NBL HOF Flipbook - Flipbook - Page 6
ABOUT
BARBARA R. ARNWINE
Barbara R. Arnwine, President and Founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition, is internationally renowned for
contributions on critical justice issues, including the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the 2006
reauthorization of provisions of the Voting Rights Act. She also serves as Co-Chair and Facilitator of the National
Commission for Voter Justice, the Millennial Votes Matters Convenings and The Voting Rights Alliance.
From February 1989 to June 2015, Ms. Arnwine served as President and Executive
Director of the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and now
holds the honorific title of President Emeritus. She has served as the Charles Hamilton
Houston Chair for North Carolina Central University School of Law (2016-2017) and
taught at Columbia University School of Law. She also served as a founder and leader
of Election Protection (the nation’s largest nonpartisan voter protection coalition);
Board Vice President of National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty; member of
the advance team of Lawyers’ Committee’s South Africa Electoral Observers
Delegation; National Convener of the National Conference on African American
Women and the Law (later leading a delegation to the NGO Forum and Fourth World
Conference on Women in Beijing); and helped draft provisions of the program for action for the UN World
Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Xenophobia in Durban, South Africa.
In 2011, Ms. Arnwine created the legendary Voting Rights “Map of Shame”, which exposed the new modern wave
of voter suppression proposals and legislation across the United States. She is the radio host of “Igniting Change
with Barbara Arnwine”, a regular presence in national media, and is often quoted in the press. A graduate of
Scripps College and Duke University School of Law, Ms. Arnwine continues to champion civil rights and racial
justice issues nationally and internationally in the areas of housing and lending; women’s rights, especially issues
affecting intersectionality and African American women and girls; community development; employment; voting;
education; policing restructuring; and environmental justice.
Ms. Arwine’s groundbreaking civil rights and human rights advocacy has been honored with many prestigious
awards, including Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights’ Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human
Rights Award and the prestigious Gruber International Justice Prize for her excellence in defending and promoting
civil rights and gender equity throughout the United States. Most recently, on May 2, 2021, Duke University
conferred upon her the Honorary Doctorate of Law.
