NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund facts for kids
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| Abbreviation | LDF |
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| Formation | February 12, 1940 |
| Type | Non-profit organization |
| Headquarters | 40 Rector Street, 5th floor New York City, New York, 10006 U.S. |
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Region served
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United States |
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President and Director-Counsel
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Janai Nelson |
| Website | www.naacpldf.org |
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (often called NAACP LDF or just LDF) is an American organization and law firm. It works to protect and advance civil rights for everyone, especially African Americans, through legal action and education. It is based in New York City.
Even though LDF started from the legal work of the NAACP in the 1930s, it became its own separate group. Thurgood Marshall officially founded LDF in 1940. By 1957, it was completely independent from the NAACP.
The current leader of LDF is Janai Nelson. She became the President and Director-Counsel in March 2022. Other important leaders before her include Sherrilyn Ifill and the founder, Thurgood Marshall.
Contents
What the LDF Does
LDF mainly focuses on the civil rights of African Americans in the U.S. However, it has also helped create similar groups that work for equality for Asian-Americans, Latinos, and women. LDF has even been involved in human rights efforts around the world, including in South Africa and Canada.
LDF's main office is in Manhattan, New York, and it has another office in Washington, D.C.. They have many staff lawyers and hundreds of other lawyers across the country who help with their cases.
How LDF Works for Change
LDF uses several ways to fight for civil rights:
- Taking cases to court: They represent people in legal battles.
- Speaking up: They advocate for fair treatment and laws.
- Teaching others: They provide educational programs.
- Studying laws: They research and keep an eye on new laws.
- Building partnerships: They work with other groups to make a bigger impact.
- Helping students: They offer scholarships to talented African-American students.
Important Issues LDF Focuses On
LDF works on many key areas to ensure fairness and equality:
- Education: This includes making sure everyone has fair access to schools (called Affirmative action) and ending school segregation.
- Voting Rights: They work to protect the right to vote for all citizens and fight against laws that make it harder for people to vote.
- Fair Access to Jobs and Homes: They challenge unfair practices in jobs and housing, and work for Environmental justice in communities.
- Criminal Justice: LDF opposes the death penalty and works to ensure fair legal processes for people accused of crimes.
How LDF Became Separate from the NAACP
The NAACP first created the Legal Defense Fund in 1940. This was mainly for tax reasons. By 1957, LDF became completely separate from the NAACP. It got its own board of directors and staff.
Even though LDF was supposed to follow NAACP policies at first, disagreements started after 1961. This led the NAACP to create its own legal department. LDF continued its work and won many important legal battles as an independent group.
Sometimes, people get the two organizations confused because of their similar names. In the 1980s, the NAACP tried to sue LDF over using the "NAACP" initials. However, a court ruled that LDF's success in civil rights cases had actually made the NAACP name more respected.
Key Court Cases LDF Has Handled
One of the most famous cases in LDF's history is Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. In this landmark case, the Supreme Court of the United States made it illegal to have separate public schools for different races. During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, LDF was like the legal team for the movement. They even provided legal help for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..
Here are some other important cases LDF has worked on:
Early Cases (1930s-1950s)
- 1935 Murray v. Pearson: This case helped remove racial barriers for admission to the University of Maryland School of Law.
- 1938: Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada: This case said states could not deny African-American students access to all-white graduate schools if no separate schools were available for them.
- 1940: Alston v. School Board of City of Norfolk: A federal court ordered that African-American public school teachers be paid the same as white teachers.
- 1944: Smith v. Allwright: This case made it illegal for Texas to stop African Americans from voting in primary elections.
- 1946: Morgan v. Virginia: This case helped end segregation on buses that traveled between states.
- 1948: Shelley v. Kraemer: This case overturned rules that prevented people of certain races from buying homes in specific areas.
- 1950: Sweatt v. Painter: This case stopped Texas from creating a separate, inferior law school for black students to avoid integration.
