La Francis Rodgers-Rose

La Francis Rodgers-Rose is an American sociologist and Founder/CEO of the International Black Women’s Congress.

Dr. La Francis Rodgers-Rose
Born
Academic background
Alma materMorgan State University, Fisk University, and University of Iowa
Academic work
DisciplineSociologist
Sub-disciplineAfrican American studies

Early life and education

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La Francis Rodgers-Rose was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and grew up in segregated Portsmouth, Virginia with her mother, two older brothers and younger sister.[1][2]

She graduated from Morgan State University with honours in sociology and anthropology in 1958, where her commencement speaker was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.[2] She later also graduated from Fisk University. She also attended the University of Iowa for her PhD, studying social psychology.[1][2]

Career

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Dr. La Francis Rodgers-Rose took up her first full-time teaching post in 1964 and held many teaching positions until 1972 when she left to take up a position at Educational Testing Services in Princeton, New Jersey. She returned to teaching a year later, after differences in direction between herself and the organization.[1] She has over 30 years of teaching experience; she taught African American Studies at Princeton University for 16 years, and has taught at Case Western Reserve University, Rutgers University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Drew University.

Rodgers-Rose is the author of The Black Woman, published in 1980 by Sage Publications, the first textbook in the social sciences about Black women from their own perspectives.[1] In this book, she highlights that although Black women participate in the labour market at higher rates, the jobs they occupy are more likely to be less secure, have fewer benefits, and pay less than those held by white women.[3]

She is the Founder/CEO of the International Black Women’s Congress,[4] a nonprofit organisation for women of African ancestry, which she founded in 1983 in Newark, New Jersey.[5] It aims to surface social, political and economic empowerment in a global community of Black women.[6]

In 2017 she was the recipient of a Malcolm X Black Unity Awards from the Organisation of Black Unity in the UK.[7]

She is described by American sociologist Dolores P. Aldridge as one of the pioneering black woman sociologists.[8]

Personal life

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After suffering from congestive heart failure, Rodgers-Rose had a heart transplant aged 65. She is an advocate for health and organ donation in the African-American community.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Aldridge, Delores P. (2009). Imagine a world : pioneering black women sociologists. Lanham: University Press of America. ISBN 9780761841876. OCLC 311266877.
  2. ^ a b c d "Heart of an Activist: The Unstoppable Dr. Rodgers-Rose – Donate Life Virginia". www.donatelifevirginia.org. 18 February 2017. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
  3. ^ MAYS, VICKIE M. (1995). "Black Women, Work, Stress, and Perceived Discrimination: The Focused Support Group Model as an Intervention for Stress Reduction". Cultural Diversity and Mental Health. 1 (1): 53–65. doi:10.1037/1099-9809.1.1.53. ISSN 1077-341X. PMC 3650252. PMID 9225548.
  4. ^ "La Francis Rodgers-Rose, Ph.D." International Black Women's Congress. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
  5. ^ Encyclopedia of African American business. Smith, Jessie Carney, 1930- (Updated and revised ed.). Santa Barbara, California. 2018. ISBN 9781440850271. OCLC 1007497959.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. ^ "International Black Women's Congress (IBWC) Holds 30th Annual Economic Empowerment Conference In Virginia Beach". www.blacknews.com. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  7. ^ "Malcolm X Black Unity Awards being held May 21". Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  8. ^ Horsham-Brathwaite, Cicely N. (2010). "Review of Imagine a World: Pioneering Black Women Sociologists". The Journal of Negro Education. 79 (1): 87–89. JSTOR 25676112.

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