Gloria Blackwell

Dr. Gloria Blackwell
Born(1927-03-11)March 11, 1927
DiedDecember 7, 2010(2010-12-07) (aged 83)
NationalityAmerican
Other namesGloria Rackley
CitizenshipUnited States
EducationB.S. 1953, M.A., Ph.D 1973
Alma materClaflin College
S.C. State University
Emory University
OccupationEducator
Years active1950s–1993
OrganizationNAACP
Known forCivil rights activism
MovementOrangeburg Freedom Movement
ChildrenLurma Rackley, Jamelle Rackley

Gloria Blackwell, also known as Gloria Rackley (March 11, 1927 – December 7, 2010), was an African-American civil rights activist and educator. She was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement in Orangeburg, South Carolina during the 1960s, attracting some national attention and a visit by Dr. Martin Luther King of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Her activities were widely covered (and criticized) by the local press.

Arrested for sitting in the "whites only" area of the regional hospital when her daughter needed emergency treatment, Blackwell sued and won, ending its segregation. After being fired by the city's white school board in economic retaliation, she sued the board and won in 1962. She left the state in the 1960s, teaching at colleges and universities. She earned a doctorate at Emory University in 1973, and taught at Clark Atlanta University for 20 years.