Kerry Kennedy

President

Biography

Kerry Kennedy is the President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. She is the author of The New York Times best seller “Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans talk about Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning,” published by Crown Books/Random House in September 2008, and “Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World,” (Random House, 2000).

Ms. Kennedy started working in the field of human rights in 1981, when she investigated abuses committed by U.S. immigration officials against refugees from El Salvador. Since then, her life has been devoted to the pursuit of justice, to the promotion and protection of basic rights, and to the preservation of the rule of law. She established the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights in 1988. She has led over 50 human rights delegations around the globe.

Ms. Kennedy is the founder of Speak Truth To Power, a global education initiative, which includes her book, the play, the photographic exhibition by Pulitzer Prize-winner Eddie Adams, the PBS documentary film, the education packet (a twelve-week course taught to 300,000 high school students around the world in 2009-2010), five public service announcements, the award-winning Web site, and federal legislation which increased funding for the protection of defenders.

Ms. Kennedy is Chair of the Amnesty International USA Leadership Council and serves on the boards of directors of Human Rights First, Inter-Press Service and the United States Institute of Peace. She received high honors from President Lech Walesa of Poland for aiding the Solidarity movement and is the recipient of many other prizes.

Ms. Kennedy is a graduate of Brown University and Boston College Law School and she is a member of the Massachusetts and District of Columbia bars. She has campaigned in every Presidential election since 1968.

She is the mother of three daughters, Cara, Mariah and Michaela.

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Recent News:

• Video: Kerry Kennedy on being Catholic, La Stampa: Voci di Milano, March 14, 2013
• 'A Civil Rights Freedom Rider Returns to Montgomery, Ala.,' Huffington Post, March 11, 2013
• 'The Time Is Now for a Federal Anti-Bullying Law,' Huffington Post, March 5, 2013
• Video: A Kennedy pleads, 'Save American lives,' MSNBC: Politics Nation, February 14, 2013
• Civil Rights Activists Discuss Investigation Discovery's 'The Injustice Files,' Cable 360 Network, February 8, 2013