[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 8 (Wednesday, January 13, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E48-E49]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING JACQUELINE ANN BERRIEN

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 13, 2016

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask the House of 
Representatives to join me in honoring Jacqueline Ann Berrien, chair of 
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) from 2010 to 2014, 
who passed away on November 9, 2015, at the age of 53. I was privileged 
to know Jacqueline Berrien and to work with her here in the Congress.
  A native Washingtonian, Jacqueline graduated from Oberlin College and 
Harvard Law

[[Page E49]]

School prior to beginning her career as a distinguished civil rights 
lawyer. Jacqueline cut her teeth while working with the Voting Rights 
Project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in the 
District of Columbia and with the National Legal Department and Women's 
Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in New York. After 
several successful years, Jaqueline became an assistant counsel to the 
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Legal 
Defense and Education Fund, where she focused on voting rights and 
school desegregation. She left the NAACP to become a program officer 
for the Ford Foundation's Peace and Social Justice Program, before 
returning as associate director-counsel of the NAACP's Legal Defense 
and Education Fund.
  In 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Jacqueline Berrien as Chair 
of the EEOC, where she continued the work of combating discrimination, 
excelling as a public official in combating workplace discrimination. 
During her tenure, Jacqueline took on the new frontiers in employment 
discrimination, and despite budget shortfalls and a surge in cases, she 
helped the EEOC to significantly reduce its case backlog. As a civil 
rights lawyer and former chair of the EEOC myself, I worked with 
Jacqueline Berrien here in the Congress and greatly admired her many 
contributions to the work of the EEOC.
  Jacqueline Berrien, in a life cut short by cancer, nevertheless 
managed to leave a rich civil rights legacy, consummated by a 
presidential appointment to do that work for the entire nation. Our 
country is fortunate that this champion for civil rights, rich in 
talent, short in time, managed to accomplish so much.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask the House to join me in honoring Jacqueline Ann 
Berrien for her exceptional civil rights career, for her service to the 
United States of America, and for a life well lived.

                          ____________________