About Marian Wright Edelman

Marian Wright Edelman is widely recognized as one of the nation’s strongest voices for the rights of children and families. She is a graduate of Spelman College and Yale Law School and was the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar. She was appointed director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and served as counsel for the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, D.C. She founded the Washington Research Project, a public interest law firm, and served as Director of the Center for Law and Education at Harvard University. In 1973, she founded the Children’s Defense Fund. She is the author of eight books, including Stand for Children and Families in Peril: An Agenda for Social Change.