Margaret Huang facts for kids

Margaret L. Huang is an American leader who works to protect human rights and promote racial justice. She used to be the president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The SPLC is a group in America that works for civil rights. She joined the SPLC in April 2020 and left in July 2025 to spend more time with her family.

About Margaret Huang

Margaret Huang grew up in East Tennessee. She went to Georgetown University and studied foreign service. After college, she taught for the Close Up Foundation. Then, she went to Columbia University for her master's degree.

Early Career and Advocacy

After her studies, Margaret Huang worked for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She focused on foreign policy in Asia and Africa. She even traveled to several countries in Africa to learn more.

She then worked for different groups that help people. She managed a program for women's rights at The Asia Foundation. She also helped human rights defenders from Asia and the Middle East at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights.

Later, she led the U.S. Racial Justice program at Global Rights. She also led a group called the Rights Working Group. This group had over 350 organizations. They worked to protect civil liberties after September 11. This group also worked to stop police from using racial profiling. In 2012, she talked about racial profiling in America on a radio show.

She also wrote a chapter in a book called Bringing Human Rights Home: A History of Human Rights in the United States.

Leading Amnesty International USA

From December 2015 to April 2020, Margaret Huang was the leader of Amnesty International USA. This group works to protect human rights around the world.

In 2019, she visited the U.S.-Mexico border twice. She wanted to see how government policies affected refugees. She also went to Syria to see the damage from U.S. bombings. After her trip, she said that the U.S. government should help the victims of the bombings. In July 2019, she spoke to Congress. She talked about how to keep children safe who arrive in the U.S. without their parents.

Work at Southern Poverty Law Center

In April 2020, Margaret Huang became the president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The SPLC is a group that fights for racial justice.

New Goals for Justice

When she joined the SPLC, she helped them create a new mission statement. It says the SPLC works for racial justice in the South and beyond. They partner with communities to stop white supremacy and help all people have human rights.

Margaret Huang set four main goals for the SPLC for the next ten years. She wanted to help two million people in the Deep South rise out of poverty. She also aimed to reduce the number of people who believe in white nationalism. Other goals included lowering the number of people in jail or detention in the Deep South by 35%. She also wanted more voters of color to take part in elections and other community activities.

Awards and Public Speaking

In September 2020, she received the Civil Rights Award. This award came from the March on Washington Film Festival.

In 2021, she gave an interview to the Washington Post. She talked about the dangers of extremism in the U.S. In February 2022, she spoke to a U.S. House committee. She talked about the increase in violence against minority groups.

In 2024, the SPLC made some changes. They had to let go of some staff. This mainly affected their work helping immigrants and their education programs. The Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative, which helped migrants in detention, was closed.