Elaine Jones

Elaine R. Jones, "the retired president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF)... Ms. Jones took the helm of the Legal Defense Fund in 1993, she became the first woman to head the organization.

"After graduating with honors in political science from Howard University, Ms. Jones joined the Peace Corps and became one of the first African Americans to serve in Turkey. This began a long series of "firsts" in her career. Following her two-year Peace Corps stint, she became the first black woman to graduate from the University of Virginia School of Law, and subsequently the first African American to serve on the board of governors of the American Bar Association.

"In her early years at LDF, Ms. Jones was one of the first African American women to defend death row inmates. Only two years out of law school, she was counsel of record in Furman v. Georgia, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that abolished the death penalty in 37 states. During this period, she also argued numerous employment discrimination cases, including class actions against some of the nation's largest employers (e.g., Patterson v. American Tobacco Co., Stallworth v. Monsanto, and Swint v. Pullman Standard)." 


 * Honorary 25th Anniversary Committee, Global Rights
 * Board of Counselors, Institute for Democratic Renewal
 * Advisory Board for the Reebok Human Rights Award