Bertha Maxwell-Roddey

The life and accomplishments of aninfluential leader in the desegregated South.

Thisbiography of educational activist and Black studies pioneer BerthaMaxwell-Roddey examines a life of remarkable achievements and leadership in theearly years of the desegregated South. Sonya Ramsey modernizes thenineteenth-century term “race woman” to describe how Maxwell-Roddey and herpeers turned hard-won civil rights and feminist milestones into tangibleaccomplishments in North Carolina and nationwide from the late 1960s to the1990s.

Bornin 1930, Maxwell-Roddey became one of Charlotte’s first Black woman principalsof a white elementary school; she was the founding director of the Universityof North Carolina at Charlotte’s Africana Studies Program; and she cofoundedthe Afro-American Cultural and Service Center, now the Harvey B. Gantt Centerfor African-American Art + Culture. Maxwell-Roddey founded the National Councilfor Black Studies, helping institutionalize the field with what is still itspremiere professional organization, and served as the 20th National Presidentof Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., one of the most influential Black women’sorganizations in the United States.

Using oral histories and primary sources thatinclude private records from numerous Black women’s home archives, Ramseyilluminates the intersectional leadership strategies used by Maxwell-Roddey andother modern race women to dismantle discriminatory barriers in the classroomand the boardroom. Bertha Maxwell-Roddeyoffers new insights into desegregation, urban renewal, and the rise of theBlack middle class through the lens of a powerful leader’s life story.