Sharon Fort is an American substance abuse counselor and non-profit founder. In 2022, she became the first African-American woman to join the Arkansas Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Fort was born in Prescott, Arkansas. [1] She was a student at Booker T. Washington High School and was in the last class to attend the school before it was closed by federal mandate to end racial segregation in the United States. [2] She then transferred to Arkansas High School. [2]
Ford later studied at Texarkana Business College. [2] She earned an associate's degree in applied sciences with an emphasis on drug and alcohol abuse counseling from Texarkana Community College in 2008. [2] She later obtained a bachelor of science degree in psychology with a concentration in sociology from Texas A&M University. [2] [1] She earned a master's degree in interdisciplinary studies in psychology with concentrations in criminal justice and counseling from Texas A&M in 2012. [2] [1]
After finishing business school, Ford began working as an office administrator for the United States federal government in 1998. [2]
In the 2000s, Ford founded God's Helping Hand Ministries, a non-profit organization that helps people with mental health issues living in Texarkana and in Ghana. [2]
She is a licensed chemical dependency counselor in the state of Texas. [2]
On September 1, 2022, Ford became the first African-American to join the Arkansas Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. [1] She descends from the son of an enslaved black woman and a white landowner who had furnished supplies in North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War. [3] [4]
Bowie County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. Its legal county seat is Boston, though its courthouse is located in New Boston. As of the 2020 census, the population was 92,893. Bowie County is part of the Texarkana metropolitan statistical area. The county is named for James Bowie, the legendary knife fighter who died at the Battle of the Alamo.
Texarkana is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Miller County, on the southwest border of the state. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 29,387. It is the twin city of Texarkana, Texas, located just across the state line. The city was founded at a railroad intersection on December 8, 1873, and was incorporated in Arkansas on August 10, 1880. Texarkana and its Texas counterpart are the principal cities of the Texarkana metropolitan area, which in 2021 was ranked 289th in the United States with a population of 147,174, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Texarkana is a city in Bowie County, Texas, United States, in the Ark-La-Tex region. Located approximately 180 miles (290 km) from Dallas, Texarkana is a twin city with neighboring Texarkana, Arkansas. The Texas city's population was 36,193 at the 2020 census.
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-profit group, the organization promotes education and patriotism. Its membership is limited to direct lineal descendants of soldiers or others of the American Revolution era who aided the revolution and its subsequent war. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and have a birth certificate indicating that their gender is female. DAR has over 190,000 current members in the United States and other countries. The organization's motto is "God, Home, and Country".
Counseling psychology is a psychological specialty that began with a focus on vocational counseling, but later moved its emphasis to adjustment counseling, and then expanded to cover all normal psychology and psychotherapy. There are many subcategories for counseling psychology, such as marriage and family counseling, rehabilitation counseling, clinical mental health counseling, educational counseling, etc. In each setting, they are all required to follow the same guidelines.
Texas A&M University–Texarkana (A&M–Texarkana) is a public university in Texarkana, Texas. It is part of the Texas A&M University System.
Anne Legendre Armstrong was a United States diplomat and politician. She was the first woman to serve as Counselor to the President and as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, serving in those capacities under the Ford, Nixon, and Carter administrations. She was the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1987.
Palo Alto University (PAU) is a private university in Palo Alto, California that focuses on behavioral health disciplines like counseling, psychology, and social work. It was founded in 1975 as the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology and became Palo Alto University in 2009.
Antioch University New England is a private graduate school located in Keene, New Hampshire, United States. It is part of the Antioch University system, a private, non-profit, 501(c)(3) institution that includes campuses in Seattle, Washington; Los Angeles, California; and Santa Barbara, California. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The most well-known campus was Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, which is now independent of the Antioch University system.
Joan Wagnon is an American former politician. She was a representative in the Kansas House of Representatives between 1983 and 1995 and the mayor of Topeka, Kansas, between 1997 and 2001. She was secretary of the Kansas Department of Revenue from 2003 to 2011, when she took over as chair of the Kansas Democratic Party, a position that she held until 2015.
Eugene Antonio Marino, SSJ was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Atlanta from 1988 until 1990. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington from 1974 to 1988. He was the first African-American Catholic archbishop in history and the first African-American bishop in Washington. Marino was a member of the Josephites.
Arkansas High School is a public secondary school in Texarkana in Miller County in southwestern Arkansas. The school serves students from ninth through twelve grade and is administered by the Texarkana Arkansas School District.
Dr. Molly Beth Beene Malcolm is an American educator and former politician. She is the executive vice chancellor of operations and public affairs for Austin Community College in Austin, Texas.
Sharon E. Barker was a Canadian-American women's rights activist, women's health advocate, and feminist. She was the founding director of the Women's Resource Center at the University of Maine and one of the founders and first president of the Mabel Sine Wadsworth Women's Health Center in Bangor. For over 30 years she advocated for women and girls in the areas of health care, gender equality, sexual assault, and reproductive rights. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2009.
Carol Dalby serves as the 100th District representative for the Arkansas House of Representatives, representing Texarkana.
Opal Lee is an American retired teacher, counselor, and activist in the movement to make Juneteenth a federally-recognized holiday. She is often described as the "grandmother of Juneteenth".
Booker T Washington High School was a school for Black children in Texarkana, Arkansas before school integration.
Pamela Hilda Edwards Rouse Wright is an American philanthropist, clubwoman, businesswoman, and jewelry designer. Since 2022, she has served as the President General of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. She is the second Texan to serve as the national society's president general. In 2022, Wright was presented with the Yellow Rose of Texas Award by Governor Greg Abbott for charitable contributions and volunteerism in Texas.
Reisha L. Raney is an American business executive and podcaster. In 2018, she became the first black woman to serve as a Maryland state officer in the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. She previously served as the national vice chairwoman of the society's membership committee division. Raney is the founder and CEO of Encyde Corporation and the founder of Daughter Dialogues, a podcast documenting the narratives of black members of the Daughters of the American Revolution.