Dorie Ladner’s example

Children’s Defense Fund “I have always had fire, and always been ready to engage in something. And it’s something that burns, you turn on a flame that burns for people who are being mistreated. I don’t care who they are. I don’t want any downtrodden person or persons to be mistreated around the globe.” – Dorie Ladner When Dorie Ladner visited a Georgetown University history class ten years ago to talk about her experiences as a young civil rights activist in Mississippi, at the end of the lecture one student asked her how the Civil Rights Movement ended. Her answer, “It hasn’t.” Dorie Ladner, who was a fellow Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee member, a founder of the Council of Federated Organizations, an organizer of Mississippi’s 1964 Freedom Summer, and an antiwar and antipoverty activist, held a fiery determination to fight injustice and inequality her entire life. When she passed away March 11, she left behind a long legacy of courageous stands for freedom and justice, often taken side-by-side with her beloved sister, Dr. Joyce Ladner. One of the most important pieces of her legacy for children and young people is her example that you are never too young to start...