Ramona Douglass

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Ramona E. Douglass is a writer, lecturer and consultant living in California's San Fernando Valley.

Of African American, American Indian (Oglala), and Sicilian heritage, Douglass has been a community activist for almost 30 years. She was a founding member of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and participated with Angela Davis' Political Defense Committee in the early 1970s.^[1]

In 1986 Douglass became active in the Biracial Family Network, one of the United States' oldest community organizations advocating for mixed heritage people and families. On November 12, 1998 the Biracial Family Network joined similar organizations in the U.S. and Canada to create the Association of MultiEthnic Americans (AMEA).^[2] Douglass, an AMEA co-founder, has served as the organization's vice president (1988-1991), president (1994-1999) and Director of Media and Public Relations (2000-2005). Today she serves on its Advisory Council.^[3]

Douglass was a prominent spokesperson for multiracial issues during the debates preceding Census 2000. In 1993, Douglass testified before Rep. Thomas C. Sawyer's (D-OH) Subcommittee on Census, Statistics & Postal Personnel in favor of adding a "multiracial" category to the 2000 Census. In 1995, she was appointed, by then Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, to the 2000 Census Advisory Committee. In 1997, Douglass testified before the Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight on behalf of multiracial Americans.^[4]

A graduate of Colorado State University, Douglass has a distinguished career in medical sales and marketing^[5].