Press Releases

August 28, 2003, marks the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. His dream was of a nation where all people and children would be treated equally, with justice and freedom. “Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children,” King told the crowd of 210,000 gathered that day.

During the past 40 years, America has made some progress in opening those doors, but there are still too many children and families being left behind. The Children's Defense Fund recently compiled data comparing differences between Blacks and Whites for several key social, economic and job-related indicators from 1963 to 2000:

• Three out of 10 Black children are poor with Black children more than twice as likely as White children to live in poverty even though overall poverty has declined since 1963.
  
  
• The death rate for White infants has declined faster than for Black infants. Black babies today are about 2-1/2 times more likely to die than are White babies even though infant mortality rates have improved overall.
  
  
• Black women continue to be about 3 times more likely than White women to die as a result of complications from pregnancy or childbirth.
  
  
• Blacks are still almost twice as likely as Whites to be high school dropout—the same as in 1963 —even though high school drop-out rates for youths ages 16-24 have declined for both Blacks and Whites.
  

Children’s Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman noted that on the anniversary of the March on Washington, America’s strength reflects our courage, our compassion, our hard work, our moral values, and our commitment to justice.

“Today, we can extend the American dream of our forefathers and foremothers to every child and family,” said Edelman. “We have the know-how, the experience, the tools, and the resources. And we have the responsibility as mothers, fathers, grandparents, and concerned and sensible people across the country.”

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• Data Summary
  (Adobe PDF : 2 pages : 96 KB)

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The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. We have never taken government funds.