Marion Wright Edelman
| Marian Wright Edelman | |
|---|---|
Marian Wright Edelman
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| Born |
Marian Wright June 6, 1939 Bennettsville, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Children's rights activist |
| Organization | Children's Defense Fund |
| Spouse(s) | Peter Edelman (m. 1968) |
| Children | |
| Awards | 13, including: Candace Award Presidential Medal of Freedom (Full list below) |
Marian Wright Edelman (born June 6, 1939) is an American activist for the rights of children. She has been an advocate for disadvantaged Americans for her entire professional life. She is president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF).
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. In 1953, her father died of a heart attack when she was 14, urging in his last words, "Don't let anything get in the way of your education."
She attended Marlboro Training High School in Bennettsville, where she graduated in 1956 and went on to Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. 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 in Switzerland. For two months during her second semester abroad she studied in the Soviet Union as a Lisle Fellow. In 1959 she returned to Spelman for her senior year, and became involved in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1960 she was arrested along with 14 other students at one of the largest sit-ins at the Atlanta City Hall. She graduated from Spelman as valedictorian. She went on to study law and enrolled at Yale Law School where she was a John Hay Whitney Fellow, and earned a Juris Doctor in 1963.
Edelman was the first African American woman admitted to The Mississippi Bar. She began practicing law with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund's Mississippi office, working on racial justice issues connected with the civil rights movement and representing activists during the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964. She also helped establish the Head Start program.
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