[Note: Links and materials referenced in an archived posting may have expired.]

NEA Honors Marian Wright Edelman with Friend of Education Award

Washington, D.C. - The National Education Association (NEA) gave its highest honor, the Friend of Education Award, July 7 to Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF). This annual award recognizes individuals whose leadership, acts and support have raised the level of excellence in education in the United States. 

NEA President Reg Weaver presented Edelman with the award on the closing day of the Association's Annual Meeting at the Washington Convention Center. More than 9,000 NEA members convened in the nation's capital for the weeklong convention, July 2-7.

"I could not think of a more deserving recipient for this award than Marian Wright Edelman," said Weaver.  "She has been a true pioneer in paving the way for many disadvantaged children to receive an equal opportunity in education.  Over the years, she has advocated to truly ensure that no child is left behind."

Edelman founded CDF in 1973.  Under her leadership, CDF has become the nation's strongest voice advocating for children and families. Its mission is to ensure every child a healthy start, a head start, a fair start and a moral start in life.  Because of her leadership, issues relating to child development, childcare, health care and children in poverty have gained national attention.

Among her many accomplishments, Edelman was the first woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar.  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.  She has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, and the Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award for her writings, which include seven books. She has dedicated her professional life to fighting for the disadvantaged in the United States. 

"Fifty years after Brown vs. the Board of Education ended legally sanctioned racial segregation in public schools, the great unfinished business of our nation is to open wide the doors of equal education and economic opportunity to every child in the United States," said Marian Wright Edelman. 

"The Children's Defense Fund and the NEA recognize the potential in all children, and we will continue to work together to truly leave no child behind. "

NEA state affiliates nominate their person of choice for the Friend of Education Award.  Both the North Carolina and Nebraska state affiliates nominated Edelman to receive this honor.  Former Friend of Education Award recipients include President Bill Clinton, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Senator James Jeffords and, most recently, the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone.

[NEA media release]