Posts tagged Joann Bell
Native Legend Joann Bell Retires As ACLU-OK Executive Director
2.13.11
Former Executive Director Joann Bell
Twenty-four years of dedicated service to the defense of the Bill of Rights and the causes of human rights entered a new chapter on February 4, 2011. Joann Bell celebrated a birthday by beginning her retirement. Joann began working for the ACLU as a part time litigation coordinator in 1987 and became Oklahoma’s second ACLU Executive Director in 1988.
Under Joann’s guidance the affiliate organization flourished. For her first five years as director, Joann was the only employee. When she retired, the Union had an executive director, deputy director, development director, and two other part time employees.
During her tenure, the affiliate moved from many rented offices, but now resides in its Krumme Civil Liberties Center on the Paseo. Many civil libertarians contributed to this achievement, but one cannot underestimate the role played by Joann.
Joann began her career as a brave plaintiff in a much noted ACLU case, Bell v. Little Axe. Joann and another school patron objected to their children being required to attend a sectarian church service each morning at the school. She and her friend attempted to resolve this matter, but the school officials required Joann’s young children to remain outside in the weather if More >
JOANN BELL REPRESENTS ACLU AT THE UNITED NATIONS
6.23.07
UN delegates, Joann Bell second from right
Representatives from four local ACLU offices joined Lenora Lapidus of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project and Ashwini Hardikar of the ACLU Human Rights Program at the 51st Annual International Commission on the Status of Women and Girls hosted by the United Nations at its headquarters in New York. ACLU of Oklahoma Executive Director Joann Bell and ACLU personnel from Delaware, Michigan and Puerto Rico participated in sessions held March 5-7, 2007.
The goal of the sessions attended by the ACLU delegates was to insert language on conditions of incarceration into a one-page proposal on the treatment and rights of women and girls. Bell was chosen as a delegate because Oklahoma incarcerates women at a higher rate per capita than any other state in the U.S.A. Bell was also selected due to personal activism she initiated several years ago on behalf of a pregnant immigrant who was being held in the Oklahoma County Jail.
The efforts of the ACLU delegation were ultimately successful. Language protecting the rights of girls in custody was included in the violence and discrimination section of the Report issued by the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
The violence and discrimination section More >
