Background

Delores Parmer Woodtor was born on July 10, 1945, in Greenville, Alabama, United States. She was a daughter of Willie James Parmer, a plumber, and Adelle Longmire (King) Parmer.

Education

Dee received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1968. Later, in 1986, she attained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Political Science from Northwestern University.

Career

In 1982, Woodtor became the co-owner of a gallery, called Window to Africa, a name, that could be used to describe Woodtor herself. After earning a doctorate in 1986, Delores began teaching at the School of New Learning at De Paul University and at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

She devoted much of her remaining time to promoting African culture in America as a co-founder and program director of the African Festival of the Arts and through her affiliation with the Africa International House, which she helped to create. Africa International House is a cultural center in Hyde Park, that sponsors events, uniting Africans and people of African descent, living in the United States, the Caribbean and South America.

Also, one of the ways, in which Woodtor encouraged African-Americans to explore their origins, was to write genealogy resource materials, such as "Case Studies in Afro-American Genealogy", which she wrote as "Dee" Woodtor with David T. Thackery, and "Finding a Place Called Home: A Guide to African-American Genealogy and Historical Identity", which she also wrote as "Dee" Parmer Woodtor.

Achievements

• Delores Parmer Woodtor was a well-known American author and genealogist, who made her own contributions to African culture. She also gained prominence for her books, such as "Big Meeting" (1996) and "Finding a Place Called Home: A Guide to African-American Genealogy and Historical Identity" (1999), for which she received a Book Award from Black Caucus of the American Library Association in 2000.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Big Meeting

    (It is August, and family members from far and wide travel...)

    1996
  • Finding a Place Called Home: A Guide to African-American Genealogy and Historical Identity

    ("Finding a Place Called Home" is a comprehensive guide to...)

    1999
  • Case studies in Afro-American genealogy

    (Delores Woodtor co-authored this book together with David...)

    1989

Religion

Dee was reared in African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Politics

While a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Delores marched on Marquette Park for open housing with Martin Luther King Jr.

Views

Woodtor's mission, as her friends say, was to erase Americans' ignorance of Africa and help African culture gain a foothold in the United States.

Quotations: "I love children’s books, especially those, that turn the ordinary into the unreal or commonplace images into fantasy — visual fantasies as well as thinking fantasies. For me, it is the best time in a child’s life, and to capture the points of awakening is a challenge. I also love whimsy in children’s books. Without it, there is no magic. For someone to capture it is almost like a gift."

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• "She was a citizen of the world, and everybody, who became associated with her, picked up that citizenship." — Linda Murray, Delores' friend and special-events coordinator for the African arts festival
  
  "She has always centered on what I call an Afrocentric nature — trying to connect those on the African continent and the diaspora." — Abdul Ahmed Bimrah, an Africa International House treasurer and board member

Interests

• Collecting art books, African-American memoirs

Connections

Initially, Delores was married to John Lee Johnson, a community organizer. Later, her first marriage ended in divorce and Dee married Patrick Saingbey Woodtor, a gallery owner, in September, 1979.

Dee Woodtor had three children - two sons, John Ore Johnson and Saingbey Khien Woodtor, and a stepdaughter, Laura Karr.

Father:

Willie James Parmer

Mother:

Adelle Longmire (King) Parmer

child:

John Ore Johnson

child:

Saingbey Khien Woodtor

Ex-husband:

John Lee Johnson

John Lee Johnson is a community organizer.

husband:

Patrick Saingbey Woodtor

Patrick Saingbey Woodtor is a gallery owner.

stepchild:

Laura Karr