Balancing Race and Gender: LDF Women Pioneers

By Stacey Patton

Much of the history of the Civil Rights Movement has focused heavily on the stories of great men like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, and many others. These men are the embodiment of the movement. But the movement’s successes would not have been achieved without the support, dedication, defiance, intelligence and hard work of many women. Historically, black women especially had to contend not only with racial discrimination, but also with sexism from both white and black men within the movement itself and from the larger society. In spite of these challenges, black women at all levels of society continued to juggle women’ s work and race work. Here we showcase just a few women pioneers who have been instrumental to helping LDF fulfill its mission to defend, educate and empower African Americans and others seeking justice and equality in America.

Elaine R. Jones

As the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s first woman leader, Elaine Jones is a trailblazer known for her work as one of the first African-American women to defend death row inmates. The daughter of a Pullman porter and a teacher, Jones became the first black woman to enroll in and subsequently graduate from the University Of Virginia School Of Law in 1970. She turned down an offer to join a top Wall Street law firm and pursued her lifelong goal by joining LDF, where she spent all but two years of her career.

In 1977, Jones created the position of legislative advocate in LDF’s Washington, DC office, building a reputation as an expert negotiator and a passionate voice for the victims of injustice. She served as LDF President and General-Counsel from 1993 to 2004 Under her direction, LDF broadened its mission to include such emerging issues as environmental justice and health care reform, while continuing to work for educational equity, fair employment, voting rights, fair housing and an end to bias in the criminal justice system.

Marian Wright Edelman

America’s best-known and most highly-respected children’s advocate Marian Wright Edelman began her career with LDF. In 1963, after graduating from Yale Law School, Edelman worked for LDF first in New York, and then in Mississippi, where she became the first African-American woman to practice law in that state. After moving to Washington, DC, Edelman was instrumental in organizing the Poor People’s Campaign, leading her to focus on issues relating to child development and children in poverty. In 1973, Edelman founded the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), which has become a leading voice for policies and programs to lift children out of poverty; protect them from abuse and neglect; and ensure their access to health care, a quality education and a moral and spiritual foundation. The author of several books, Edelman keeps CDF financed entirely with private funds. Among her many honors are a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship; the Presidential Medal of Freedom; more than 65 honorary degrees; and the Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement for her writings, which include eight books.

Constance Baker Motley

One cannot consider civil rights in America without paying homage to Constance Baker Motley, who brought her legal brilliance to the most important civil rights cases for 20 years, and became the first African-American woman to serve as a federal judge and in the New York Senate, among other historic milestones. While attending Columbia Law School, Motley volunteered at LDF. After graduating in 1946, she accepted full-time work for LDF, fighting housing cases to break down barriers that barred blacks from white neighborhoods, for the salary of $50 a week. LDF assigned her the James Meredith case in 1961, and the nation saw her escort the young student as he braved a jeering crowd to integrate the University of Mississippi. She called the day Meredith graduated in 1963 “the most thrilling” in her life. She won cases that struck down segregation in Southern restaurants and lunch counters. She lent her expertise to the briefs in Brown V. Board of Education, the landmark school desegregation case fought by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), led by Thurgood Marshall and Jack Greenberg. A key player in the struggle to desegregate the South, Motley hung out with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. while he was in jail; sang freedom songs in bombed churches; and spent a night under armed guard with Medgar Evers before he was murdered. Throughout her career and until her death in 2005, Motley was renowned for the quiet but powerful way in which she prepared and presented the lawsuits that led to greater equality for black people.

Lani Guinier

Lani Guinier became the first black woman tenured professor when she joined the faculty of Harvard Law School in 1998. The Yale Law School graduate had chosen her life path when as a child, she saw pioneering civil rights attorney Constance Baker Motley on television escorting James Meredith through a hostile white crowd to desegregate the University of Mississippi in 1962. After graduating law school, she followed Motley’s example and joined LDF as Assistant Counsel. She left four years later to serve as special assistant to then Assistant Attorney General Drew S. Days in the Civil Rights Division in the Carter Administration. After Ronald Reagan was elected, Guinier returned to LDF, where she became head of the Voting Rights program, litigating cases throughout the South, helping to win major victories in voting rights cases in Alabama and other southern states. She became one of LDF’s top litigators, winning 31 out of the 32 cases she argued. Guinier was thrust into the spotlight when President Bill Clinton nominated her to the Justice Department’s top civil rights post in 1993, then withdrew the nomination. Guinier has authored several books and won numerous awards, and in 1996 she formed a nonprofit organization, Commonplace, to create a dialogue about issues regarding race between the media and academic sectors.

