W. E. B. DuBois Award Recipient - 2001

LaFrancis Rodgers-Rose, Ph.D.

Dr. LaFrancis Rodgers-Rose, a clinical sociologist, professor, consultant, and author, is a graduate of Morgan State University, Fisk University, and the University of Iowa. She has more than thirty years of teaching experience, having taught at Case Western Reserve, Fordham, and the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Rodgers-Rose taught African American Studies at Princeton University for sixteen years, and most recently taught at Drew University.

Dr. Rodgers-Rose is equally at home in non-academic arenas. She has served as a consultant to the Stanford University Center for Research and Development in Teaching; the United States Army Equal Opportunity Program; Educational Testing Services; Bell Core, Bell Laboratories, and AT&T. Dr. Rodgers-Rose has lectured extensively throughout the United States on topics dealing with the Black woman, Black family, Black leadership, cultural diversity, youth’s motivation, school discipline, and rites of passage for girls, parenting skill development and various aspects of male/female relationships.

Dr. LaFrancis Rodgers-Rose is a member of the National Council for Black Studies, the Association for the Study of Afro-American History and Life; the American Sociological Association; and the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations. She is past president of the Association of Black Sociologists and the Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists. She was a Fulbright Fellow to Africa, a Distinguished Sociology Scholar, a member of Alpha Kappa Delta National Honor Society, and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Dr. Rodgers-Rose is the editor of The Black Women, acclaimed as the most comprehensive social psychological book on the Black woman; co-editor with      Dr. Delores P. Aldridge of River of Tears: The Politics of Black Women’s Health. Additionally, Dr. Rodgers-Rose co-authored, with her late brother, Dr. James T. Rodgers, Strategies for Resolving Conflicts in Black Male and Female Relationships.

She is the president and founder of the International Black Women’s Congress, a nonprofit, grassroots networking organization of women of African ancestry whose mission is to bring forth exemplary models of African womanhood by defining, embracing, and improving themselves through socio-political, economic empowerment. In August 1993, Dr. Rodgers-Rose received the highest honor and was enstooled as Nana Obaapanyin Akosua Asantewaa Ofosua I of Aburi, Ghana. Dr. LaFrancis Rodgers-Rose has committed her life to the struggle and victory of the organization’s vision.