Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (formerly the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, or RFK Center) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

advocacy organization. It was named after

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

in 1968, a few months after his assassination. The organization of leading attorneys, advocates, entrepreneurs and writers is dedicated to a more just and peaceful world, working alongside local activists to ensure lasting positive change in governments and corporations. It also promotes human rights advocacy through its RFK Human Rights Award, and supports

investigative journalists Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

and authors through the RFK Book and Journalism Awards. It is based in New York and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

History

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial was originally established as a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

in Washington, D.C., in October, 1968. The

Kennedy family The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy beca ...

and friends looked to memorialize Robert Kennedy's public service following his assassination on June 5, 1968, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Fred Dutton Frederick Gary Dutton (June 16, 1923 – June 27, 2005) was a lawyer and Democratic Party power broker who served as campaign manager and Chief of Staff for California Governor Pat Brown, Special Assistant to U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and ...

, a long-time friend and Kennedy ally, was named executive director, and Peter B. Edelman, a member of Kennedy's senatorial staff, became associate director. The chairman of the executive committee was former U.S. Secretary of Defense

Robert S. McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the ...

. The Memorial was announced during a press conference at Hickory Hill in McLean, Virginia, on Tuesday, October 29, 1968. Kennedy's brother Ted led the press conference, stating that the organization would be a "living memorial" that would work in areas of poverty, crime, and education in America. He went on to say the Memorial would be "an action-oriented program that we think will carry on his concerns, his actions, his efforts to work on so many of the problems in this country that have no solutions". He was joined at the press conference by his sisters,

Patricia Kennedy Lawford Patricia Helen Kennedy Lawford (May 6, 1924 – September 17, 2006) was an American socialite, and the sixth of nine children of Rose and Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. She was a sister of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Senat ...

and

Jean Kennedy Smith Jean Ann Kennedy Smith (February 20, 1928June 17, 2020) was an American diplomat, activist, humanitarian, and author who served as United States Ambassador to Ireland from 1993 to 1998. She was a member of the Kennedy family, the eighth of nine c ...

, as well as dozens of Kennedy family friends and aides. Kennedy's widow

Ethel Kennedy Ethel Kennedy (' Skakel; born April 11, 1928) is an American human rights advocate. She is the widow of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a sister-in-law of President John F. Kennedy, and the sixth child of George Skakel and Ann Brannack. Shortly ...

did not attend the press conference, but was nearby, in a second-floor bedroom of Hickory Hill on doctor's orders, awaiting the birth of her eleventh child. She issued a statement saying it was the hope of her husband's family and friends that the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial would carry forward the ideals he worked for during his lifetime: "He wanted to encourage the young people and to help the disadvantaged and discriminated against both here and abroad, and he wanted to promote peace in the world. These will be the goals of the memorial." The memorial and other projects started in Kennedy's memory were later collectively renamed Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

Awards

Human Rights Award

The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award was created by

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend (born July 4, 1951) is an American attorney who was the sixth Lieutenant Governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. She ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Maryland in 2002. She was the first female lieutenant ...

in 1984 to honor individuals around the world who show courage and have made a significant contribution to

in their country. In addition to receiving a financial award, laureates work with the organization on human rights-related projects. Since 1984, awards have been given to 43 individuals and organizations from 25 different countries. The 2009 award was presented by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. In 2009, the RFK Human Rights began a partnership with the California International Law Center (CILC) at the

University of California, Davis School of Law The University of California, Davis School of Law (Martin Luther King Jr. Hall), referred to as UC Davis School of Law and commonly known as King Hall, is the professional graduate law school of the University of California, Davis. The school rece ...

focusing on the crisis in Darfur.

Laureates

Book Award

The Robert F. Kennedy Book Award was founded in 1980, with the proceeds from Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s biography, ''Robert Kennedy and His Times''. Each year, the organization presents an award to the book which "most faithfully and forcefully reflects Robert Kennedy's purposes – his concern for the poor and the powerless, his struggle for honest and even-handed justice, his conviction that a decent society must assure all young people a fair chance, and his faith that a free democracy can act to remedy disparities of power and opportunity."

Winners

* 2022 - ''The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together'' by Heather McGhee and ''America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s'' by Elizabeth Hinton * 2021 – '' Unworthy Republic:The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory'' by Claudio Saunt * 2020 – '' Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland'' by

Jonathan Metzl Jonathan Michel Metzl (born December 12, 1964) is an American psychiatrist and author. He is the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University, where he is also Director of the Center for Medicine, Heal ...

* 2019 – '' American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment'' by

Shane Bauer Shane Bauer is an American journalist, best known for his undercover reporting for ''Mother Jones'' magazine. He has won several awards including the Harvard's Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and the National Magazine Award for Best ...

