Child Watch® Column
For 40 years, CDF founder and lifelong advocate for children and youth Marian Wright Edelman shared her perspective on current events through Child Watch. The final column was released in August of 2025. Please enjoy an archived selection of Child Watch columns throughout the years.
Archived Articles
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A Child Watch Coda
After 40 years, today’s column will be the last in the weekly Child Watch® series. Today is not yet the conclusion to the reasons this column began, nor to the need to stay vigilant. …
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“The America That Is Yet to Come”
This month marked the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the historic legislation President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law at the U.S. Capitol with many of the Democratic and Republican lawmakers who had helped secure its large bipartisan victory and civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis, and Mrs. Rosa Parks, by his side.…
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Holding a Vision
A few months before the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s official opening in September 2016, Dr. Rex M. Ellis, the museum’s founding Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs, spoke to college-aged servant-leaders who were preparing to teach in Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom Schools® summer programs. …
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A Solemn Anniversary
This week was the solemn 80th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first and only time nuclear weapons have been used in war. …
Marian Wright Edelman
Marian Wright Edelman is a lifelong advocate for disadvantaged Americans and is the Founder and President Emerita of Children’s Defense Fund (CDF). Under her leadership, CDF has become the nation’s strongest voice for children, youth, and families.
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