Mississippi
Dorie Ann Ladner, Mississippi civil rights activist and NAACP organizer, dies at 81
Dorie Ann Ladner, a longtime fighter for freedom and equality in her home state of Mississippi with contributions to the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and voter registration drives, has died, her family confirmed.
“My beloved sister, Dorie Ladner, died peacefully on Monday, March 11, 2024,” her younger sister, Joyce Ladner, wrote on Facebook. “She will always be my big sister who fought tenaciously for the underdog and the dispossessed. She left a profound legacy of service.”
Dorie Ladner was 81.
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In a telephone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, Joyce Ladner said she and her sister were born 15 months apart and grew up in Palmer’s Crossing, a community just south of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
“My sister was extraordinary. She was a very strong and tough person and very courageous,” said Joyce Ladner, a former interim president of Howard University.
One example of that courage, she recalled, happened when they were about 12 years old and went to a store to buy donuts.
Civil rights activist Dorie Ladner stands at the African American Civil War Memorial Museum on May 16, 2015, in Washington. (Deborah Menkart via AP)
“The white cashier came up behind Dorie and hit her on the butt. She turned around and beat him over the head with those donuts,” Joyce Ladner said with a giggle.
“We were scared but you know how you have that feeling of knowing you had done the right thing? That’s what overcame us,” she said.
Dorie Ladner and her sister went on to help organize an NAACP Youth Council Chapter in Hattiesburg. When they attended Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi, they continued demonstrating against the segregation policies within the state. Those activities ultimately got both of them expelled from the school but in fall 1961, they both enrolled at Tougaloo College where they became active members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
“SNCC was the green beret of the civil rights movement,” Joyce Ladner said. “She dropped out of college three times to work full time with SNCC. She was extremely intense about the rights of Black people. She would tell me ‘I can’t study while our people are suffering.’”
Dorie Ladner was one of the first workers to go to Natchez, Mississippi in 1964, to help people register to vote, her sister said. The experience was harrowing at times, amid heightened Ku Klux Klan activity.
“Oftentimes the phone would ring at 3 a.m. which was never a good sign,” she said. “The person on the other end of the line would say ‘Dorie, y’all have two choices. You can stay in there and we’ll burn you and the house up or you can come outside and we’ll shoot you to death.’ That kind of stress would be unbearable for almost anyone, but they stayed.”
Ladner said one of the people her sister helped register to vote was Fannie Lou Hamer, who often said that experience and her involvement with SNCC helped her find her voice for freedom. She also knew other civil rights luminaries such as NAACP state field representative Medgar Evers, who was assassinated in 1963; Hattiesburg NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer and Clyde Kennard, another NAACP leader who had attempted to integrate the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
Dorie Ladner was a key organizer for Mississippi Freedom Summer, a volunteer campaign launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi. She also attended every major civil rights protest from 1963 to 1968, including the March on Washington and the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, Joyce Ladner said.
Dorie Ladner died in Washington, D.C., where she called home since 1974, her sister said.
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“She became a social worker and worked in the ER at DC General Hospital for 28 years,” she said. “That was an extension of her organizing and fighting for people, helping people through their crises.”
In addition to Ladner, Dorie Ladner’s survivors include her daughter, Yodit Churnet, and a 13-year-old grandson “who she doted on,” Ladner said.
A memorial service is pending.
Mississippi
Thompson defeats Turnage to highlight U.S. House primaries in Mississippi – SuperTalk Mississippi
Political newcomer and Capitol Hill attorney Evan Turnage proved no match for longtime U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who defeated him and one other challenger to earn the Democratic nomination for Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District on Tuesday.
Some politicos thought Turnage – who went to Yale and later worked for some of Thompson’s Democratic colleagues, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) – wouldn’t necessarily win but could make waves as one of the more viable candidates to challenge Thompson in recent years. However, that wasn’t the case as Thompson garnered approximately 85% of the vote when the race was called.
Thompson, 78, is seeking an 18th term. The civil rights leader who chaired the Jan. 6 Committee was first elected in 1993 and serves as a ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee. He will face either Ron Eller or Kevin Wilson on the Republican side, a race yet to be called as of late Tuesday night, and independent Bennie Foster in November’s general.
