NAACP Legal Defense Fund to hold Annual Spring Luncheon & Conversation May 13

Contact:  Alan Hermesch, (301) 365-4762, ahermesch@aol.com

               Mel Gagarin (212) 965-2783, mgagarin@naacpldf.org

NAACP Legal Defense Fund to hold

Annual Spring Luncheon & Conversation

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 21, 2009 – The annual NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Spring Luncheon & Conversation will be held at the National Press Club on May 13, 2009, at noon.

The luncheon will celebrate the 55^th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which declared illegal the doctrine of separate but equal and paved the way for the civil rights movement. 

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill will be the featured participants.

“We are fortunate to have as our guests the Honorable Eric Holder and the distinguished Gwen Ifill,” says John Payton, President and Director-Counsel of LDF. “With all of the issues confronting the new administration’s Justice Department, we expect this conversation to be lively and informative.” 

“The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is proud to be at the forefront of the ongoing struggle for equal rights and freedoms for all Americans,” adds Mr. Payton, “and this luncheon is an opportunity to showcase our continuing role in that struggle.” 

Gwen Ifill is moderator and managing editor of “Washington Week” and senior correspondent for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”  She is also the best-selling author of “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.”  Before coming to PBS, she was chief correspondent and political correspondent for NBC News, White House correspondent for The New York Times and a local and national political reporter for The Washington Post.  A native of New York, she graduated from Simmons College in Boston and has been awarded more than a dozen honorary doctoral degrees.  She has also been honored numerous times for her work as a journalist.

 The National Press Club is located at

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) is America’s legal counsel on issues of race.  Through advocacy and litigation, LDF focuses on issues of education, voter protection, economic justice and criminal justice.  The LDF encourages students to embark on careers in the public interest through scholarships and internship programs.  LDF pursues racial justice to move our nation toward a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all.