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| Formation | 1950; 75 years ago (1950) |
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| Founders | |
| Type | 501(c)(4) organization |
| 52-0789800 | |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C.,United States |
| Maya Wiley | |
| Website | civilrights |
TheLeadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is an American coalition of more than 240 nationalcivil andhuman rights organizations and acts as anumbrella group for American civil and human rights. Founded as theLeadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) in 1950 by civil rights activistsArnold Aronson,A. Philip Randolph, andRoy Wilkins, the coalition has focused on issues ranging fromeducational equity tojustice reform tovoting rights.
The Leadership Conference is the oldest and largest civil rights coalition; member groups have included theAmerican Civil Liberties Union, theAnti-Defamation League, theNAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund,Sierra Club, andUnited Steelworkers.[1][2] The Leadership Conference has historically focused on bias and hate reduction,[3] census and data equity,[4]educational equity,[5] fair courts,[6]justice reform,[7] technology,[8] andvoting rights, among other issues.[2] Positions, policies and decisions are made by the conference by majority consent.[9]
Chairpersons of the coalition have included Wilkins,Bayard Rustin,Benjamin Hooks,Dorothy Height, andJudith L. Lichtman. Senior executives have included Aronson,Ralph Neas,Wade Henderson, andVanita Gupta.
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) was established in 1950 by civil rights activistsArnold Aronson,A. Philip Randolph, andRoy Wilkins.[10] According toHarvard International Review, the coalition was created "as the legislative arm" of thecivil rights movement.[11] Its formation followed apolitical demonstration organized in Washington to protest racial injustice.[12] The LCCR initially focused on fair labor practices,[13] and became "an early proponent of affirmative action to redress wrongs done to blacks".[12]
In 1963, the coalition, theNAACP, and theUnited Auto Workers convened at Manhattan'sRoosevelt Hotel to decide how to influence comprehensive civil rights legislation being spearheaded by PresidentJohn F. Kennedy. From the meeting, the LCCR became an organizing hub for the groups. The coalition has been credited for influencing theU.S. House Committee on the Judiciary to expand the bill by banningemployment discrimination based on race.[13] According to theJohn F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, the Leadership Conference "lobbied for and won the passage of" theCivil Rights Act of 1957, theCivil Rights Act of 1960, theCivil Rights Act of 1964, theVoting Rights Act of 1965, and theFair Housing Act of 1968, and helped organize theMarch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.[14] Randolph was chair of the March on Washington.[15]
The coalition helped establishMartin Luther King Jr. Day as afederal holiday in 1986,[9] and led an effort to rejectRobert Bork'snomination to theSupreme Court in 1987.[16] The LCCR also stopped theRonald Reagan administration from "weakening" anexecutive order onaffirmative action, and was "instrumental" in theRepublican-ledSenate Committee on the Judiciary's rejection ofWilliam Bradford Reynolds' nomination for the role ofAssociate Attorney General. By the late 1980s,[9] the LCCR was serving as an "umbrella" organization for more than 185 national groups, including those representing the civil,disability,elder,labor,LGBT,religious, andwomen's rights movements.[12][17]
During the 1990s, the coalition had approximately 175–180 member organizations,[18][19] and opposedGeorge H. W. Bush'snomination ofClarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.[17] Following the murders ofMatthew Shepard andJames Byrd Jr. in the late 1990s, the LCCR worked to enact new statutes againsthate crimes and supported theMatthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was signed into law by PresidentBarack Obama in 2009.[20] The coalition also advocated for thereauthorization of the Voting Rights Act in 2006,[21] theLilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, and theFair Sentencing Act, which was signed into federal law by President Obama in 2010.[22]
The coalition's name was formally expanded to includehuman rights in 2010.[23] By 2012, approximately 200 member organizations had joined the Leadership Conference and tasked the coalition with promoting and protecting the civil and human rights of all people in the U.S.[24]
The Leadership Conference supported the appointments ofSonia Sotomayor,Elena Kagan,[25] andKetanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.Wade Henderson, the coalition'spresident andchief executive officer (CEO), testified in support of Sotomayor and Jackson before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.[26][27] During thefirst presidency ofDonald Trump, the Leadership Conference served as a "strategic hub of the resistance" and as the "nerve center" for defending civil rights.[28][29] The coalition's Center for Civil Rights and Technology, which focuses onartificial intelligence (AI) policy and its impact on civil and human rights, launched in 2023. The center monitors AI-related legislation and regulations, publishes papers, and hosts an advisory group of experts and civil rights organizations.[30]
Wilkins was chair of theboard of directors from 1950 to 1980.[12] The role was later held by civil rights activistsBayard Rustin andBenjamin Hooks,[31][32] civil rights and women's rights activistDorothy Height,[33] andJudith L. Lichtman.[34]
From 1950 to 1980, Aronson held the roles of director and secretary.[12] He helped organize the national lobbying efforts for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and theCivil Rights Act of 1968.[35] Following his retirement,[12] Aronson founded the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund to serve as the education and research arm.[7]
Ralph Neas became the coalition's first full-timeexecutive director in 1981. During his fourteen-year tenure,[18] he "achieved some successes in the face of unremitting hostility, from the extension of the Voting Rights Act in 1982 to the rejection of Robert H. Bork for the Supreme Court in 1987 and the toughening of Federal housing discrimination laws the next year".[17] In 1987, the newspaper's Lena Williams wrote, "admirers of Mr. Neas say that perhaps his greatest achievement has been holding together such a divergent coalition in the highly conservative climate of the last six and a half years".[9]The Washington Post has said he "helped strengthen and create ground-breaking civil rights legislation", including theAmericans with Disabilities Act of 1990.[18] Neas held the role until 1995.[36]
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Wade Henderson was the president and CEO for approximately 21 years.[37] In 2017,Marc Morial credited Henderson for increasing the number of member organizations from 170 to 200, including the coalition's first Muslim and Sikh civil rights groups, and for leading the Leadership Conference "through the passage of every major civil rights law" in the past two decades, including the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and the Fair Sentencing Act.[22] Henderson was succeeded byVanita Gupta, who oversaw the Leadership Conference and its Education Fund, in 2017.[34][38] She was the first woman and first child of immigrants to head the coalition.[22]The Washington Post said she collaborated withFacebook on behalf of the coalition "to shut down misinformation" on thesocial media andsocial networking service.[39] Gupta held the role until 2021, when she was nominated to serve as associate attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice.[40][41]
Civil rights activistMaya Wiley became president and CEO in 2022. Henderson held an interim leadership role until Wiley's appointment.[2] In 2023, Wiley represented the Leadership Conference at a meeting hosted by Vice PresidentKamala Harris with labor and rights groups to discuss threats from AI,[42] and as a panelist at theU.S. Senate's inaugural AI Insight Forum, hosted by majority leaderChuck Schumer.[43] Wiley also attended White House meetings during the Biden administration, alongside other civil rights leaders, to advocate for stronger voting rights and more economic opportunities for the Black community.[44]
In his later years, Mr. Rustin continued to be active and outspoken on a wide variety of fronts. He was chairman of Social Democrats U.S.A., a descendant of the Socialist Party of Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas; chairman of the executive committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; and the first black trustee of the University of Notre Dame.
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