Norton Issues Statement on Wade Henderson’s Retirement and Legacy
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today called her friend, Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, upon learning of his decision to retire at the end of next year and issued the following statement.
"As might be expected, Wade Henderson is leaving the venerable Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in fine shape with succession planning for which his successor will be grateful. However, it is Wade's work that has institutionalized the Leadership Conference's work for an era of progress following the passage of the three great civil rights statutes. During his 20 extraordinary years of leadership, Wade broadened the Leadership Conference's membership from a 20th century civil rights organization to a 21st century human rights conference and broadened its mission to match. Building a coalition of such breadth could have been unwieldy, and making it credible into the halls of power was a formidable challenge. Wade Henderson went well beyond making the Leadership Conference credible. He made it powerful. Members of the Congress and the public alike are the beneficiaries of Wade Henderson's unique legacy."