Constance Rice

Civil rights crusader Constance Rice is acclaimed for her success in addressing the issues of inequity and exclusion. She attended New York University School of Law on the prestigious Root Tilden Public Interest Scholarship. After graduating in 1984 and serving as law clerk to the Honorable Damon J. Keith, judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and at Morrison & Foerster as a litigation associate, Rice joined LDF in 1991. In 1996, she became co-director of LDF’s Los Angeles office. As a litigator, Rice is known for her work with class action civil rights cases redressing police misconduct, race and sex discrimination and unfair public policy in transportation, probation and public housing. At LDF, she filed a landmark case on behalf of low-income bus riders that resulted in a mandate that more than 2 billion dollars be spent to improve the bus system in Los Angeles. In 1999, Rice launched a coalition lawsuit that won $750 million to build new schools in Los Angeles, money that had been slated for more affluent, less crowded suburban school districts. Beyond her litigation work, in the 1990s, Rice served as counsel to the Watts gang truce and led a statewide campaign to save equal opportunity programs. Now co-founder of The Advancement Project, a public policy and legal action group that supports organizations working to end community problems and address racial and other barrier to equality and opportunity, Rice has received numerous awards for her work in expanding opportunity and advancing multi-racial democracy.

Sherrilyn Ifill

Recognized nationally as an advocate of civil rights, voting rights, and judicial diversity and decision-making, Sherrilyn Ifill is a Professor of Law at The University of Maryland School of Law who began her career as Assistant Counsel at LDF. She litigated voting rights cases, including Houston Lawyers’ Association v. Texas, in which the Supreme Court held that judicial elections are subject to the provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Ifill is renowned as an expert for her writings and work related to race, the need for judicial diversity and impartiality in judicial decision-making. Her writings on the history of racial violence and reconciliation efforts are widely praised, and her book, On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century, is widely respected. In the spirit of LDF, Ifill has continued to litigate and consult on cases involving low-income and minority communities throughout her tenure at The University of Maryland School of Law.

Cissy Marshall

Cecilia “Cissy” Marshall is the widow of Thurgood Marshall, the former director counsel and founder of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.  Over the years, Marshall has served as a member of LDF’s board and has helped the organization maintain ties to its founder, lending her name to and chairing many of LDF’s events. She was working as a secretary for LDF when the couple married on December 17, 1955. When Marshall Marshall, who is Filipino-Hawaiian, expressed her concern that an interracial marriage might attract negative attention to the LDF and to Thurgood, her husband-to-be replied, “So what?” The couple had two sons, Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and John Marshall, and they remained married until Thurgood’s death in 1993.

Vanita Gupta

Vanita Gupta was a young, talented attorney for LDF’s criminal justice practice division. She worked as the lead lawyer in the Tulia, Texas case in which more than a tenth of the town’s black population was arrested and wrongly convicted in a drug sting based the uncorroborated testimony of undercover officer. When the case came across her desk, Gupta organized a number of large law firms that worked with LDF on the case. Ultimately prosecutors conceded that they had made a catastrophic mistake, and led a Texas judge to recommend that every conviction be overturned because the detective was not a credible witness. The Tulia case garnered nation-wide attention and became a symbol of racial injustice in the country’s criminal justice system. After LDF, Vanita joined the American Civil Liberties Union, where she worked on a landmark case, which greatly improved conditions for immigrant children and their families in the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, Texas.

Lia Epperson

Lia Epperson is an assistant professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, where her courses focus on constitutional law, civil rights, and education. She worked as the director of LDF’s education law and policy group. While at LDF, she litigated in federal and state courts, advocated for federal administrative and legislative reforms, and co-authored multiple amicus briefs to the United States Supreme Court in the areas of education and affirmative action. In addition, she represented LDF in several national civil rights leadership coalitions, including serving as chair of the Education Task Force for the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights, a coalition of nearly 200 national organizations. Epperson’s research centers on constitutional interpretations of educational equity and the role of public schools and universities in making manifest the Constitution’s promise of equal opportunity. She has served as an editor of the Stanford Law Review as well as  the Stanford Law and Policy Review. Epperson is also the wife of Benjamin Todd Jealous, who is the current president and chief executive officer of the NAACP, LDF’s sister organization.

Jean Fairfax

Jean Fairfax is the former head of the division of Legal Information and Community Service at LDF. She was responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships between LDF and community organizations and attorneys across the country. She was also a civic leader, with careers in academia and philanthropy. As a dean at Kentucky State College and Tuskegee Institute, she organized youth programs in social justice, peace and community service in Europe, Israel, Mexico and the USA. Participating with her students in the 1940s in the work of the YWCA in the South, she demonstrated the important role of women in challenging institutional racism. Jean is revered for her work with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in post-World War II Austria and in its southern civil rights program. A professional civil rights worker for almost 30 years, Jean developed programs to advance civil rights, to educate low income and minority communities about their rights, and to implement civil rights laws and court orders at national and grass roots levels. Highlights of her career include involvement in the first desegregation of Mississippi’s schools and the integration of higher education systems across the South. She organized an interfaith group of churchwomen to expose failure of schools to provide meals to needy children, leading to reform of the National School Lunch Program. Since 1970, Jean has built a national reputation for increasing the participation of women and minorities in grant making institutions as donors, policymakers and recipients.

Stacey Patton is Senior Editor/Writer of TheDefendersOnline and The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.