Mar 29, 2020
Loretta J. Ross is a Visiting Professor of Practice in the
School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University
teaching "Reproductive Justice Theory and Practice" and "Race and
Culture in the U.S." for the 2018-2019 academic year. Previously,
she was a Visiting Professor at Hampshire College in Women's
Studies for the 2017-2018 academic year teaching "White
Supremacy in the Age of Trump." She was a co-founder and the
National Coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive
Justice Collective from 2005-2012, a network founded in 1997 of
women of color and allied organizations that organize women of
color in the reproductive justice movement. She is one of the
creators of the term "Reproductive Justice" coined by African
American women in 1994 that has transformed reproductive politics
in the U.S.
She is a nationally-recognized trainer on using the
transformative power of Reproductive Justice to build a Human
Rights movement that includes everyone. Ms. Ross is an expert
on women’s issues, hate groups, racism and intolerance, human
rights, and violence against women. Her work focuses on the
intersectionality of social justice issues and how this affects
social change and service delivery in all movements.
Ross has appeared on CNN, BET, "Lead Story," "Good Morning
America," "The Donahue Show," "Democracy Now," "Oprah Winfrey Radio
Network," and "The Charlie Rose Show. She is a member of the
Women's Media Center's Progressive Women's Voices. More information
is available on the Makers: Women Who Make America video at
http://www.makers.com/loretta-ross.
Ms. Ross was National Co-Director of the April 25, 2004 March
for Women’s Lives in Washington D.C., the largest protest march in
U.S. history with more than one million participants. As part of a
nearly five-decade history in social justice activism, between
1996-2004, she was the Founder and Executive Director of the
National Center for Human Rights Education (NCHRE) in Atlanta,
Georgia. Before that, she was the Program Research Director at the
Center for Democratic Renewal/National Anti-Klan Network where she
led projects researching hate groups, and working against all forms
of bigotry with universities, schools, and community groups. She
launched the Women of Color Program for the National Organization
for Women (NOW) in the 1980s, and led delegations of women of color
to many international conferences on women's issues and human
rights. She was one of the first African American women to direct a
rape crisis center in the 1970s, launching her career by pioneering
work on violence against women.
She is a co-author of Undivided Rights: Women of Color
Organize for Reproductive Justice, written with Jael Silliman,
Marlene Gerber Fried, and Elena Gutiérrez, and published by South
End Press in 2004 (awarded the Myers Outstanding Book Award by the
Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights),
and author of “The Color of Choice” chapter in Incite! Women of
Color Against Violence published in 2006. She has also written
extensively on the history of African American women and
reproductive justice activism. Among her latest books are
Reproductive Justice: An Introduction co-authored with
Rickie Solinger and published by the University of California Press
in 2017. She was the lead editor of Radical Reproductive
Justice: Foundations, Theory, Practice and Critique, co-edited
by Lynn Roberts, Erika Derkas, Whitney Peoples, and Pamela
Bridgewater-Toure published by Feminist Press also in 2017. Her
forthcoming book is entitled Calling In the Calling Out
Culture to be published in 2019.
Loretta is a rape survivor, was forced to raise a child born
of incest, and she is also a survivor of sterilization abuse. She
is a model of how to survive and thrive despite the traumas that
disproportionately affect low-income women of color. She serves as
a consultant for Smith College, collecting oral histories of
feminists of color for the Sophia Smith Collection which also
contains her personal archives (see
https://www.smith.edu/library/libs/ssc/pwv/pwv-ross.html).
She is a mother, grandmother and a great-grandmother.
She is a graduate of Agnes Scott College and holds an honorary
Doctorate of Civil Law degree awarded in 2003 from Arcadia
University and a second honorary doctorate degree awarded from
Smith College in 2013.
AWARDS (partial) American Humanist Association, Humanist
Heroine Award, 1998 DePaul University Cultural Center
Diversity Award, 2001 Georgia Committee on Family Violence,
Gender Justice Award, 2002 SisterLove Women’s HIV/AIDS
Resource Project Award, South Africa, 2002 National Center
for Human Rights Education, First Mother of Human Rights Education
Award, 2004 Feminist Women’s Health Center, Stand Up for
Choice Award, 2005 NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia, Blazing Arrow
Award, 2006 Federation of Haitian Women, Fanm Ayisyen Nan
Miyami, Marie Claire Heureuse Leadership Award, 2007 Family
Planning Associates, Champion of Reproductive Justice Award, 2007
United States Social Forum, Building Movements Award, 2007
Women’s Medical Fund of Philadelphia, Rosie Jimenez Award,
2007 Sisters of Color United for Education, Denver, CO, 2008
Women of Color Resource Center, Sister Fire Award, 2008
Black Women’s Health Imperative, Community Health Activist
Award, 2008 Delta Sigma Theta, Pinnacle Leadership Award,
2008 International Black Women’s Congress, Oni Award, 2010
Women Helping Women, Revolutionary Award, 2011, Foundation
for Black Women's Wellness Legacy Award 2015, National Women's
Health Network Barbara Seaman Award for Activism in Women's Health
2015. Woodhull Sexual Freedom Network, Vicky Award 2017.