Donna Dukes

Donna Dukes

Donna D. Dukes is an educator, non-profit executive, community activist, filmmaker and former radio host.

Dukes is the daughter of former Miles College student body president and Civil Rights Movement organizer Frank Dukes. She graduated from Woodlawn High School as secretary of her senior class in 1987. She completed a bachelor's degree at Miles College in 1991.

In September 1991 Donna and her mother, Jacquelyn Dukes, co-founded the Maranathan Family Learning Center & Academy, an educational program for critically at-risk youth and adults in Kingston. In 1997 Dukes was named an "Unsung Hero" by The Birmingham News. She delivered a widely-viewed presentation on working with at-risk youth to the TEDxBirmingham conference in 2016. Maranathan suspended in-person teaching during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic and Dukes organized a food distribution program for students and their families. She has been honored by Morehouse College and the Birmingham Business Journal for her leadership.

On radio, Dukes hosted a Sunday-morning gospel program on WATV-AM and WJLD-AM from 2005 to 2009, and a daily gospel program on WAGG-AM from 2010 to 2013. She left the program to focus on her documentary film, Stand: Untold Stories from the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement, which had its premiere at Miles College. The documentary was broadcast on Alabama Public Television in February 2014 and has since been shown on PBS stations nationwide.

Dukes is a member of Sixth Avenue Baptist Church and the Birmingham Nonprofit Consortium. She is also an officer of the Birmingham East Kiwanis Club and a director of The Women's Network of Birmingham.

2007 mayoral campaign

During the run-up to the 2007 Birmingham mayoral election, Dukes worked as a volunteer for Patrick Cooper's campaign. Melva Langford, the wife of candidate Larry Langford filed a harassment complaint against Dukes and campaign manager Sheila Tyson, who were canvassing her Fairfield neighbors for witnesses who could counter her husband's claim to have established residency in the city of Birmingham. No criminal charges were filed.

2008 Women's Empowerment Expo

In 2008 Dukes organized a Birmingham Women's Empowerment Expo which was to have been held at the BJCC on August 2. The day before the event, Mayor Langford abruptly refused to sign a check for just under $9,000. The appropriation had been approved by the Birmingham City Council. The loss of the city's sponsorship caused the event to have to be rescheduled for later in the fall.

Originally Langford told the council that they should not have been surprised at his refusal and blamed them for trying to provoke a fight by presenting the funding request to him without prior notice. Council members lambasted him for superseding their appropriations in order to carry out a personal vendetta. Later that week, the Mayor's office clarified that that request had not been submitted according to policies established by the city's internal auditing office. "I wouldn't have signed it anyway for the reasons that I have stated," Langford said, "But even if I didn't have the issue I couldn't have signed it." (Bryant - August 8)

After the event was canceled, Dukes, then on staff at WATV-AM, sought private sponsors to be able to reschedule it. She promoted the event during the "Morning Talk" program on rival WJLD-AM in early August. Though she claims to have been given permission to appear on the program, she was suspended and subsequently fired by WATV-AM manager Ron January. She resumed her Weekly program on WJLD.

References

• Walsh, Maggie Hall (May 11, 1994) "Cast Bucket to Aid Youths – Kingston Learning." The Birmingham News
• Normington, Mick (July 4, 1997) "Unsung Heroes." The Birmingham News
• Walsh, Maggie Hall (August 16, 2000) "Just a chat…with Donna Dukes." The Birmingham News
• Wolfson, Hannah (November 9, 2007) "Cooper, Langford camps hurl harassment charges." The Birmingham News
• Seale, Kathy (June 11, 2006) "At-risk students overcome odds to win diplomas." The Birmingham News
• Bryant, Joseph D. (August 2, 2008) "Birmingham mayor, council at odds over conference funding." The Birmingham News
• Bryant, Joseph D. (August 8, 2008) "Langford says request for check to sponsor women's conference improperly submitted." The Birmingham News
• Bryant, Joseph D. (August 12, 2008) "Birmingham radio host fired after discussing women's conference on rival station." The Birmingham News
• Walton, Val (September 28, 2008) "Expo helps women overcome hardships Event held." The Birmingham News
• Gray, Jeremy (April 20, 2009) "Lesser-known heroes: Daughter of civil rights activist films a documentary." The Birmingham News