Barbara Arnwine

Barbara R. Arnwine is a civil rights attorney whose advocacy has influenced legislation and protected voting rights across the United States. Arnwine was the first African American woman to lead the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, serving as executive director. She is a graduate of Scripps College and Duke University School of Law, and her work spans civil rights, racial justice, housing and lending, community development, employment, voting rights, education, and environmental justice.

After law school, Arnwine began her legal career with the Durham Legal Assistance Program as a Reginald Huber Smith fellow, later joining the legal service's head office in Raleigh, North Carolina. There, she worked on affirmative action policies, contract review, and legal aid programs. In the 1980s, she served as executive director of the Boston Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights before leading the national organization in Washington, D.C. In this role, Arnwine advocated for changes to national civil rights and environmental policy. She played a key role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and contributed to the congressional report that informed the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act.

Arnwine's international civil rights work includes leading the Electoral Observers delegation in South Africa, investigating the conditions of Haitian refugees at Guantanamo Bay, and heading a delegation to the Decade of Women Conference and NGO Forum in Beijing. She contributed to the platform for protecting women facing multiple forms of discrimination. Arnwine also helped draft provisions for the program of action at the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Xenophobia in Durban, South Africa. Domestically, she founded Election Protection, a nonpartisan voter protection coalition supporting historically disenfranchised voters, and created the Voting Rights "Map of Shame," highlighting voter suppression trends.

After her tenure at the Lawyers' Committee, Arnwine founded the Transformative Justice Coalition. She serves as co-chair and facilitator of the National Commission for Voter Justice, the Millennial Votes Matters Convenings, and the Voting Rights Alliance. Arnwine has held the Charles Hamilton Chair at North Carolina Central University School of Law and has taught at Columbia University School of Law. Her advocacy covers civil rights, racial justice, women's rights, immigrant rights, judicial diversity, criminal justice reform, racial profiling, health care disparities, LGBTQIA rights, and policing restructuring.

Arnwine has received honors including the Charles Hamilton Houston Medallion award, the Gruber International Justice Prize, the Feminist Majority Foundation's Fearless Trailblazer Award, the Sojourner Truth Woman of Truth award, the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award, and the Stateswoman for Justice award. Her commentary appears in Human Rights magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, BET, and TV One. Arnwine also launched "Igniting Change with Barbara Arnwine" on Radio One's WOL 1450 AM, focusing on civil rights, voting rights, and social justice issues.