Day Gardner

Day Gardner is a civil rights activist, and founder and President of The National Black Pro-Life Union. She is also a member of the National Clergy Council on Capitol Hill, a member of Project 21 National Advisory Council, and sits on several state and national boards.

Day Gardner was the first black woman to win the title of Miss Atlantic City, (1974) and two years later, won the coveted title of Miss Delaware in 1976. As a representative of the First State, she made history by becoming the first African American contestant to place as a top ten semi-finalist at the 1977 Miss America Pageant while facing racial slurs and death threats.

As former President and Director of Lipford Corporation, she was the thematic and interior designer of The SandCastle, a $40 million dinner theater and nightclub facility located in the center of Guam’s thriving tourist district.

Upon completion of that project, Gardner was a media consultant for KUAM Broadcasting in Ordot, Guam. Upon returning to the U.S. Mainland, she was an on-air personality and producer with African Broadcasting at the World Trade Center in New York City, and later hosted ‘The Day Report’ for American Family Radio.

A former student at the University of Delaware, she received a Doctorate Degree from Faith Evangelical College and Seminary in Tacoma, Washington.

Day Gardner’s first novel, If Not for Grace, was published in the spring of 2011 and is available in book stores and online. She was also contributor to numerous books including: Life at all Costs by Dr. Alveda King and Dr. LaVern Tolbert and Feisty & Feminine by Penny Young Nance. She a sought-after motivational speaker and is currently working on a new book, Defining Day, which she hopes will be available summer, ‘24.