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Sherrilyn Ifill

Sherrilyn Ifill

NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund (LDF)

Sherrilyn Ifill started at the LDF in 1988 and spent years litigating voting rights cases, including a landmark case before the Supreme Court, Houston Lawyers’ Association v. Attorney General of Texas. The success of that case extended Voting Rights Act protections to state trial court judges. Ifill has also taught at the University of Maryland and launched a legal clinic dedicated to removing barriers to ex-convicts trying to re-enter society. She assumed the office of president and director-counsel for the LDF in 2013. 

Why They Made the Worthy 100: Though she stepped down from her post as the LDF’s 7th President and Director-Counsel in March of 2022, Sherrilyn Ifill has done an amazing job bolstering the LDF’s cause but leading it successfully in one of the most racially turbulent times in our history. That dedication and achievement have earned her several awards and accolades, including the 2022 Radcliffe Medal.

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