Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: That Jean E. Fairfax was a civil rights activist who— was born to parents who were the first in their family to be legally free; fought for equitable educational access, challenged systemic employment discrimination, and led influential federal policy innovations in all realms to support working class and marginalized peoples; assisted Black families navigating school integration after the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education; joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Legal Defense Fund and established the Division of Legal Information and Community Service; and continued to serve her community through civil rights work and philanthropy after retirement.
It is evidenced that Jean E. Fairfax contributed greatly to the National School Lunch Program in an equitable manner through— organizing five national women’s organizations and creating the Committee on School Lunch Participation to study the National School Lunch Program; testifying before Congress on multiple occasions to reveal that the implementation of the National School Lunch Program was failing to reach children that needed it most; advocating for increased funding of the National School Lunch Program to serve children in areas of concentrated poverty that were disproportionately minorities; and having her findings incorporated in National School Lunch Program reform legislation that led to the program becoming more inclusive.
The National School Lunch Program is named after an individual who— objected to anti-lynching bills and civil rights legislation in Congress and affirmed his belief in white supremacy; opposed school integration and was a contributor to the creation of the Southern Manifesto; dismissed concerns of child-welfare advocates, civil rights activists, and women-led organizations during debate over the implementation of the National School Lunch Program; and believed that segregation should be maintained while implementing the National School Lunch Program.