Politics
Janet Jagan
1920–2009 · politician, President of Guyana
Chicago-born activist who became Guyana's first woman president (1997–1999); as a young woman she studied at the University of Detroit and Wayne University.
- Born
Chicago, Illinois- Died
Georgetown, Guyana
aged 88- Birth name
- Janet Rosenberg
- Field
- Politics
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Janet Rosenberg was born into a Jewish family in Chicago in 1920. Before training as a nurse at the Cook County School of Nursing, she spent part of her student years in Michigan, attending the University of Detroit and Wayne University, today Wayne State, as well as Michigan State College. In 1943 she married Cheddi Jagan, a dental student from British Guiana, and moved with him to the colony, where in 1950 the couple founded the People's Progressive Party. For decades she worked as a party organizer, newspaper editor, legislator and government minister. After her husband's death in office she became prime minister in 1997 and then President of Guyana until 1999, the country's first woman president and the first American-born woman to serve as a head of state.
Highlights
- President of Guyana, 1997–1999, the country's first woman president
- Co-founder of the People's Progressive Party (1950) with Cheddi Jagan
- Studied at the University of Detroit and at Wayne University
- UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Gold Medal for Women's Rights, 1998
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here
University of Detroit Mercy (then University of Detroit), McNichols Campus
The Jesuit university where she took courses as a young woman, before nursing school.
Studied here
Wayne State University (then Wayne University)
She also attended Wayne University during her student years.