- 1956: Gayle v. Browder: This case ended segregation on city buses, which was important for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
- 1958: Cooper v. Aaron: This case stopped the Governor of Arkansas from interfering with the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School, which involved the Little Rock Nine.
Civil Rights Era (1960s)
- 1961: Holmes v. Danner: This case began the desegregation of the University of Georgia.
- 1962: Meredith v. Fair: This case won James Meredith the right to attend the University of Mississippi.
- 1963: LDF lawyers defended Martin Luther King Jr. when he was charged for demonstrating without a permit in Birmingham, Alabama.
- 1964: McLaughlin v. Florida: This case ruled against laws that banned marriage between people of different races.
- 1965: Williams v. Wallace: A court ordered that a voting-rights march led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Alabama be allowed to continue.
- 1967: Loving v. Virginia: This very important case ruled that state laws banning interracial marriage were unconstitutional.
- 1969: Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education: This case ordered school districts to desegregate "at once," speeding up the end of school segregation.
Later Cases (1970s-Present)
- 1971: Griggs v. Duke Power Company: This case ruled that job tests that unfairly affect black or white applicants can only be used if they truly measure skills needed for the job.
- 1972: Furman v. Georgia: This case ruled that the death penalty, as it was being used in many states, was unfair. This led to changes in how the death penalty could be given.
- 1973: Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver: This case addressed school segregation that happened even without specific laws, ruling that if segregation affected a large part of a school system, the whole district might need to be desegregated.
- 1982: Bob Jones University v. U.S.: This case said that religious schools that discriminate based on race cannot get tax-exempt status.
- 1986: Dillard v. Crenshaw County Commission: A court ordered many local governments in Alabama to change their election methods because old laws made it hard for Black voters to elect their chosen candidates.
- 2003: Gratz v. Bollinger: This case involved the University of Michigan's admissions. The court said the university could not use a point system based on race, but could still consider race as one factor to create a diverse student body.
- 2013: Shelby County v. Holder: This Supreme Court case changed a key part of the Voting Rights Act, making it harder for the federal government to stop discriminatory voting laws before they took effect. LDF argued against this change.
- 2017: Buck v. Davis: The Supreme Court overturned a death sentence because the trial lawyer had used evidence suggesting the person was more likely to be violent because he was Black.
- 2023: Allen v. Milligan: The Supreme Court ruled that Alabama's congressional map was racially unfair and violated the Voting Rights Act. LDF represented the plaintiffs in this important case.
Notable People Who Worked at LDF
Many important lawyers and leaders have been part of LDF over the years. Even Barack Obama was a cooperating attorney for LDF. Here are just a few examples of people who worked at LDF and went on to hold important positions:
- Derrick A. Bell Jr.: A very influential professor and thinker on race and law.
- Jacqueline A. Berrien: Chaired the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
- Jocelyn Benson: The current Secretary of State of Michigan.
- Robert L. Carter: A key lawyer in the Brown v. Board of Education case and later a federal judge.
- Julius L. Chambers: The third leader of LDF, who argued the important Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education case.
- Kristen Clarke: The Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
- William Thaddeus Coleman Jr.: Served as Secretary of Transportation under President Gerald Ford.
- Drew S. Days, III: The first African-American Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
- Marian Wright Edelman: Founder of the Children's Defense Fund.
- Jack Greenberg: The second leader of LDF, who argued many cases before the Supreme Court, including parts of Brown v. Board.
- Vanita Gupta: The Associate Attorney General of the United States.
- Eric Holder: The first African-American United States Attorney General.
- Elaine Jones: LDF's fourth leader and the first woman to hold that position.
- Thurgood Marshall: LDF's founder and the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.
- Constance Baker Motley: The first African-American woman to become a Federal Court Judge and the first to argue a case before the Supreme Court.
- Deval Patrick: The first African-American Governor of Massachusetts.
- Reince Priebus: Served as White House Chief of Staff for President Donald Trump.
- Christina Swarns: The Executive Director of the Innocence Project, who successfully argued Buck v. Davis for LDF.
