Vednita Carter

Vednita Carter
Residence Twin Cities, Minnesota
Nationality American
Citizenship African American
Years active 1996-present
Organization Breaking Free
Awards Women of Distinction, Century College

Vednita Carter is an anti-prostitution activist, author and executive director of the "Breaking Free" organisation which helps women who have been prostituted.

Biography

Before beginning a career as an anti-prostitution activist Carter, from Twin Cities, Minnesota, was a stripper.[1][2] In 1989, Carter began to work with prostituted women in Minnesota at a different agency, which later closed, and became program director.[3] In 1996,[4] Carter founded Breaking Free, an organization that aids girls and women in exiting prostitution.[5] She subsequently became this organization's executive director[6] and the programme expanded to offer more support including: "emergency services such as food, clothing, shelter, medical assistance, legal assistance to victims of trafficking"[3] By 1998 the organization rented an apartment block to permanently rehouse women and girls and by 2010 they had more apartments and three "transitional houses".[3] In 2015, the housing block named "Jerry's Place", after Sgt. Gerald Vick, was closed due to funding issues.[7]

In their book Juvenile Justice: Advancing Research, Policy, and Practice, Francine Sherman and Francine Jacobs call Carter "a leading service provider for exploited women and girls".[8]

Carter has been published in Hastings Women's Law Journal,[9] the Michigan Journal of Gender and Law, and the Journal of Trauma Practice.[10] Carter contributed the piece "Prostitution = Slavery" to the 2003 anthology Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium, edited by Robin Morgan.[11]

Awards

Carter won the 2010 Survivor Centered-Service Provider category from the Norma Hotaling Award.[3] Carter was one of six women granted the Women of Distinction award by Century College in 2012.[12]

Selected bibliography

"I know that working with women and girls who have been used in prostitution/trafficking is my destiny in this life…. it is what I am meant to do. When I think about the millions of women and children throughout the world who are exploited and have no other options to change the course of their life, I feel compelled to do all that I can do to help them in some way."

Vednita Carter explaining her motivations for her work[3]

Chapters in books

Journal articles

References

  1. Williamson, Celia (2008), "Abolitionist approach to prostitution (present-day advocates)", in Renzetti, Claire M.; Edleson, Jeffrey L., Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Violence, 1, Sage Publications, p. 2, ISBN 9781412918008.
  2. Sher, Julian, "High-risk victims", in Sher, Julian, Somebody's daughter: the hidden story of America's prostituted children and the battle to save them, Chicago: Chicago Review Press, p. 36, ISBN 9781569765654, Vednita Carter, an African American stripper turned activist...
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "2010 Norma Hotaling Award Recipients". Global Centurion. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  4. Coolidge, Sharon (18 August 2006). "Out of 'the life,' they learn to live". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  5. Budig, Susan (27 October 2007). "Prostitution: Should it remain a crime?". Twin Cities Daily Planet. Twin Cities Media Alliance. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  6. Baran, Madeleine (27 October 2009). "Group holding vigil to remember victims of prostitution-related violence". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  7. Norfleet, Nicole (11 February 2015). "Breaking Free to close Jerry's Place housing for trafficked girls". Star Tribune. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  8. Sherman, Francine T.; Goldblatt Grace, Lisa (2011), "The system response to the commercial sexual exploitation of girls", in Sherman, Francine T.; Jacobs, Francine H., Juvenile justice: advancing research, policy, and practice, Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, p. 336, ISBN 9780470497043.
  9. Belles, Nita (2011), "What's love got to do with it? Absolutely nothing!", in Belles, Nita, In our backyard: a Christian perspective on human trafficking in the United States, Nashville, Tennessee: Free River Press, p. 117, ISBN 9780615451800.
  10. Dismantling Rape Culture Conference. "2013 Keynote Speaker: Vednita Carter founder and executive director of Breaking Free: "Sex trafficking/prostitution, racism and slavery"". University of Vermont. Archived from the original on 2 September 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  11. Carter, Vednita (2003), "Prostitution = Slavery", in Morgan, Robin, Sisterhood is forever: the women's anthology for a new millennium, New York, New York: Washington Square Press, pp. 315–324, ISBN 9780743466271. Details.
  12. Livingstone, Nancy (16 November 2012). News release: Century names women of distinction for 2012 (PDF). Minnesota: Century College. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
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