Children's defense fund
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Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), has been an advocate for disadvantaged Americans for her entire professional life. Under her leadership, CDF has become the nation’s strongest voice for children and families. The Children’s Defense Fund’s Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.
Mrs. Edelman, a graduate of Spelman College and Yale Law School, began her career in the mid-60s when, as the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar, she directed the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund office in Jackson, Mississippi. In l968, she moved to Washington, D.C., as counsel for the Poor People’s Campaign that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began organizing before his death. She founded the Washington Research Project, a public interest law firm and the parent body of the Children’s Defense Fund. For two years s
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Biography of Marian Wright Edelman, Children's Rights Activist
Marian Wright Edelman (born June 6, 1939) is an American lawyer, educator, and children's rights activist. In 1973, she founded the Children's Defense Fund, an advocacy and research group. Edelman was the first African-American woman to be admitted to the Mississippi state bar.
Fast Facts: Marian Wright Edelman
- Known For: Edelman is a children's rights advocate who founded the Children's Defense Fund.
- Born: June 6, 1939 in Bennettsville, South Carolina
- Parents: Arthur Jerome Wright and Maggie Leola Bowen
- Education: Spelman College, Yale Law School
- Awards and Honors: MacArthur Fellowship, Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism, National Women's Hall of Fame, Community of Christ International Peace Award, Presidential Medal of Freedom
- Spouse: Peter Edelman (m. 1968)
- Children: Joshua, Jonah, Ezra
- Notable Quote: "So much of America's tragic and costly failure to care for all its children stems from our tendency to distinguish between our own children and o
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Marian Wright Edelman
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
Marian Wright Edelman (néeWright; born June 6, 1939) is an American activist for civil rights and children's rights. She is the founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund.[1] She influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr, and Hillary Clinton.[2]
Early life
Marian Wright was born June 6, 1939, in Bennettsville, South Carolina. Her father was Arthur Jerome Wright, a Baptist minister, and her mother was Maggie Leola Bowen.[3] Marian's father encouraged her education before he died, after a heart attack in 1953, when she was 14.[4][5][6]
Education
She went to Marlboro Training High School in Bennettsville, where she graduated in 1956, going on to Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.[3]
Due to her academic achievement, she was awarded a Merrill scholarship which allowed her to travel and study abroad. She studied French civilization at the Sorbonne University and at the University of Geneva
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