Rabbi Hillel said "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" [Sayings of the Fathers, p. 25]

Marian Wright Edelman's life reflects each part of that wise saying. Having been born in 1939 in the segregated town of Bennettsville, SC, she experienced first hand what it meant to be denied access to playing in the park or sitting at the soda counter or using the town library because of her race. But she also experienced the power of doing for oneself and others, in the now, by watching her father, a Baptist preacher, create parks and soda stands for Black children in their town and by routinely helping her mother bring food and coal to and run errands for the poor, the elderly, and the sick in their community. Echoing Hillel's sentiments, as a senior at Spellman College, she wrote in her diary, "I realize that I am not fighting just for myself, or my people in the south when I fight for freedom and equality" [Lanterns, p. 35]. She fought for herself and others when she participated in the Civil Rights movement, such as sitting in at Atlanta's city hall in 1960, working in Mississippi to register African Americans to vote, and being counsel for the Poor People's Campaign that Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. began to organize before his death.

After graduating from Yale Law School, she became the first African American woman admitted to the bar in Mississippi, and she used that position to reestablish federal Head Start funds, improve food stamp eligibility, represent various civil rights cases, and direct the Legal Defense and Educational Fund of the NAACP in Jackson, Mississippi.

As her heart and mind focused on issues relating to child development and children in poverty, she founded in 1973 the Children's Defense Fund. The CDF, headquartered in Washington DC, has become the nation's strongest voice for children and families. The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is "to Leave No Child Behind¨ and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities." The organization advocates for children and families, encouraging legislation and programs that improve health care, education, juvenile justice and foster care.

She wrote in Lanterns that she has "more honors that I can pack away" and that is true. Her awards include the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Prize, the Heinz Award, and a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship. In 2000, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, and the Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award for her writings which include seven books. We honor her with yet another one today, much more for our sake than for hers. She wrote "young people today needÉa sense of shared purpose that comes from shared actions and struggles. And they need exposure to a wide variety of people doing worthwhile rather than frivolous or self-seeking things" (Lanterns, p. 27). Marian Wright Edelman is a supreme example of a person doing worthwhile, not frivolous things, so we use today's ceremony to gain the exposure that she wrote about.

BECAUSE you have spent your entire life serving and advocating for children and the poor, and

BECAUSE you are a beacon of hope for those who profess to have none, and