Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (The Leadership Conference), formerly called The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, is an umbrella group of American civil rights interest groups.

Organizational history

The Leadership Conference was founded in 1950 by three leaders in the American civil rights movement: Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters founder A. Philip Randolph, NAACP executive secretary Roy Wilkins, and National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council leader Arnold Aronson.Michael Pertschuk, Giant Killers (New York: W.W. Norton, 1986), p. 149.

Leadership and organizational structure

As of June 2010, Wade Henderson served as President and CEO of both The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund (see below); Karen McGill Lawson was Executive Vice President and COO of both organizations; and Nancy M. Zirkin was Executive Vice President for Policy of both organizations. Dorothy Height, who had been Chairperson of the Leadership Conference's Executive Committee, died on April 20, 2010; as of June 25, 2010, her replacement as chair had not yet been named.

As of June 2010, the Leadership Conference website reported that the organization had "more than 200" member organizations. The site described the organization's mission as "promot and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States . . . hrough advocacy and...
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