La Francis Rodgers-Rose

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

Early life and education 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.

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.

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

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

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

Personal life 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.