- Civil Rights
- Criminal Justice
- Police Accountability
Ben Jealous, a civil rights leader, organizer, scholar, and journalist, has served as president of People For the American Way since 2020. He is Professor of the Practice at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Never Forget Our People Were Always Free, a reflection on our racial divisions and how to overcome them, forthcoming from HarperCollins.
Jealous has led successful campaigns centered around voting rights, racial equity, and criminal justice. Under his leadership, People For the American Way encouraged and equipped nearly two million Black men who had stopped voting to cast a ballot in the 2020 elections. He led efforts to mobilize a multiracial, interfaith coalition of voting rights activists to urge the White House to intensify its efforts to pass federal voting rights legislation. And he led the creation of People For the American Way’s All Safe campaign to transform public safety nationwide, which has developed a policy roadmap to making communities safer and policing more just, and is now working with local public officials to put those policies into practice.
Jealous was credited with rejuvenating the national NAACP when he served as its youngest president and CEO from 2008 to 2013. A noted coalition builder, Jealous created pathbreaking partnerships with conservative leaders and Republican governors to help shrink America’s prison system as well as expand voting rights and employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated people. He also provided leadership to successful statewide coalition efforts to promote marriage equality, abolish the death penalty, and pass the DREAM Act. In 2013, the Baltimore Sun named him Marylander of the Year and the Washington Post called him “one of the nation’s most prominent civil rights leaders.” Jealous was the 2018 Democratic Party nominee for governor of Maryland.
Jealous served for five years as a senior partner at Kapor Capital, a social impact firm that invests in entrepreneurs and companies whose innovations contribute to a more equitable world. He previously served as executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. He is a graduate of Columbia University and Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He is co-editor of the New York Times best-selling book Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living, Leading and Succeeding.
Jealous has repeatedly been named to The NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top Fifty, most recently in 2022.
He lives with his children, Morgan and Jack, and their dog Charlie, on the Chesapeake Bay.
Ben Jealous's Areas of Expertise
All Posts
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Blog Post | November 30, 2021
USA TODAY: Charlottesville sends message to the hearts of Americans from the heart of the old Confederacy
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Blog Post | November 22, 2021
‘Good Trouble’ Moves the Needle on Voting Rights
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Blog Post | November 19, 2021
Giving Thanks
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Blog Post | November 16, 2021
Investing In American People And Communities
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Blog Post | November 5, 2021
Lesson for Democrats in Virginia Defeat: Give Voters Something to Vote For
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Blog Post | November 1, 2021
Senate Republicans Block This Generation’s Voting Rights Act: Will President Biden Meet the Challenge?
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Blog Post | October 22, 2021
The Far-Right Political Playbook Is a Threat to Our Health, Our Schools, and Our Democracy
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Blog Post | October 14, 2021
A Politician’s Shameless Bigotry
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Blog Post | October 12, 2021
Why I Went to Jail on October 5
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Blog Post | October 1, 2021
Local Governments Can Lead in Public Safety Movement