Ann Fagan Ginger (July 11, 1925 – August 20, 2025) was an American lawyer, teacher, writer and political activist. She founded and served as executive director of the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute in Berkeley, California.
Background and career
Ginger was born in 1925 in East Lansing, Michigan, to radical parents. Her father was from a rural family of English Quaker descent; her mother was urban and of Lithuanian Jewish heritage. Ginger graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1947, one of only eight women in her class. She met her first husband, historian Ray Ginger, at Michigan. Ann Ginger practiced labor law in Ohio for a few years, and then moved with her husband to Boston in 1951 when he was hired by the Harvard Business School as a journal editor. Forced to leave Harvard for their refusal to sign non-Communist oaths, the couple moved to New York City. Ann Ginger began working half-time as an administrator for the National Lawyers Guild while raising two children; between 1954 and 1959 she rose to the position of editor of the NLG's professional journal, The Guild Practitioner.
In 1955, Ginger began compiling and publishing the Civil Liberties Docket, a summary and archive of contemporary civil rights and civil liberties litigation materials and decisions, much of which was "not otherwise available." Ginger argued and won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1959, upholding the due process rights of a target of Ohio's state-level Un-American Activities Commission. In 1962, she was the only woman lawyer to attend the first joint meeting of black and white attorneys in the South, co-sponsored in Atlanta by the Guild and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. There she spoke in favor of the Civil Rights Movement also supporting women's rights. In 1965, she founded the independent nonprofit Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute in Berkeley, named for scholar Alexander Meiklejohn. She was an expert in human rights and peace law under the statutes and treaties of the United States and the United Nations. In his own autobiography, Tigar described Ginger as "a superb editor and writer."
In the 1960s, Ginger was married to James Fenton Wood. In the 21st century her life partner was J.R. "Richard" Challacombe. One son predeceased her.
Ginger died in Berkeley on August 20, 2025, at the age of 100. In September 2000, she wrote to the Harvard Board of Overseers demanding an apology for Harvard's 1954 action in forcing her then-husband to resign his position at the Business School for refusing to swear he was not a Communist. Harvard had demanded the same of Ann Ginger, although she was not a university employee. Harvard further demanded that the couple leave Massachusetts as a condition of receiving Ray Ginger's final two weeks' pay. Ann Ginger was then pregnant with their second son. At the time of her 2000 letter, she also made public FBI files that confirmed the Gingers' account of being required to sign a non-Communist oath. This was the first documented proof of Harvard having made such a demand, which Harvard had previously publicly denied.
Harvard replied a few months later, admitting that Ray Ginger had been forced out of the faculty but not apologizing. Board of Overseers President Sharon Gagnon wrote: "I would not presume to ... second-guess the motives or judgments of individuals in that difficult time. It seems clear, however, that Harvard took an action in the case of Mr. Ginger that many thoughtful people today, looking back, would not find appropriate." Ann Ginger found the response insufficient and said Harvard needed a truth and reconciliation commission to make it face what it had done.