- Aileen Hernandez
Aileen Clark Hernandez is an American union organizer and civil right activist. She was born
May 23 , 1926, inBrooklyn , NY, of Jamacian-American parents, was educated in New York City, and attendedHoward University , where she received a magna cum laude degree in Political Science and Sociology; she also has a Master's Degree in Government fromCalifornia State University at Los Angeles and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters fromSouthern Vermont College She married Alfonso Hernandez in 1947; and was divorced in 1951.She was initially active as an organizer for the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union , and became the Education and Public Relations Director for the Pacific Coast Region of the Union. She was later appointed Deputy Chief of theCalifornia Division of Fair Employment Practices from 1962 to 1965. As a result of this work, she became known nationally and was appointed byLyndon Johnson in 1964 as the only woman to serve on the newly establishedEqual Employment Opportunity Commission , and resigned in 1966 to formed an independent urban consulting firm, Aileen C. Hernández Associates.She was second national president of the
National Organization for Women in 1970, and in 1973 was a co-founder of Black Women Organized for Action in San Francisco. It was under her leadership,that NOW organized theWomen's Strike for Equality in 1971.She was one of the 2006 honorees of theNational Women's History Project ; she also was the 1993 Tish Sommers Lecturer at the Institute for Health and Aging of theUniversity of California, San Francisco , as well as the 1993 Regents Scholar in Residence at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara .Her current position is coordinator of
Black Women Stirring the Waters and chair of theCalifornia Women's Agenda , a state action alliance of over 600 organizations.She was 1993 Regents Scholar in Residence at the University of California, Santa Barbara and 1993 Tish Sommers Lecturer at the Institute for Health and Aging of the University of California, San Francisco.
References
* [http://www.nwhp.org/whm/hernandez_bio.php biography at the National Women's History Project]
* [http://www.now.org/history/founders.html Honoring our Founders] -- National Organisation for Women
* [http://ora.howard.edu/centers/aawi/hernandez.htm African American Women's Institute] at Howard University -- profile
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