Edelman rally to “leave no child behind”

Marian Wright Edelman, president and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund will be at Southern University Monday, April to promote the movement to “Leave No Child Behind.”
Edelman along with members of her staff civil rights activist Dorothy Cotton and Director of Communications for CDF Peggy Lewis will address students of the importance of the Act to Leave No Child Behind, the largest piece of legislation ever written to support children and effort to end child poverty in America.
“We know how to make a difference for our children and to build stronger communities for all Americans. Now it is time to build the spiritual and political will to do it,” said Student Government Association President Avery Wilson. “As one of the largest black institutions, it is imperative that we wake up and acknowledge how many children and families are in need.
Students will be given the history, goals and purpose of the movement. They will also be trained in organizing, voter’s education and working with the media.
Edelman, has been an advocate for disadvantaged Americans for her entire professional life. Under her leadership, the Washington-based CDF has become the nation’s strongest voice for children and families.
A graduate of Spelman College and Yale Law School, Eldeman began her career in the mid-60s when, as the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar, she directed the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund office in Jackson, Miss. In 1968, she moved to Washington, D.C., as counsel for the Poor People’s Campaign that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began organizing before his death. In 1973 she began CDF.
Edelman has served as chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Spelman College and was the first woman elected by alumni as a member of the Yale University Corporation. She has also received many degrees and awards including the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civilian award, and the Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award for her writings.
Delegates from Louisiana State University, Dillard University, Xavier University, and Southern University at New Orleans have also been invited to attend.
The rally will kick off at 3:30 p.m. in the Smith Brown Memorial Union Cotillion Ballroom.