions to the American Civil Rights Movement and her advocacy for literacy and academic achievement.
See background: American Civil Rights Activist and Educator Ellie J. Dahmer to be Awarded Honorary Doctorate
Dr. Joyce Ladner
Dr. Joyce Ladner
When 14-year-old Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi in 1955, 12-year-old Joyce Ladner and her sister Dorie felt “powerless and frightened.” Joyce felt the murder was a “call for (her) generation to do something.”. And do something she did. When Dr. Ladner and her sister were teenagers they helped for an NAACP Youth Council near their Home in Hattiesburg. Among their mentors were Ellie and Vernon Dahmer and Clyde Kennard. They would attend statewide NAACP meetings, awed by all the people doing civil rights work. Dr, Ladner met Ruby Hurley, an NAACP attorney, marking the first time she realized there were black women lawyers. These meetings introduced Joyce to the tradition of black activism in Mississippi and prepared her for the work she would do when she became part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the early 60s.
At their mother’s urging, Joyce and Dorie Ladner were the first generation in their family to go to college. Expelled from Jackson State for taking part in a demonstration supporting the Tougaloo 9, Joyce enrolled at Tougaloo College earning a degree in sociology in 1964. She earned her doctorate at Washington University in St. Louis in 1968.
While a student, Dr. Ladner organized voter registration drives and worked with Bayard Rustin helping to organize the 1963 March on Washington and to raise money to the effort. ”It was a running joke that every time Ladner went out to raise money, she came back with enough to rent another bus.”
A noted sociologist, Dr. Ladner served as VP for Academic Affairs at Howard University from 1990-1994 and as an interim President there from 1994-1995. Her passion for the movement, for social justice and activism became an part of her writing, teaching, and advocacy, her most recent column in the Washington post, “George Floyd’s killing stirs old pain, anger for a 1960s activist,” published on June 17, 2020.
https://snccdigital.org/people/joyce-ladner/
When 14-year-old Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi in 1955, 12-year-old Joyce Ladner and her sister Dorie felt “powerless and frightened.” Joyce felt the murder was a “call for (her) generation to do something.”. And do something she did. When Dr. Ladner and her sister were teenagers they helped for an NAACP Youth Council near their Home in Hattiesburg. Among their mentors were Ellie and Vernon Dahmer and Clyde Kennard. They would attend statewide NAACP meetings, awed by all the people doing civil rights work. Dr, Ladner met Ruby Hurley, an NAACP attorney, marking the first time she realized there were black women lawyers. These meetings introduced Joyce to the tradition of black activism in Mississippi and prepared her for the work she would do when she became part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the early 60s.
At their mother’s urging, Joyce and Dorie Ladner were the first generation in their family to go to college. Expelled from Jackson State for taking part in a demonstration supporting the Tougaloo 9, Joyce enrolled at Tougaloo College earning a degree in sociology in 1964. She earned her doctorate at Washington University in St. Louis in 1968.
While a student, Dr. Ladner organized voter registration drives and worked with Bayard Rustin helping to organize the 1963 March on Washington and to raise money to the effort. ”It was a running joke that every time Ladner went out to raise money, she came back with enough to rent another bus.”
A noted sociologist, Dr. Ladner served as VP for Academic Affairs at Howard University from 1990-1994 and as an interim President there from 1994-1995. Her passion for the movement, for social justice and activism became an part of her writing, teaching, and advocacy, her most recent column in the Washington post, “George Floyd’s killing stirs old pain, anger for a 1960s activist,” published on June 17, 2020.
https://snccdigital.org/people/joyce-ladner/
Ms. Arekia Bennett
Ms. Arekia Bennett
Arekia is the Executive Director of Mississippi Votes, an organization committed to civic engagement of Mississippians across generations, cultures, identities, inequities, and struggles, with particular focus on young people. Arekia has been working on addressing voter disenfranchisement, voter ID laws, rural voter turnout, increasing voter participation in all elections and she also advises political aspirants and candidates seeking office on civic engagement strategy. Arekia founded GIRL, a black feminist collective at Jackson State University and has been critical in developing and nurturing a black feminist political space and policy agenda with GIRL through MS Votes' "One Girl, One Vote" initiative. Arekia is the big sister/mentor to several young organizers dedicated to making change.
Arekia is the Executive Director of Mississippi Votes, an organization committed to civic engagement of Mississippians across generations, cultures, identities, inequities, and struggles, with particular focus on young people. Arekia has been working on addressing voter disenfranchisement, voter ID laws, rural voter turnout, increasing voter participation in all elections and she also advises political aspirants and candidates seeking office on civic engagement strategy. Arekia founded GIRL, a black feminist collective at Jackson State University and has been critical in developing and nurturing a black feminist political space and policy agenda with GIRL through MS Votes' "One Girl, One Vote" initiative. Arekia is the big sister/mentor to several young organizers dedicated to making change.
Moderator
Rev. Dr. Gordon Gibson
Rev. Dr. Gordon Gibson
Gordon Gibson has been involved in organizing and leading pilgrimages to civil rights sites since 2004. During the first weeks after Gordon was ordained, he was in Selma, Alabama, taking part in early phases of the 1965 voting rights campaign there. He also brings his experience of living in Mississippi 1969-1984 when he was the Unitarian Universalist minister in the state. For seven of those years he was also an investigator for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In retirement, Judy and Gordon Gibson live in Knoxville, Tennessee. Gordon is the author of Southern Witness: Unitarians and Universalists in the Civil Rights Era, an engaging account of the roles that UU individuals and congregations played in the civil rights movement in the South in the 1950s and '60s. Gordon is a co-founder of the Living Legacy Project, currently serves as a member of the Board, and as the LLP historian.
Gordon Gibson has been involved in organizing and leading pilgrimages to civil rights sites since 2004. During the first weeks after Gordon was ordained, he was in Selma, Alabama, taking part in early phases of the 1965 voting rights campaign there. He also brings his experience of living in Mississippi 1969-1984 when he was the Unitarian Universalist minister in the state. For seven of those years he was also an investigator for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In retirement, Judy and Gordon Gibson live in Knoxville, Tennessee. Gordon is the author of Southern Witness: Unitarians and Universalists in the Civil Rights Era, an engaging account of the roles that UU individuals and congregations played in the civil rights movement in the South in the 1950s and '60s. Gordon is a co-founder of the Living Legacy Project, currently serves as a member of the Board, and as the LLP historian.
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https://www.youtube.com/livinglegacyproject.
While you there, be sure to subscribe, so you don't miss other great LLP content. Thank you!
