Legal Defense Fund

**our mission** **Using the power of law, narrative, research, and people, the [Legal Defense Fund (LDF)](https://www.naacpldf.org/) defends the humanity and advance the rights of Black people in America.** **introduction** The Legal Defense Fund’s mission has always been transformative: to achieve racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society. The new political landscape and retrenchment in key areas of civil rights pose unprecedented threats to the hard-won gains of the last half-century. From new assaults on voting rights to a renewed push to undermine equal access to quality education, to discrimination in the criminal legal system, and police discrimination that threatens public safety, we face significant challenges in every area of our work. The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the country’s first and foremost civil and human rights law firm. Founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, who subsequently became the first African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice, LDF was launched at a time when the nation’s aspirations for equality and due process of law were stifled by widespread state-sponsored racial inequality. From that era to the present, LDF’s mission has always been transformative: to achieve racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society.