Twentieth Century

1988

Marian Wright Edelman Speaks at Commencement

Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, speaks at Wheaton’s 153rd Commencement. Edelman’s speech detailed how greed and the misplacement of government funds have harmed the nation’s young people. Edelman was the first Black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar Examination and the author of the book Families in Peril: An Agenda for Social Change. She concludes by remarking, “don’t let our political leaders or ourselves off the hook by failing to speak the truth about what ails our nation”.