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A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION
21-142
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
December 1, 2015
To posthumously honor the life and distinguished service of Jacqueline A. Berrien.
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Clifford and Anna Berrien, sister of Eric Berrien, and wife of Peter M. Williams;
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien attended parochial primary and secondary schools, including the Nativity Catholic School in Washington, D.C., and the Connelly School of the Holy Child in Potomac, Maryland;
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien received her Bachelor of Arts degree with High Honors in Government from Oberlin College and also completed a major in English;
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien graduated from Harvard Law School, where she served as a General Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review;
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien published several articles on race and gender discrimination issues, was appointed to the adjunct faculty of New York Law School, and taught trial advocacy at Harvard and Fordham law schools;
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Northeastern University, and has been recognized for leadership and outstanding public service by numerous organizations, including the National Action Network, the Brooklyn Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, the NAACP Brooklyn Branch, and local bar associations in Mississippi and New York;
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien practiced civil rights law for more than 20 years and began her legal career in 1986, working as a law clerk to the Honorable U. W. Clemon in Birmingham, Alabama;
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien worked as an attorney with the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in Washington, D.C., and with the National Legal Department and Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in New York between 1987 and 1994;
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien directed the voting rights and political participation docket of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (“LDF”) from 1994 to 2001, representing voters in the United States Supreme Court and federal and state appellate and trial courts;
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien served as a Program Officer in the Governance and Civil Society Unit of the Ford Foundation’s Peace and Social Justice Program from 2001 to 2004, where she administered more than $13 million in grants to promote greater political participation by underrepresented groups and remove barriers to civic engagement;
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien was Associate Director-Counsel of LDF from 2004-2010, sharing responsibility for the overall management and direction of LDF’s national litigation, advocacy, and scholarship programs with the organization’s President and Director-Counsel;
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien was nominated by President Barack Obama on July 16, 2009 and confirmed by unanimous consent of the Senate in December 2010 to a term ending July 1, 2014 as the 14th Chair of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”);
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien guided the EEOC to major achievements during her term, including adopting the first ever regulations implementing the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act and the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act; updating enforcement guidance on pregnancy discrimination for the first time in more than 30 years; developing and implementing a new strategic plan and the agency’s first Strategic Enforcement Plan; reducing inventory of unresolved discrimination charges by approximately 20%; recovering a record amount of monetary relief for victims of discrimination through administrative enforcement programs; updating enforcement guidance on employers’ use of arrest and conviction records; updating technology and information systems nationwide to increase efficiency and improve service to the public; and conducting public EEOC meetings on discrimination in hiring and recruitment, human trafficking, discrimination against older workers, and facilitating employment of veterans with disabilities, among other subjects;
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien was named one of America’s Leading Black Women in Public Service by The Root.com, one of HR’s Most Influential by Human Resource Executive Online, and included in the “Power 100” List of the Nation’s Most Influential Minority Attorneys; and
WHEREAS, Jacqueline A. Berrien, in the words of President Barack Obama, “spent her entire career fighting to give voice to underrepresented communities and protect our most basic rights.”
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “Jacqueline A. Berrien Recognition Resolution of 2015”.
Sec. 2. The Council of the District of Columbia honors the life and service of native Washingtonian Jacqueline A. Berrien.
Sec. 3. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon the first date of publication in the District of Columbia Register.
