Interviewer Biography
Biographical Information Form
Interviewer – JoNell Adair (Jody) Usher
Address: Anderson, SC 29625
Email: jusher@emory.edu
Birthplace: Hartsville, South Carolina (Darlington County)
Parents: Nell Carolyn Rolader Adair and John Jarman Adair
Retired from Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Spouse of 32 years – Linda Carroll Moate
Jody Usher grew up in Hartsville, SC, the first-born of her parents’ three children. Her two brothers, John J. Adair, Jr. (b. 1949) and Bennie Lloyd Adair (b. 1961), helped balance her life with collaboration and competition. She set the pace academically, while they joined Dad in his Hartsville Machine Shop, learning welding, metallurgy and business.
Attending college at Emory University, Jody completed two years before marrying Troy Clarence Usher, Jr in 1967. Their children, Christopher Todd Usher (b. 1970) and Ellen Leigh Usher (b. 1974), grew up in Roswell, GA. While raising her children, Jody graduated from Georgia State University summa cum laude in 1981. She and Troy divorced in 1987. In 1989, she completed a PhD from Emory University in Cognitive Psychology.
In a 25-year career at Emory University, Jody served as Assistant Dean in three of the nine schools – Emory College, the Graduate School and the Rollins School of Public Health. Given her 12-year volunteer experience leading Emory’s National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) in diversity leadership, Usher became known for her strong interest in ending racism. This set of skills landed her in the university president’s office for two different projects – the 2002 Atlanta exhibit Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America and the 2006-2011 Transforming Community Project, a strategic plan initiative that involved the institution’s history and current experiences of race and other forms of human difference.
Following her retirement from Emory, Jody and her spouse relocated to Anderson, SC, in order to be near their three grandchildren. In the first decade back in SC, she also co-led a consulting firm, It’s Our Privilege! Simultaneously, Jody became a senior citizen student at Clemson University. Clearly, she is a life- long learner! Taking one free course each semester, she adds courses that expand her knowledge beyond White culture.
In Fall 2019, she registered for the course, Oral History and Local History, taught by Professor Joshua Catalano. An oral history is the focus of this course. Because Jody currently serves as the Secretary of the Clemson Area African American Museum Board, she immediately asked if Robert Kemp, CAAAM President, would be willing to do an oral history with her. His affirmative response provided a new highlight for Jody’s studies. The oral history will become a permanent part of the online Local History Matters website.