Norton, First Woman to Chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to Speak at 50th Anniversary Celebration, Today
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), the first woman to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the EEOC's founding today, Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. at the EEOC Headquarters Training Center (131 M St. NE). EEOC Chair Jenny R. Yang, civil rights leaders, and past and present EEOC employees will also offer remarks.
"Long before I chaired the agency, the EEOC had brilliantly launched the nation's first enforcement of a civil rights law," Norton said. "The Commission has continued breaking new ground with its first anti-discrimination statute, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and with new anti-discrimination statutes Congress has given the agency. As a Member of Congress, I am now working to give the Commission new authority by passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, providing workplace protection to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees."