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Program Overview
From our earliest cases to desegregate colleges and universities in the South to LDF's current legal efforts to preserve affirmative action policies in the nation's pre-eminent educational institutions, opening doors and keeping them open for African-American students has been a major priority for the organization.
However, opening doors is not enough. Then and today, many qualified students need financial assistance to take advantage of the opportunity to attend the nation's most competitive colleges, universities and law schools. For nearly 40 years, LDF's scholarship programs have helped to make that possible.
Since 1964, LDF has assisted over 8,000 students with more than $16 million in financial support. Thereby, we have helped to increase the pool of highly trained civil rights lawyers and other professionals who defend the rights of the African-American community. Among the nation's leaders today, scholarship recipients have distinguished themselves in the health professions, business and industry, and in the public interest sector.
In addition, more than 80 former scholarship recipients have served as municipal, state or federal judges. More than twenty former LDF scholarship recipients are college or law school professors, five are members of the U.S. Congress, and eleven former recipients are, or were at one time, a state senator or representative. In 2005-2006, LDF's scholarship programs enabled 149 undergraduate and law students to use their skills to move the nation closer to the democratic ideals of equal opportunity and justice.
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