| Summary: | Nonprofit founder and Marian Wright Edelman was born on June 6, 1939, in Bennettsville, South Carolina. While working as director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund office in Jackson, Mississippi, she became the first African American female to pass the Mississippi Bar. In 1968, Edelman moved to Washington, D.C., and subsequently became counsel to the Poor People's Campaign organized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She founded the Washington Research Project, where she lobbied for child and family nutrition programs and expanding the nation's Head Start program. In 1973, the Washington Research Project became the Children's Defense Fund, the United States' leading advocacy group for children. As president of the CDF, Edelman worked to decrease teenage pregnancy, increase Medicaid coverage for poor children, and secure government funding for programs like Head Start.
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