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 Barbara
Arnwine
Executive Director
Barbara R. Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law since 1989, is internationally renowned for contributions on eclectic justice issues including the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1991. A graduate of Scripps College and Duke University School of Law, she continues to champion civil rights issues nationally and abroad in the areas of housing, fair lending, community development, employment, voting, education and environmental justice. A prominent leader in the civil rights community, Ms. Arnwine also continues to fight for the preservation of affirmative action and diversity programs.
In 1995, Ms. Arnwine served as the national convener of the National Conference on African American Women and the Law held in Washington, D.C. which was attended by over 1,000 persons and subsequently led a delegation to the United Nations NGO Forum and Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Her efforts there contributed to a United Nations Platform for Action that provides protection for women who confront multiple forms of discrimination.
In 2001, she represented African descendants from the Americas in helping to draft provisions of the program for action of the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia (WCAR) and related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa. Ms. Arnwine also organized a Lawyers’ Committee delegation to participate in the NGO Forum at the WCAR.
In 2000, she convened the third national conference of African American Women in the Law in Washington, D.C. Some 250 participants in fifteen workshops provided input into the preparation of a Report and Action Agenda for advocacy before the UN General Assembly Special Session on Women.
In 2004, Ms. Arnwine was a prominent leader of the nonpartisan Election Protection Coalition and helped to organize 8,000 lawyers throughout the nation to staff the1-866 OUR VOTE National Hotline and serve as poll monitors and mobile field attorneys in over 28 states. Under her leadership, Election Protection continues to thrive today, assisting thousands of voters, many of whom are historically disenfranchised, to exercise the fundamental right to vote.
Ms. Arnwine has received countless national, regional and local awards, including the National Bar Association’s C. Francis Stradford Award in 2007, the highest honor bestowed by that organization. In 2002, Ms. Arnwine received the Charlotte E. Ray Award from the Greater Washington Area Chapter, Women Lawyers Division of the National Bar Association.
A frequent conference orator, she has penned numerous articles and is regularly quoted by and featured with media outlets such as the New York Times, NBC, McClatchy Newspapers, Sirius Satellite Radio, and African-American newspapers, magazines, radio stations and Web sites across the country.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law, particularly in the areas of housing, community development, employment, voting, education and environmental justice. For more information about the LCCRUL, visit www.lawyerscommittee.org.
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