June Dobbs Butts Biography  -  Sponsored by: Mark D. Goodman

Therapist and family counselor June Dobbs Butts was born on June 11, 1928 in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the youngest daughter of John Wesley Dobbs, who was one of Atlanta's most prominent African American leaders before the Civil Rights Movement. John Wesley Dobbs was also the grandfather of Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first black mayor. Butts is one of the first African American sexologists. Her research and writings focus on sex, teenage pregnancy and AIDS. She has earned the reputation as the African American counterpart to the popular psychosexual therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

Butts' education began at Oglethorpe Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia. Before entering Spelman College, where she followed her five sisters, she graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. Butts received her B.A. degree in sociology from Spelman College in 1948. That same summer, Butts worked with her close friend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the fall of 1948, she entered the Teacher's College of Columbia University in New York City where she received her M.A. degree. Butts' professional career began in 1950 as a professor in the psychology department at Fisk University. She went on to teach at Tennessee State University and Meharry Medical College where she was also a researcher. Working at Planned Parenthood, she met Masters and Johnson and became the first African American woman to work on the staff of the renowned Masters and Johnson Institute.

Butts authored the book, Teenage Pregnancy in a Family Context: Implications for Policy in 1983, which was published by Temple Press. A prolific writer, her insightful articles include "Sex and the Modern Black Couple", which appeared in Ebony magazine in 1991; "Why Some People Consider Celibacy", in Jet magazine in 1997; and "Spirituality and Sex: A Program for Women in Alcoholism Recovery", which appeared in the American Journal of Health Studies in 2001.

Butts continues her work and resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

Butts was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 13, 2006.