Avenger of the Week | Stacey Abrams

Photo credit: TED Conference [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0], via Flickr

Politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author Stacey Abrams has been credited with increasing Georgia voter registration by 800,000 since 2013, and her efforts have served as a model and inspiration for organizers in other states.

A graduate of Spelman College, Abrams has a masters degree from LBJ School at the University of Texas and a law degree from Yale University. Born in Wisconsin, she was raised in Mississippi and Atlanta by parents who both became Methodist ministers. She has authored several books about voting rights and also produced a documentary on the subject.

A Democrat who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, serving as minority leader from 2011 to 2017, Abrams founded the New Georgia Project in 2013 to register people in minority communities. She lost the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race by 55,000 votes, but she turned that disappointment into further determination to combat voter suppression — she founded Fair Fight Action in 2018, a grassroots organization to uncover voter suppression and advocate for free and fair elections — and to increase voter registration, education, and participation. Her efforts gained national attention with record turnout this year. Presidential votes are still being tallied in the race in Georgia, a recount is expected, and runoff elections are scheduled for the state’s two U.S. Senators, which could change the party balance in the Senate.      

For her relentless dedication to the cause, voting rights activist Stacey Abrams is our Avenger of the Week.

Congratulate Avenger of the Week Stacey Abrams!

For her relentless dedication to the cause, voting rights activist @staceyabrams is @GenderAvenger’s Avenger of the Week! #GenderAvenger https://www.genderavenger.com/blog/avenger-of-the-week-stacey-abrams