* 2018 – ''Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America'' by

Peter Edelman Peter Benjamin Edelman (born January 9, 1938) is an American lawyer, policy-maker, and law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, specializing in the fields of poverty, welfare, juvenile justice, and constitutional law. He worked as an ai ...

/ ''The Blood of Emmett Till'' by Timothy Tyson * 2017 – '' Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by

Matthew Desmond Matthew Desmond is a sociologist and the Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, where he is also the principal investigator of the Eviction Lab. Desmond was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2022. Educ ...

* 2016 – '' Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story'' by

David Maraniss David Maraniss ( ; born 1949) is an American journalist and author, currently serving as an associate editor for ''The Washington Post''. Career ''The Washington Post'' assigned Maraniss the job of biographer for their coverage of 2008 president ...

* 2015 – ''The Crusades of Cesar Chavez'' by Miriam Pawel * 2014 – ''The Great Dissent'' by Thomas Healy and special recognition to '' March: Book One'' by

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

Andrew Aydin Andrew Aydin (born August 25, 1983) is an American comics writer, known as the Digital Director & Policy Advisor to Georgia congressman John Lewis, and co-author, with Lewis, of Lewis' #1 ''New York Times'' bestselling autobiographical graphic no ...

, and

Nate Powell Nathan Lee Powell (born 1978) is an American graphic novelist and musician. His 2008 graphic novel ''Swallow Me Whole'' won an Ignatz Award and Eisner Award for Best Original Graphic Novel. He illustrated the ''March'' trilogy, an autobiographical ...

* 2013 – '' The Price of Inequality'' by Joseph Stiglitz * 2012 – ''The Justice Cascade'' by

Kathryn Sikkink Kathryn Sikkink (born 1955) is an author, human rights academic, and scholar of international relations working primarily through the theoretical strain of constructivism. She is currently at professor at Harvard Kennedy School. Academic career Ka ...

* 2011 – '' The Big Short'' by

Michael Lewis Michael Monroe Lewis (born October 15, 1960) Gale Biography In Context. is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to ''Vanity Fair'' since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. He ...

* 2010 – ''Ordinary Injustice'' by Amy Bach * 2009 – '' The Dark Side'' by

Jane Mayer Jane Meredith Mayer (born 1955) is an American investigative journalist who has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1995. She has written for the publication about money in politics; government prosecution of whistleblowers; the Uni ...

* 2008 – ''Going Down Jericho Road'' by Michael Honey * 2007 – ''The Great Deluge'' by Douglas Brinkley * 2006 – ''Mirror to America'' by

John Hope Franklin John Hope Franklin (January 2, 1915 – March 25, 2009) was an American historian of the United States and former president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Histo ...

* 2005 – '' Perilous Times'' by Jeffrey Stone and ''We Are All the Same'' by Jim Wooten * 2004 – '' Ultimate Punishment'' by

Scott Turow Scott Frederick Turow (born April 12, 1949) is an American author and lawyer. Turow has written 13 fiction and three nonfiction books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies. Turow’s novel ...

* 2003 – ''At the Hands of Persons Unknown'' by

Philip Dray Philip Dray is an American writer and historian, known for his comprehensive analyses of American scientific, racial, and labor history. Awards Dray's work ''At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America'' won the Robert F. Ken ...

and ''

A Problem from Hell ''"A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide'' (2002) is a book by American Samantha Power, at that time Professor of Human Rights Practice at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, which explores the United States's underst ...

'' by

Samantha Power Samantha Jane Power (born September 21, 1970) is an American journalist, diplomat and government official who is currently serving as the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. She previously served as the 28th ...

* 2002 – ''American Patriots'' by Gail Buckley * 2001 – ''Without Sanctuary'' by James Allen and ''Blood of the Liberals'' by

George Packer George Packer (born August 13, 1960) is a US journalist, novelist, and playwright. He is best known for his writings for ''The New Yorker'' and ''The Atlantic'' about U.S. foreign policy and for his book '' The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq'' ...

* 2000 – '' Mandela: The Authorised Biography'' by

Anthony Sampson Anthony Terrell Seward Sampson (3 August 1926 – 18 December 2004) was a British writer and journalist. His most notable and successful book was '' Anatomy of Britain'', which was published in 1962 and was followed by five more "Anatomies", upd ...

and ''No Shame in My Game'' by Katherine Newman * 1999 – ''Walking with the Wind'' by

and Michael D'Orso * 1998 – '' Race, Crime and the Law'' by

Randall Kennedy Randall LeRoy Kennedy (born September 10, 1954) is an American law professor at Harvard University and author. He is the Michael R. Klein Professor of Law and his research focuses on the intersection of racial conflict and legal institutions in ...

and ''The Soldiers' Tale'' by

Samuel Hynes Samuel Lynn Hynes (August 29, 1924 – October 9, 2019) was an American author. He won a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for ''The Soldiers' Tale'' in 1998. Biography Samuel Hynes was born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended the University of Minnesot ...

