WOODTOR, Delores Parmer 1945(?)-2002

(Dee Parmer Woodtor, Dee Woodtor)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born c. 1945, in Greenville, AL; died of stomach cancer, August 6, 2002, in Evanston, IL. Gallery owner, educator, genealogist, and author. In 1982 Woodtor became the co-owner of a gallery called Window to Africa, a name that could be used to describe Woodtor herself. Her original training was in political science, but after earning a doctorate in 1986, Woodtor 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 cofounder and program director of the African Festival of the Arts and through her affiliation with the Africa International House. 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 A Place Called Down Home: An African-American Guide to Genealogy and Historical Identity, which she wrote as "Dee" Parmer Woodtor, and for which she received a book award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association in 2000. Woodtor also wrote a children's book, Big Meeting, which emphasizes the importance of family and identity.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, August 14, 2002, obituary by H. Gregory Meyer, section 2, p. 9.