Marian Wright Edelman
Marian Wright Edelman
Marian Wright Edelmanis 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...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth6 June 1939
CountryUnited States of America
real role-models grace
Ordinary women of grace are, in a sense, my real role models.
real black president
Don't count out Marian Wright Edelman, because there is talk that President Clinton may want to shock the nation by putting a real black on the Supreme Court.
children nice reality
The old notion that children are the private property of parents dies very slowly. In reality, no parent raises a child alone. How many of us nice middle-class folk could make it without our mortgage reduction
real mean trying
Be real. Try to do what you say, say what you mean, and be what you seem.
real hero school
[Rosa Louise] Parks used to say, "Everybody looks at me because I sat down once in Montgomery, but the real hero is a woman named Septima Clark."She created the Citizenship Schools [where civil-rights activists taught basic literacy and political education classes].
real rap prison
The literacy level at Mississippi prisons? Fifth grade. Can't read, what are you going to do? If you've got a conviction rap, what are you going to do? It's a real crisis.
afraid driving faith liberals moral people perceived talking
My faith has been the driving thing of my life. I think it is important that people who are perceived as liberals not be afraid of talking about moral and community values.
aware children home key kid love meeting simply
The key is that your children are aware that you love them a lot, and that you are there when they really, really need you. If a kid was ill, I would simply leave a meeting and go home.
beneath civil clear economic social unless
It was clear to me as a civil rights leader in the '60s that unless we put the social and economic underpinnings beneath the political and the civil rights, we wouldn't go anywhere.
leader trying connections
In my generation, we learned how to be leaders by being exposed to and involved with adults who empowered us and gave us a sense that we could choose things. We've let down the generations coming behind us and we are trying to re- establish that connection.
determined ancestor
You'd better stay determined, because that's how our ancestors got us where we are.
commitment lists sleeves
It is time for every one of us to roll up our sleeves and put ourselves at the top of our commitment list.
children two class
God did not create two classes of children or human beings-only one.
inspirational kings thinking
Dr. King used to say, 'I was sitting in the back of the bus, but my mind was always up front.' Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do it. You aim high and you work very hard and now I think it's clear that you can be anything you want to.