Jeanine DrJazz Normand
Jeanine Normand, aka Dr. Jazz Normand, New Orleans native and Jewish, radical dyke, descends (among many others) from the women of the slave ship, La Mutine, (French for Mutinous Woman), that came to the Gulf Coast to “New France” in 1720. Normand, a former alligator wrestler and giant snake wrangler, she still rescues reptiles, amphibians, and other animals to protect the environment.
Normand studied premed in university, having earned a scholarship in theoretical math. She minoring in quantum physics. She was granted the NDEA Fellowship for her PhD work, achieving four master’s degrees in French and French linguistics; English linguistics; gifted education; and business. While teaching at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, she wrote the textbook fdor the graduate school of education there, How to Teach English as an International Language. Completing the dissertation and orals for the PhD, she left university life to start two companies, receiving an honorary PhD.
Normand lived in France twice, where at age 22, her students at the Sorbonne in Paris gave her the sobriquet, “Dr. Jazz.” A lifelong musician and composer, she performed in jazz festivals around the USA, the Caribbean, and Europe, including the Nice (France) Jazz Festival, on stage with Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald.
Normand first joined the campaign for Congressman John R. Lewis in 1979. She joined him again in 1985, when she moved to Atlanta, Georgia, staying with his campaign throughout her 20 years Atlanta. She engaged in other political campaigns, including Joan Garner. She immediately joined the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Association (ALFA), working on the “Boogie Women” committee, which devised all of the fun events like dances and weekend retreats. In as many ways as possible, she organized around the major issues, and she still fights for them: civil rights; women’s and lesbian rights; disability rights; and the environment.
A professor and part-time computer programmer, she had a weekend job as a surgical tech, the laboratory director, and a counselor from 1981 to 1983 at the first women’s health clinic in Mobile, Alabama, which provided family planning, prenatal care, and reproductive care, including abortions. This was at a time when pregnancy testing required an appointment with a doctor; but our clinic provided pregnancy testing and counseling for free as a community service. She concurrently cofounded and volunteered for the first rape crisis line in the Mobile area while serving on the executive board of Mobile’s chapter of NOW.
Normand worked as an out lesbian at Duke Medical Center and Duke University Library in Durham, North Carolina, for two years, from January 1983 to January 1985. While Normand worked in Collections Development, the head librarian asked her to begin the lesbian literary and newsletter collection in Duke University Library. Also, Durham is where she created and directed her first, all-woman, big band dance orchestra, including performing for a big-ticket fundraisers such as the national conference of NOW [National Organization for Women] and for vice-presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro.
Normand helped to plan the first Southern Women’s Music and Comedy Festival that took place in Georgia in 1984. It was the only one produced by Robin Tyler, who met with a group of us feminist activists beginning in Durham in 1983. Normand performed on the main stage with her lesbian band, as well as playing bass with Cassie Culver’s performance on the main stage. Normand arranged Culver’s signature song, “Ride, Sally Ride,” performed there. In addition, Robin Tyler asked Normand to play piano for her keynote comedy and song performance on the main stage on Saturday night, including Normand’s unique piano arrangements for Tyler.
Jeanine DrJazz Normand moved to Atlanta at the end of 1984 to manage programmers and technical writers for the international business division at the second largest computer company in the world. She established Normand International Consulting Enterprises, providing PR, and providing translators and interpreters for the 1996 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Atlanta. Some of her clients for international public relations and international business consulting included: the French Embassy, the French Consulate, the French Minister Department of Health, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the Carter Center, and companies around the world.
Retired professor and multilingual, international business consultant, Normand continues her other professions of concert pianist, multi-instrumentalist musician, bandleader, composer, translator, bilingual editor, ghostwriter, and author.
Normand joined the League of Women Voters of Baldwin County (LWVBC) upon moving to Alabama in late 2002. Immediately volunteering to serve on the LWVBC board, she was asked to serve also on the state LWV board. She now serves on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force for the LWV of Alabama.
A consummate honor, Jeanine DrJazz Normand served as one of the models for the Amazon series by Pat Wiles, lesbian-feminist artist.
Normand currently coproduces weekly, literary events with Lesbians WriteOntm that she cofounded. She volunteers with the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project: www.SLFAHerstoryProject.com.
Working to overthrow patriarchal values (power over) to reinstall matriarchal (power shared) values, she is an outspoken political activist on the issues. Jeanine DrJazz Normand writes to protect the lesbian ecosystem, living with her animal companions in the Yoni of Alabama, in America’s Amazon on Mobile Bay.
Facebook professional page: DrJazz Normand New Orleans Style Dance Orchestra: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057437019515