Death of an Icon: Dr. La Francis Rodgers-Rose, sociologist, educator, and scholar
On November 10, 2024, La Francis Rodgers-Rose, Ph.D., a remarkable Black woman succumbed to illness. Her death, however, was not reported by any national newspaper despite her enormous impact on the lives of thousands of women of African ancestry, from “all walks of life, all around the world,” through the International Black Women’s Congress (IBWC), which she founded in 1983. She was CEO and President Emeritus.
I was fortunate to have known Dr. Rodgers-Rose personally. During the 1980s, I produced several issues of IBWC’s newsletter and contributed to River of Tears: The Politics of Black Women’s Health (edited by Dr. Rodgers-Rose and Delores P. Eldridge), a compilation of essays by those of us who presented at the 5th IBWC conference in 1989.
In 1988, IBWC honored me with its ONI Award as publisher of Best of Health, a national health newsletter for Black women.
Dr. Rodgers-Rose believed that Black women “need to examine closely the ideals, beliefs, values, and behavior of our foremothers …return to our rich African heritage to help us survive racism in 21st century America …
“No one has ever cared about our health but us. We cannot afford to leave the wellbeing of 40 million African Americans in the hands of a system that raped our mothers, used our fathers and mothers as guinea pigs … sold us like cattle to the highest bidder, exposed our bodies to the harsh environmental elements … and has been responsible for more than 30 million deaths of African American men, women, and children.”
Born July19,1936, in Norfolk VA, Dr. Rodgers-Rose was raised in segregated Portsmouth, an area where, according to The New Journal and Guide reporter Leonard E. Colvin, “City, state, and federal machinery was applied via seizures for tax debt, eroding of land value, the building of highways through the community, and nuisances, such as, dumping and neglect to (destroy) it.”
Her educational achievements include a bachelor's degree from Morgan State University (formerly Morgan State College) in 1958, a master’s degree from Fisk University in 1960, and a doctorate from the University of Iowa in 1964, all in the field of sociology.
Dr. Rodgers-Rose taught sociology and African American Studies for more than 30 years at various colleges and universities, including St. Olaf College, Case Western Reserve University, Rutgers University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Drew University.
During her 15 years at Princeton University, Dr. Rodgers-Rose introduced the university’s first-ever course on the Black woman in 1975. She lectured frequently on Black history and culture, the Black woman, Black family, Black identity, rites of passage, and cultural diversity.
In 1980, Dr. Rodgers-Rose edited The Black Woman (Sage Publications), “… a serious attempt to inform by presenting historical, research, and experiential accounts of Black women by Black women.” She was a founding member, and past national president, of the Association of Black Sociologists and past national president of the Association of Social Behavioral Scientists.
Thirty years after participating as a panelist for the 1994 Crisis of Black Leadership? Ccnference recorded on C-SPAN, Dr. Rodgers-Rose’s words echo the need for bold Black leadership in the face of president-elect Donald Trump’s proposed policies, including prosecuting institutions with DEI policies, reorganizing the Civil Rights Division, and cracking down on protests.
She said, “as (leaders), we are easily co- opted … we get tied into people talking about reverse discrimination. (That’s the) situation today … we can't even talk about discrimination because people say we already solved that problem in the 1960s ….
“We can't talk about racism. If anything, people are telling us about reverse racism. We look at the election of a week ago, and we see the right wing coming back and we don't have our voices anymore … the oppressed now looks like the oppressor and vice versa.
In 1993, in Newark, New Jersey, Dr. Rodgers-Rose was enstooled as Nana Obaapanyin Akosua Asantewaa Ofosua I of Aburi, Ghana, a traditional ceremony done to install a king, chief or a queen into office as a traditional ruler.
Her memorial service on November 24 honored her transition to the Ancestors as well and her deep connection to Africa with a drum ceremony.
Ophera A. Davis, Ph.D., expressed admiration for Dr. Rodgers-Rose in her online tribute. “(She) was more than a Force. Her regal presence sent a clear message that you were encountering one of God’s Chosen Vessels. (Her) bio tells only a snippet of her story and impact on the world.”
© 2024 wistajohnson.com (Reprint by permission only.) Photo: Instagram