Barbara Arnwine

Meeting of April 15, 2015 - EEOC at 50: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Discrimination In the 21st Century Workplace

Barbara R. Arnwine, president & executive director of the national Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers' Committee) since 1989, is internationally renowned for contributions on critical justice issues including the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the 2006 reauthorization of provisions of the Voting Rights Act. She also created the legendary Voting Rights "Map of Shame" in 2011, which remains popular.  A graduate of Scripps College and Duke University School of Law, she continues to champion civil rights and racial justice issues nationally and internationally in the areas of housing and lending, community development, employment, voting, education, and environmental justice. Ms. Arnwine's work also includes women's rights, immigrant rights, judicial diversity, criminal justice reform, racial profiling, health care disparities and LBGTQ rights.

She is a well-known leader of Election Protection, the nation's largest nonpartisan voter protection coalition, launched in 2004 to assist historically disenfranchised persons to exercise the fundamental right to vote. 

Ms. Arnwine has received numerous national, regional and local awards including the National Bar Association's Vince Monroe Townsend, Jr., Legends Award (2014) and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights' Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award (2013). She is also the recipient of the Feminist Majority Foundation's Fearless Trailblazer Award (2013) and in October 2011, she was one of five recipients of the prestigious Gruber International Justice Prize for her excellence in defending and promoting civil rights and gender equity throughout the U.S. Ms. Arnwine is a frequent conference orator and has penned numerous articles and is regularly quoted and featured by national and local media outlets.

She launched "Igniting Change with Barbara Arnwine" in March 2015 on Radio One's WOL 1450 a.m. During the hour-long show, which airs on Tuesday from 12-1 p.m. EST, she endeavors to engage, challenge and equip her audience as activists in realizing a more just and equal society.

Ms. Arnwine is board vice-president of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and serves on the board of directors of MomsRising and Independent Sector. She is an honorary board member of Welcome.us and is also a member of the American Bar Association's Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities.