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This interview of Elaine R. Jones, leading civil rights lawyer for four decades, was conducted by Stephen J. Wermiel, chair of the Human Rights editorial board, to honor Jones, who will receive the 2011 Thurgood Marshall Award at a dinner on August 6 at the ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto. This interview also marks the selection of Jones as Human Rights Hero for this issue.
Jones was director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) from 1993-2004, the first woman to hold the post once occupied by Thurgood Marshall. From 1977-93, she ran the Washington office of the LDF.
The full version of the interview can be found online at www.americanbar.org/publications/human_rights_ magazine_home.html.
SW: Did Thurgood [Marshall] inspire you in any particular way?
EJ: I quote a Swahili warrior song that I love which says, "Life has meaning only in struggle. Triumphs and defeats are up to the gods, so let us celebrate the struggle."
And what our staff, I think, gets is the struggle....