Gail McDonald 04/14/2011

Gail McDonald grew up in Mississippi and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from Texas Christian University. She eventually landed in Oklahoma, first teaching at Langston and then at Oklahoma State University in the Humanities Department. On a friend’s invitation, she joined the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma where she met Angie Debo. Attending ACLU meetings together allowed McDonald to witness firsthand Debo’s fearless passion regarding civil rights. Over time, Debo became a friend, an inspiration, and a professional advisor of sorts. In 1974, McDonald went to work for David Boren. When he went to the Senate, she stayed in Oklahoma but moved to Washington, DC, in 1982 as her husband had been appointed to the Federal Election Commission. While in Washington, she worked in the oil and gas industry, and it was within that circle that she managed to procure donations for the documentary Indians, Outlaws, and Angie Debo, which had been in production for some time but lacked necessary funds for its completion. With McDonald’s help, and the donors’, the film finally debuted.