Marion Wright Edelman Essay

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“If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time”- Marion Wright Edelman Born June 6, 1939 Marion Wright Edelman was a lobbyist, lawyer, and civil rights activist who spent the majority of her life helping the nations youth and their families. Marion graduated from Yale Law School in 1963 and was hired by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Legal and Defense Fund in New York as a staff attorney. Marion’s stay in New York was short lived and a year later she moved to Mississippi and became the first African American woman admitted to the bar. Marion became a lawyer for the Child Development Group, and successfully lobbied for restoration of Federal funds for the Mississippi Head Start Program. In 1968, Marian married Peter Edelman and moved to Washington D. C where she began to work with the Poor People’s Campaign and founded the Washington Research Project of the Southern Center for Policy. The Washington Research Project was created to lobby congress and research programs to assist children in …show more content…

Through CDF, Edelman called attention to many issues that have been previously ignored at the national level. Issues surrounding programs to help children remain healthy, stay in school, and avoid teenage pregnancy where identified. “Edelman lobbied, often successfully, for more support for the handicapped, Head Start programs, foster care, health and nutrition for poor women and children,” (“Encyclopedia.com articles about Marian Wright Edelman,” 2016), to prevent child abuse, and to stop drug abuse. In 1984, “CDF helped pass the Child Health Assurance Program, which expanded Medicaid eligibility to poor pregnant women and children” (Costin, Karger, & Stoesz,

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