Judy Richardson

Judy Richardson

Judy Richardson is a civil rights veteran and film producer based in Maryland. In the 1960s, Richardson worked in the Atlanta office of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and worked on SNCC projects in Alabama, Mississippi, and southwest Georgia. She served as a researcher and content advisor for the PBS civil rights history, "Eyes on the Prize," and co-produced "Eyes on the Prize II." She later co-produced Blackside’s 1994 Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary, "Malcolm X: Make It Plain." Richardson and five other SNCC women edited "Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts By Women in SNCC," published in 2011.

Email Judy Richardson

Articles by Judy Richardson

A Black woman wearing a black t-shirt holds out a microphone for another older Black woman who is seated and wearing a red t-shirt to speak into. They are at the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C. A sign that reads "Defend Black Studies" lays in the corner.

VOICES: Teaching truth in the face of book bans

By Judy Richardson
June 28, 2023 - Over the past few years, the number of attempted book bans has skyrocketed, going hand-in-hand with proposed laws to limit what can be taught in classrooms. The book titles most often targeted are those written by people of color and LGBTQ+ authors, and those featuring discussions of race, gender, and sexual orientation. In this Voices piece, we share a recent speech given by civil rights veteran Judy Richardson on the necessity of truth telling and teaching in the face of book censorship.