Black PR Wire Power Profiler on Marian Wright Edelman – Children’s Rights Advocate & Civil Rights Activist

Learning from the example of her parents, Marian Wright Edelman has never stopped her battle for equality, freedom, and civil rights. Growing up in the segregated town of Bennetsville, South Carolina, Edelman saw the terrible effects of racial segregation. Black children couldn't play in the park or sit in the drug store to order a soda. She also saw the power of positive action as her father created parks and soft drink stands for black children and a Home for the Aged for African Americans.

After graduating from college, she heard inspiring lectures by civil rights leaders and realized that law school would better allow her to create the change her country desperately needed. She graduated from Yale Law School in 1963 and moved to Mississippi, becoming the first African America woman admitted to the state bar. It was in Mississippi that she experienced first hand institutionalized illiteracy, poverty, hunger, lack of health care, and lack of hope. Edelman assisted in restoring federal Head Start funds, expanded food stamp eligibility, and served as council to the Child Development Group.

She married civil rights lawyer, Peter Edelman in 1968, and moved to Washington where she served as council to the Poor People's Campaign and created the Washington Research Project, a public interest advocacy group.

In 1973, Marian Wright Edelman established the Children's Defense Fund, the most powerful voice ever created for the millions of poor children in the United States. Over the past quarter-century, the Children's Defense Fund has fought for funding of Head Start and other related programs that successfully provide health care, immunizations, nutritious food, and educational opportunities for poor children and their families. She has also investigated juvenile justice and foster care systems and supported anti-gun legislation.

A prolific author, lecturer and proud social agitator, Edelman has touched the lives of countless children by providing the basic necessities of success""educational opportunity, equality, justice and hope. Edelman has received dozens of honorary degrees and many awards including the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Prize. Marian Wright Edelman shines as a beacon of light illuminating what is possible for an individual to accomplish as well as a beacon of hope safeguarding all American children.

Please note: Marian Wright Edelman is a 2004 Women's History Month Honoree and this bio along with other related links can be found at the National Women's History Project website, WWW.NWHP.ORG.