* 1997 – ''Worse Than Slavery'' by David M. Oshinsky * 1996 – ''Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town'' by

Pete Earley Pete Earley (born September 5, 1951) is an American journalist and author who has written non-fiction books and novels. Career Born in Douglas, Arizona, Earley became a ''Washington Post'' reporter and also wrote books about the Aldrich Ames ...

and ''The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics'' by Dan T. Carter * 1995 – ''Speak Now Against the Day'' by John Egerton * 1994 – ''Taming the Storm: The Life and Times of Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., and the South's Fight Over Civil Rights'' by

Jack Bass Jack Bass is an American author and journalist. He was born in Columbia, South Carolina to Nathan and Esther (Cohen) Bass in 1934 and grew up in the town of North as the youngest of seven children. He graduated from the University of South Carol ...

and special recognition to Herbert Block for ''Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life'' * 1993 – '' Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit'' by Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...

* 1992 – '' Praying for Sheetrock'' by Melissa Fay Greene * 1991 – '' The Long Haul'' by Myles Horton and Herbert and Judith Kohl and ''The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest'' by

Andrew Revkin Andrew C. Revkin is an American science and environmental journalist, author and educator. He has written on a wide range of subjects including destruction of the Amazon rain forest, the 2004 Asian tsunami, sustainable development, climate chan ...

* 1990 – ''Among Schoolchildren'' by

Tracy Kidder John Tracy Kidder (born November 12, 1945) is an American writer of nonfiction books. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his '' The Soul of a New Machine'' (1981), about the creation of a new computer at Data General Corporation. He has recei ...

and ''Big Sugar'' by

Alec Wilkinson Alec Wilkinson (born 1952) is a writer who has been on the staff of ''The New Yorker'' since 1980. According to ''The Philadelphia Inquirer '' he is among the "first rank of" contemporary American (20th and early 21st century) "literary journali ...

* 1989 – '' A Bright Shining Lie'' by

Neil Sheehan Cornelius Mahoney Sheehan (October 27, 1936 – January 7, 2021) was an American journalist. As a reporter for ''The New York Times'' in 1971, Sheehan obtained the classified '' Pentagon Papers'' from Daniel Ellsberg. His series of articles rev ...

and ''Rachel and Her Children'' by

Jonathan Kozol Jonathan Kozol (born September 5, 1936) is an American writer, progressive activist, and educator, best known for his books on public education in the United States. Education and experience Born to Harry Kozol and Ruth (Massell) Kozol, Jon ...

* 1988 – '' Beloved'' by

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' So ...

and ''Song in a Weary Throat'' by

Pauli Murray Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray (November 20, 1910 – July 1, 1985) was an American civil rights activist who became a lawyer, gender equality advocate, Episcopal priest, and author. Drawn to the ministry, in 1977 she became one of the first women ...

* 1987 – '' Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,'' by David J. Garrow * 1986 – '' Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families'' by

J. Anthony Lukas Jay Anthony Lukas (April 25, 1933 – June 5, 1997) was an American journalist and author, probably best known for his 1985 book '' Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families''. ''Common Ground'' is a classic study ...

and ''Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee'' by Robert Norrell * 1984 – ''Children of War'' by

Roger Rosenblatt Roger Rosenblatt (born 1940) is an American memoirist, essayist, and novelist. He was a long-time essayist for ''TIME magazine, Time'' magazine and ''PBS NewsHour''. He is currently the Distinguished Professor of English and Writing at Stony Brook ...

* 1983 – ''Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.'' by Stephen B. Oates * 1982 – ''The Child Savers'' by Peter S. Prescott * 1981 – ''Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom'' by

William Chafe William H. Chafe (/ˈtʃeɪf/; born January 28, 1942) is an American historian, and currently Alice Mary Baldwin Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University in Durham, NC. Career Professor Chafe received his PhD from Columbia University ...

Journalism Award

The Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award was established in 1968 by a group of reporters covering Kennedy's presidential campaign and "honors those who report on issues that reflect Kennedy's concerns including human rights, social justice and the power of individual action in the United States and around the world." Entries include insights into the causes, conditions and remedies of injustice and critical analysis of relevant public policies, programs, attitudes and private endeavors. Led by a committee of six independent journalists, the Awards are judged by more than fifty journalists each year. Previous winners include

World News World news or international news or even foreign coverage is the news media jargon for news from abroad, about a country or a global subject. For journalism, it is a branch that deals with news either sent by foreign correspondents or news agenc ...

anchor

Diane Sawyer Lila Diane Sawyer (; born December 22, 1945) is an American television broadcast journalist known for anchoring major programs on two networks including ''ABC World News Tonight'', ''Good Morning America'', ''20/20'', and ''Primetime'' newsmagaz ...

References

External links

* {{Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureates Robert F. Kennedy Foundations based in the United States Human rights organizations based in the United States Organizations established in 1968