All of Mississippi’s U.S. House seats are up for grabs this year.
In the 1st Congressional District, Republican Rep. Trent Kelly ran unopposed, while civil rights attorney and University of Mississippi School of Law professor Cliff Johnson beat former state lawmaker Kelvin Buck in the Democratic primary. Libertarian challenger Johnny Baucom awaits Kelly and Johnson in the general.
In the 3rd Congressional District, both Republican Rep. Michael Guest and Democrat Michael Chiaradio ran unopposed. They will meet Libertarian Erik Kiehle in the general.
In the 4th Congressional District, Republican Rep. Mike Ezell had over 80% of the vote when his race was called against former Mississippi Department of Marine Resources officer and political staffer Sawyer Walters. State Rep. Jeffrey Hulum easily won the Democratic nomination over Paul Blackman and D. Ryan Grover. Ezell and Hulum will face independent Carl Boyanton in the general.
Arguably the most watched races of the night occurred in the state’s lone U.S. Senate seat in this year’s cycle. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith had no problem with Ocean Springs doctor Sarah Adlakha, seeing her name bolded around 30 minutes after the polls closed. It wasn’t long after that when Lowndes County District Attorney Scott Colom was announced the winner of the Democratic primary over Priscilla Till and Albert Littell. Independent Ty Pinkins will meet Hyde-Smith and Colom in the general on Nov. 3.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Mississippi
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Staff
Sunday, March 15, 2026
1. (tie) “The Irish Goodbye,” Beth Ann Fennelly, Norton; and “Vigil,” George Saunders, Random House
2. “Theo of Golden,” Allen Levi, Atria Books
3. “The Widow,” John Grisham, Doubleday
4. “The Correspondent,” Virginia Evans, Random House
5. “When It’s Darkness on the Delta,” W. Ralph Eubanks, Beacon Press
6. “Eradication,” Jonathan Miles, Doubleday
7. “Neptune’s Fortune,” Julian Sancton, Random House
8. “The Dean,” Sparky Reardon, The Nautilus Publishing Company
9. “Kin,” Tayari Jones, Random House
10. “Brawler,” Lauren Groff, Riverhead
Children and young adults
1. “The Bear and the Hair and the Fair,” Em Lynas, Little Brown
2. “The Hybrid Prince,” Tui T. Sutherland, Scholastic Press
3. “One Mississippi,” Steve Azar,Sarah Frances Hardy (Illustrator), The Nautilus Publishing
4. “If You Make a Call on a Banana Phone,” Gideon Sterer, HarperCollins
5. (tie) “Fancy Nancy: Besties for Eternity,” Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser (Illustrator), HarperCollins; and “The Dark is For,” Jane Kohuth, Simon and Schuster
Adult events (Sunday, March 15–Saturday, March 21)
Amy McDowell in conversation with Jodi Skipper for “Whispers in the Pews,” 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Off Square Books, 129 Courthouse Square, Oxford, 662-236-2262
Tayari Jones on Thacker Mountain Radio Hour for “Kin,” 6 p.m. Thursday, Off Square Books, 129 Courthouse Square, Oxford, 662-236-2262
Children’s events (Sunday, March 15–Saturday, March 21)
No Cap Book Club (kids 10-13) will be reading “A Kid’s Book About…,” 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, Square Books Jr., 111 Courthouse Square, Oxford, 662-236-2207
Storytime, “Clifford: Dream Big,” 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, Square Books Jr., 111 Courthouse Square, Oxford, 662-236-2207
Chapter Captains Book Club (kids 6-9) will be reading “Princess in Black: Bathtime Battle,” 6:00 p.m. Thursday, Square Books Jr., 111 Courthouse Square, Oxford, 662-236-2207
Storytime, “What a Small Cat Needs,” 10:00 a.m. Saturday, Square Books Jr., 111 Courthouse Square, Oxford, 662-236-2207
Story Time, “Very Hungry Caterpillar” Day! 10 a.m. Saturday, Lemuria Books, 202 Banner Hall, 4465 I-55 North, Jackson, 601-366-7619
— Sales and/or Events Reported by Lemuria Books (Jackson); Lorelei Books (Vicksburg); Square Books (Oxford).
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