Alyce Faye Wattleton (1943- )

April 08, 2007 
/ Contributed By: Errin Jackson

Alyce Wattleton|

Alyce Wattleton

Courtesy Columbia University

Alyce Faye Wattleton, born in St. Louis, Missouri on July 8, 1943, became both the youngest person and the first African American president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a post she held from 1978 to 1992.  As only the second woman president of the organization (founder Margaret Sanger was the first), Wattleton fought for women’s reproductive rights by expanding the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its birth control services.

Wattleton’s mother was a traveling preacher and her father a construction worker.  Wattleton moved frequently as a child, and in 1959 she graduated at age 16 from Calhoun High School in Port Lavaca, Texas. In 1964, Wattleton completed a Bachelor’s of Science in nursing at Ohio State University. Three years later, she received her master’s degree in maternal and infant care and became a certified midwife through courses she completed at Columbia University in New York.

Faye Wattleton started her career in medicine by educating younger nurses on birth, delivery, and the labor process, but she is most known and respected for her work and involvement in the national pro-choice movement. At a time when abortion was a new, hot-button issue and few leaders in America dared utter words about women being able to terminate their pregnancies, Wattleton fought against the norm for a woman’s right to have an abortion. In addition to the option of abortion, she fought for women’s reproductive freedom and gender equality.

Wattleton was the first African American woman honored by the Congressional Black Caucus. She was cited for her work on reproductive rights issues.  Wattleton has received over a dozen honorary doctorates and was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993. Wattleton served on the Sarient Pharmaceuticals Board of Directors for Columbia University. She is currently executive vice president of EeroQ, a quantum computing company she co-founded in 2017.  She is also a member of the United Nations Association of the United States of America, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Eisenhower Fellowships Program, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Foundation.

About the Author

Author Profile

Errin Octavia Jackson is a third year undergraduate student at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus majoring in the field of Sociology. Jackson hopes to earn her masters degree in Social Work to become a social worker, or administrator for a women’s social health and services organization. Jackson is also a law school hopeful and serves as the Vice President of Campus Relations for the Minority Pre-Law Society at the University of Washington. Jackson is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and is presently Vice President of the Beta Theta (Seattle) chapter. While working toward her undergraduate and masters degrees, Jackson plans on writing and publishing essays and editorials on both sociological and political issues concerning race, gender and class in American society.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Jackson, E. (2007, April 08). Alyce Faye Wattleton (1943- ). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/wattleton-alyce-faye-1943/

Source of the Author's Information:

Loretta Ross, Marlene Gerber Fried, and Jael Silliman, Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice (South End Press, 2004);
Womenshistory.about.com/od/birthcontrol/p/faye_wattleton.htm

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