Marian Wright- Edelman was born June 6, 1939. Marian is the president as well as the founder of the CDF (Children’s Defense Fund), in 1973. A graduate of Yale Law School and Spelman college, launched Mrs. Edelman’s career in the 60’s. Marian, was the first African American woman to be admitted to Mississippi Bar. Marian was the counsel for Poor People’s Campaign. She moved to Washington, D.C., in 1968.
Mrs. Edelman was also the director of the Center for Law and education at Harvard for two years. Marian’s husband, Peter Edelman, is a professor at Georgetown Law School. The program Leave No Child Behind, mission statement is to make sure that all children have a healthy, fair, safe, moral, and head start for their futures. In the year of 2000, Marian Wright- Edelman achieved the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as well as the Robert f. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award for her well written work(s). Some of these works include, Guide My Feet: Meditations and Prayers on Loving and Working for Children and The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours.
"If we don’t stand for children, then we don’t stand for much.” If we don’t care for the children, then who will? I feel that if you cannot protect or take care of yourself, then you cannot protect a child. “Don’t feel entitled to anything you didn’t sweat and struggle for.” You should not act as if you did something life changing, when you really didn’t. Leaching onto others really doesn’t get you anywhere, but deeper in the sand. Instead, you should be asking for encores, for the individuals, who actually care for children. “Education is a precondition to survival in America today.” Without an education, we cannot get far. Basically, you are cheating yourself out of your future to come as well as your knowledge.