BED-STUY, BROOKLYN – A block in Bed-Stuy was officially named in honor of a prominent civil rights attorney who died in 2015.
The section of Decatur Street between Lewis and Stuyvesant Avenues was recently named the “Jacqueline Berrien Way” after Berrien, Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under President Barack Obama and Associate Director Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Berrien, who died of cancer in 2015, served with the NAACP for nearly 15 years, according to the organization.
“Jacqueline Berrien was a defining figure in LDF history, an excellent mentor and a dear friend,” said Janai Nelson, current deputy director of the LDF. “This street naming will cement her name where her heart has always been anchored – in the community. And I am grateful to honor your legacy today. “
Nelson said Berrien litigated some of the Legal Defense Fund’s most notable suffrage and overturn cases, including a Florida case that lasted 40 years and resulted in the county being forced to end its segregated school system.
At EEOC, Nelson said Berrien “passed the agency’s very first rules that implement the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Acts and reclaim a record amount of money relief for discrimination claimants,” Nelson said.
“She was a passionate and demanding advocate who was friendly and personable as well as brilliant,” said Nelson.
Berrien started as a summer intern at LDF in 1986. She also worked as an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the Ford Foundation.
In 2009, Ms. Berrien was elected Head of the EEOC by President Obama.
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