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Millie McClelland Charles, a crusader in the field of social work [1]

['Tammy C. Barney', 'More Tammy C. Barney', 'Verite News']

Date: 2024-03-12  

Social workers across the country credit Millie McClelland Charles with shaping their lives and careers. Her impact on the field was so great that the Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO) School of Social Work building is named after her.

Millie McClelland Charles. Credit: Southern University of New Orleans

The educator, social worker and civil rights activist lived to help and uplift others.

“You need to be true to a cause that extends beyond yourself,” Charles told the Louisiana Weekly in 2012. “Do it for others – that’s the only way we can change this thing for Black people.”

Born in Central City in 1923. Charles overcame hardships. Her parents divorced when she was 3. Her mother died when she was 8. Her husband died in 1950, one month after they were married. She was four weeks pregnant.

Charles graduated from Dillard University with an education degree. In 1957, she earned a Master of Social Work at the University of Southern California.

According to SUNO, Charles founded the social work department in 1963, serving as dean until she retired in 2006. As the only employee, she developed a handful of courses into accredited bachelor and master programs. The $1 million Human Rights and Social Work Endowed Chair was established in her name.

“Her interests in social work education go far beyond just working in the State of Louisiana,” the website states. She “consulted with numerous undergraduate and graduate social work programs around the U.S., advising them on curricula.”

The National Association of Social Workers named her “Social Worker of the Year” in 1975. She also received the 1995 National Social Workers’ Pioneer Award. In 2013, the Times-Picayune awarded her its Loving Cup for being a “lifelong crusader for equality.”

Founder and president emeritus of the New Orleans Association of Black Social Workers, Charles was 97 when she died in 2020.

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