Benjamin Todd Jealous was born on January 18,1973 and is an American civil rights leader.
37 Facts About Ben Jealous
2.
Ben Jealous served as the president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 2008 to 2013.
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Ben Jealous ran as a Democrat, and won the party's nomination in the June 2018 primary, defeating Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker and seven other candidates.
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In 2013, Ben Jealous was named a Young Global Leader by the Davos World Economic Forum.
5.
Ben Jealous was selected as president of People for the American Way, and its associated foundation, on June 2,2020, and assumed the position on June 15.
6.
On November 14,2022, Ben Jealous was named the executive director of the Sierra Club, the first person of color to hold the position, effective January 23,2023.
7.
Ben Jealous was born in 1973 in Pacific Grove, California, and grew up on the Monterey Peninsula.
8.
Ben Jealous worked as a psychotherapist and had grown up in Baltimore.
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Ben Jealous had participated there in the desegregation of Western High School.
10.
Ben Jealous is the author, with Caroline Haskell, of Combined Destinies: Whites Sharing Grief about Racism.
11.
Ben Jealous's father, Fred Jealous, who is white, is descended from settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, related to businessman Joseph B Sargent, and directly in line to inherit the fortune from the Sargent and Co business.
12.
Ben Jealous founded the Breakthrough Men's Community and participated in Baltimore sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters.
13.
Ben Jealous graduated from York School in Monterey, California in 1990.
14.
Ben Jealous's father was best friends with comedian Dave Chappelle's father, William David Chappelle III; as a result, Ben Jealous has been friends with Dave Chappelle since childhood, and the two are god-brothers.
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Ben Jealous earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Columbia University.
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At Columbia University, Ben Jealous began working as an organizer with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
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Ben Jealous organized with the local NAACP chapter to keep them fully funded and maintain their operations.
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Ben Jealous's reporting was credited with exposing corruption among high-ranking officials at the state prison in Parchman.
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Ben Jealous returned to Columbia in 1997, where he applied for and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.
20.
Ben Jealous was President of the Rosenberg Foundation, a private foundation located in San Francisco, California from 2005 to 2008.
21.
Ben Jealous was elected in 2008 as president and CEO of the NAACP; at age 35, he was the youngest person to serve in that position.
22.
Ben Jealous led the NAACP to work closely with other civil rights, labor and environmental groups.
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In 2010 the NAACP was one of the conveners of the One Nation Working Together Rally, which Ben Jealous referred to as "an antidote" to the Tea Party.
24.
In 2012 Ben Jealous formed the Democracy Initiative along with other progressive leaders, to build a national campaign around three goals: getting big money out of politics, supporting voting rights, and reforming broken Senate rules.
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Finally, in 2013 Ben Jealous gave the keynote address at the A10 Rally for Citizenship, a major rally for immigration reform at the US Capitol.
26.
Ben Jealous broadened the NAACP's alliances in 2011 at the National Press Club when a conservative coalition of criminal justice reform advocates endorsed an NAACP report authored by Ben Jealous.
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Ben Jealous was noted for reviving and building the resources of the NAACP.
28.
On May 31,2017, Ben Jealous announced his candidacy for governor of Maryland in the 2018 election, then held by Larry Hogan.
29.
Many labor and progressive groups issued early endorsements of Ben Jealous, including the American Postal Workers Union, Communications Workers of America, National Nurses United, the Maryland State Education Association, the Service Employees International Union, UNITE-HERE, Democracy for America, Friends of the Earth Action, the Maryland Working Families Party, Our Revolution and Progressive Maryland.
30.
Ben Jealous received endorsements from Senators Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and Kamala Harris, as well as longtime friend, comedian Dave Chappelle.
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Ben Jealous ran on a platform that included free college tuition, legalized marijuana, universal healthcare, and a $15 minimum wage for Marylanders.
32.
Ben Jealous's views were described by an analyst for Circa News as democratic socialist.
33.
In 2014 Ben Jealous became a senior partner at Kapor Capital.
34.
Ben Jealous joined the Center for American Progress as a senior fellow.
35.
Ben Jealous endorsed Bernie Sanders in his 2016 campaign for US president, then supported Hillary Clinton after she was nominated as a candidate by the Democratic Party.
36.
Ben Jealous was married to Lia Epperson, an NAACP lawyer and law professor at American University Washington College of Law in July 2002.
37.
Ben Jealous has earned the following awards and honors for his activism:.