Ward Connerly facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ward Connerly
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| Born |
Wardell Anthony Connerly
June 15, 1939 |
| Education | California State University, Sacramento (BA) |
| Known for | California's Proposition 209 Michigan Civil Rights Initiative |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) |
Ilene Crews
(m. 1962) |
| Children | 2 |
Wardell Anthony "Ward" Connerly (born June 15, 1939) is an American businessman and activist. He is known for his strong views against programs that give special treatment based on race or gender, often called affirmative action. He founded the American Civil Rights Institute, which works against these kinds of preferences. He also helped create California's Proposition 209, a law that stopped state government and universities from using race or gender to decide who gets hired, gets contracts, or gets into college.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Wardell Anthony Connerly was born in Leesville, Louisiana, in 1939. He has a mixed background, with parts of his family being Black, White, Irish, French, and Choctaw American Indian. He sees himself as multiracial.
When Ward was young, his father left and his mother passed away. He lived with his aunt and uncle for a while. They moved to Bremerton, Washington and then to Sacramento, California. This move was part of the Great Migration, when many Black families left the South to find better chances. Later, Ward lived with his grandmother in Sacramento. He took many jobs as a boy to help support them.
Connerly went to Sacramento State College. He earned a degree in political science in 1962. While in college, he was the student body president. He also worked to stop housing discrimination, helping to pass a state law against it.
Family and Community
Since 1962, Ward Connerly has been married to Ilene Crews. She is of European-American descent. They met in college and have two children. Ilene is an important partner in their business, Connerly & Associates.
Besides his political work, Connerly is also a member of the Rotary Club in Sacramento, California. This club focuses on community service.
Career Journey
After college, Connerly worked for several state government groups. This helped him meet many important people. He worked for Sacramento's city planning agency and state departments dealing with housing and city issues. In the late 1960s, he became friends with Pete Wilson, who later became the governor.
In 1973, with encouragement from Wilson, Connerly left his government job. He started his own company, Connerly and Associates, Inc. This company focused on consulting and land-use planning. He and his wife worked together to make it very successful.
In 1993, he was chosen to be on the University of California Board of Regents. He served there until 2005. During this time, he became very involved in trying to change state affirmative action programs.
Fighting for Equal Rights
When Connerly joined the University of California Board of Regents, he learned more about how their affirmative action program worked. These programs were designed to help groups that had faced unfair treatment in the past. However, Connerly became convinced that the way UC used affirmative action was actually a new form of racial discrimination. He heard from people whose children were denied admission even with better grades than some students who were accepted.
Connerly believed that these programs gave unfair "preferences" based on race. He suggested stopping these race-based programs. Instead, he thought the university should consider things like a student's social or economic background. In 1996, the regents agreed with his idea and voted to end the controversial programs.
California's Proposition 209
In 1995, Connerly became a leader in the California Civil Rights Initiative Campaign. He helped get this idea, called Proposition 209, onto the California ballot. Many groups, like the ACLU, were against it. But in the end, 54.6% of voters approved it. This meant the state could no longer give special treatment based on race or gender in public hiring, contracts, or university admissions.
National Efforts for Equal Rights
In 1997, Connerly started the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI). This group worked to pass similar laws in other states.
- In Washington state, ACRI supported Initiative 200, which passed in 1998.
- In Florida, ACRI worked to get a similar measure on the ballot in 2000. While it faced challenges, the governor at the time, Jeb Bush, created a program called "One Florida" that put many of Connerly's ideas into action.
- In 2003, Connerly helped put Proposition 54 on the California ballot. This measure would have stopped the government from classifying people by race or ethnicity, with some exceptions. Critics worried it would make it harder to track discrimination. Voters did not pass this measure.
- In 2006, Connerly supported a similar measure in Michigan, called the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. This measure passed with 58% of the vote.
- For the 2008 elections, Connerly led a campaign called "Super Tuesday for Equal Rights." He aimed to end affirmative action programs in five states. While most of these efforts did not make it to the ballot, voters in Nebraska approved a new anti-affirmative action measure, Initiative 424.
- In the 2020 election, Connerly led the group against Proposition 16. This proposition would have brought back race and gender preferences in California. However, 57% of voters said no to Proposition 16, keeping the ban on preferences in place. This showed even more Californians supported equal treatment than in 1996.
His Beliefs
Political Views
Ward Connerly identifies as a Republican. He also follows a libertarian way of thinking. This means he believes strongly in individual freedom and that the government should not control too much of people's lives. In 2008, he supported Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani.
Support for Equal Benefits
Even though he worked closely with former California Governor Pete Wilson, Connerly disagreed with Wilson on some issues. Connerly led efforts to give benefits, like health insurance, to gay and lesbian domestic partners at all state universities. He believed that government-run universities should not discriminate against anyone, whether it's by favoring some students based on race or by not giving benefits to partners based on their sexual orientation. This idea comes from his libertarian belief in fairness and limited government.
Connerly also supported same-sex marriage. He stated that if you believe in freedom and limited government, you must oppose efforts by the majority to force their views on others.
Support for Multiracial Identity
Connerly also believes that people should be able to identify as multiracial on government forms. In 1997, his American Civil Rights Institute was disappointed when the government did not add a multiracial category to the Census. Since 2000, the Census Bureau has allowed people to choose more than one racial category. Connerly has worked with groups that support the multiracial movement.
Achievements and Recognition
- In 2000, he published his autobiography, Creating Equal: My Fight Against Race Preference.
- He was made an honorary member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, a fraternity.
- Connerly was recognized as a lifetime member of the California Building Industry Hall of Fame.
