Name Jacqueline Berrien | ||
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Died November 9, 2015, Balti, Maryland, United States | ||
School of law commencement 2012 jacqueline a berrien
Jacqueline Ann Berrien (November 28, 1961 – November 9, 2015) headed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) under President Obama from 2009 to 2014. She had previously been a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and Educational Fund (NAACP LDF).
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Early life
She was born in Washington, D.C. on November 28, 1961. She graduated from Oberlin College and Harvard Law School. At Harvard she was general editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.
Career
She was a program officer for the Ford Foundation, overseeing grants to often under-represented groups in the area of peace and justice from 2001 to 2004 She worked for the American Civil Liberties Union in the Women's Rights Project. She worked for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
She joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund as assistant counsel in 1994 with a focus on voting rights and school desegregation.
She was selected by President Barack Obama to head the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2009.
She also taught at Harvard Law School and New York Law School.
Personal life
She was married to Peter M. Williams and lived in Washington, D.C. She died of cancer in Baltimore on November 9, 2015.