25 March 2025 1 minute read
Delores Loraine (Raine) Crockett, a retired civil servant, has served twenty-seven years working for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau and a lifetime committed to the advancement of working women.
The Women’s Bureau was created in 1920 to “formulate standards and policies which shall promote the welfare of wage-earning women.” It is the only federal agency charged by Congressional mandate to develop policy and address the multiple issues of women in the workforce. From 1993 until 2001, Crockett served three stints as Acting Director of the Women’s Bureau in Washington, DC, with management responsibility for the national office and ten regional offices. As the highest-ranking civil servant in the bureau, she was called upon to manage the agency during transitions between presidential administrations.
Crockett’s career highlights include facilitating the establishment of a women’s division in the Bureau of Labor in San Jose, Costa Rica; delivering a keynote address for First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton before the NAACP; and representing the United States as a speaker at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland and conferences in Oslo, Norway and Northern Ireland. Prior to joining the Women’s Bureau, Crockett worked with former Dean of Students, Dr. Barbara King, at Spelman College; served as Director of the Atlanta Office of Minority Women’s Employment Program and as Communications and Employment Manager for Avon Products, Inc.
Valedictorian of her high school class in Daytona Beach, Florida, Crockett boarded a bus alone and traveled to Spelman College in 1965. She graduated with honors (cum laude) in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology, and earned a Master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Atlanta University in 1972. She raised one daughter, Ayanna Crockett Ingram, C’94, who is married to Mrs. Crockett’s son-in-love, Keith Ingram.
Crockett has served on the boards of the American Red Cross, the Episcopal Diocese’s Commission on Higher Education, Leadership Atlanta, Georgia’s Commission on the Status of Women, and the Women’s Golf Association. She is an alumna of Leadership Atlanta, Leadership Georgia, Leadership America, and a member of the YWCA’s Academy of Women Achievers. While serving as the first woman and first person of color as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Eagle’s Landing Country Club, she sponsored two separate musical presentations by Spelman College’s Glee Club - a first for the southside of Metro Atlanta. Both events were so well received there was standing room only.
As a Golden Girl and Diamond Daughter, Crockett has served as the fundraising chair of her class, resulting in presentations to Spelman College of a combined total of over two million dollars. In addition to service, she has enjoyed the Spelman College sisterhood on three trips (Spain, Italy, and Paris Noir), each sponsored by the Spelman College Office of Alumnae Engagement.