June 30, 2019 – Loretta Ross

Calling In the Calling Out Culture: Dealing with Fears of Inclusion and Erasure

Loretta Ross is a Visiting Associate Professor in Women’s Studies at various colleges teaching courses on “White Supremacy in the Age of Trump” and “Reproductive Justice Praxis”. She started her career in activism and social change in the 1970s, working at the National Football League Players’ Association, the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, the National Organization for Women (NOW), the National Black Women’s Health Project, the Center for Democratic Renewal (National Anti-Klan Network), the National Center for Human Rights Education, and SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, until retiring as an organizer in 2012 to teach about activism. Her passion transforms anger into social justice to change the world.

Her most recent books are Reproductive Justice: An Introduction co-written with Rickie Solinger, and Radical Reproductive Justice: Foundations, Theory, Practice, Critique, both published in 2017. Her forthcoming book is Calling In the Calling Out Culture: Detoxing Our Movement due out in 2019.

She has appeared on CNN, BET, “Lead Story,” “Good Morning America,” “The Donahue Show,” the National Geographic Channel, and “The Charlie Rose Show.” She has been quoted in the New York Times, Time Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, among others.

Her activism began as a rape and incest survivor as a teen mother. She graduated college at age 55. She is from San Antonio, TX and lives in Atlanta, GA. She is a mother and grandmother, and an avid pinochle player. Her dream is to see Venus and Serena Williams play tennis in person.

  • Facilitator: M. Charlene Ball
  • Musician: Mick Kinney