Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

History

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial was originally established as a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C., in October, 1968. The Kennedy family and friends looked to memorialize Robert Kennedy's public service following his assassination on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles, California. Fred Dutton, a long-time friend and Kennedy ally, was named executive director, and Peter B. Edelman, a member of Kennedy's senatorial staff, became associate director. The chairman of the executive committee was former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara.

The Memorial was announced during a press conference at Hickory Hill in McLean, Virginia, on Tuesday, October 29, 1968. Kennedy's brother Ted led the press conference, stating that the organization would be a "living memorial" that would work in areas of poverty, crime, and education in America. He went on to say the Memorial would be "an action-oriented program that we think will carry on his concerns, his actions, his efforts to work on so many of the problems in this country that have no solutions". He was joined at the press conference by his sisters, Patricia Kennedy Lawford and Jean Kennedy Smith, as well as dozens of Kennedy family friends and aides.

Kennedy's widow Ethel Kennedy did not attend the press conference, but was nearby, in a second-floor bedroom of Hickory Hill on doctor's orders, awaiting the birth of her eleventh child. She issued a statement saying it was the hope of her husband's family and friends that the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial would carry forward the ideals he worked for during his lifetime: "He wanted to encourage the young people and to help the disadvantaged and discriminated against both here and abroad, and he wanted to promote peace in the world. These will be the goals of the memorial."

The memorial and other projects started in Kennedy's memory were later collectively renamed Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

Awards

Human Rights Award

The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award was created by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in 1984 to honor individuals around the world who show courage and have made a significant contribution to human rights in their country.

In addition to receiving a financial award, laureates can partner with the RFK Center on projects to advance their human rights work, benefiting from the resources and technologies at the foundation's disposal. Some have achieved their goals, some are in exile from their home country. The majority continue to live in their home country and work with the support of the center to establish the human rights they are working for.

Since 1984, awards have been given to 43 individuals and organizations from 25 different countries. The 2009 award was presented by President Barack Obama. In 2009, the RFK Human Rights began a partnership with the California International Law Center (CILC) at the University of California, Davis School of Law focusing on the crisis in Darfur.

Laureates

Ripple of Hope Award

Each year, the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award honors exemplary leaders across government, business, advocacy, and entertainment who have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to social change and worked to protect and advance equity, justice, and human rights. The name of the award is inspired by Kennedy's Ripple of Hope speech in 1966. They first presented the award in 2007.

Laureates

†=Recipient returned their award.

Book Award ===

The Robert F. Kennedy Book Award was founded in 1980, with the proceeds from Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s biography, Robert Kennedy and His Times. Each year, the organization presents an award to the book which "most faithfully and forcefully reflects Robert Kennedy's purposes – his concern for the poor and the powerless, his struggle for honest and even-handed justice, his conviction that a decent society must assure all young people a fair chance, and his faith that a free democracy can act to remedy disparities of power and opportunity."

Winners

Past winners have been:

• 2024 - Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class by Blair LM Kelley
• 2023 - The Third Reconstruction: America's Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century by Peniel E. Joseph
• 2022 - The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee and America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s by Elizabeth Hinton
• 2021 – Unworthy Republic:The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt
• 2020 – Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland by Jonathan Metzl
• 2019 – American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer
• 2018 – Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America by Peter Edelman / The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy Tyson
• 2017 – Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
• 2016 – Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story by David Maraniss
• 2015 – The Crusades of Cesar Chavez by Miriam Pawel
• 2014 – The Great Dissent by Thomas Healy and special recognition to March: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
• 2013 – The Price of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz
• 2012 – The Justice Cascade by Kathryn Sikkink
• 2011 – The Big Short by Michael Lewis
• 2010 – Ordinary Injustice by Amy Bach
• 2009 – The Dark Side by Jane Mayer
• 2008 – Going Down Jericho Road by Michael Honey
• 2007 – The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley
• 2006 – Mirror to America by John Hope Franklin
• 2005 – Perilous Times by Jeffrey Stone and We Are All the Same by Jim Wooten
• 2004 – Ultimate Punishment by Scott Turow
• 2003 – At the Hands of Persons Unknown by Philip Dray and A Problem from Hell by Samantha Power
• 2002 – American Patriots by Gail Buckley
• 2001 – Without Sanctuary by James Allen and Blood of the Liberals by George Packer
• 2000 – Mandela: The Authorised Biography by Anthony Sampson and No Shame in My Game by Katherine Newman
• 1999 – Walking with the Wind by John Lewis and Michael D'Orso
• 1998 – Race, Crime and the Law by Randall Kennedy and The Soldiers' Tale by Samuel Hynes
• 1997 – Worse Than Slavery by David M. Oshinsky
• 1996 – Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town by Pete Earley and The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics by Dan T. Carter
• 1995 – Speak Now Against the Day by John Egerton
• 1994 – Taming the Storm: The Life and Times of Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., and the South's Fight Over Civil Rights by Jack Bass and special recognition to Herbert Block for Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life
• 1993 – Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit by Vice President Al Gore
• 1992 – Praying for Sheetrock by Melissa Fay Greene
• 1991 – The Long Haul by Myles Horton and Herbert and Judith Kohl and The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest by Andrew Revkin
• 1990 – Among Schoolchildren by Tracy Kidder and Big Sugar by Alec Wilkinson
• 1989 – A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan and Rachel and Her Children by Jonathan Kozol
• 1988 – Beloved by Toni Morrison and Song in a Weary Throat by Pauli Murray
• 1987 – Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, by David J. Garrow
• 1986 – Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families by J. Anthony Lukas and Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee by Robert Norrell
• 1984 – Children of War by Roger Rosenblatt
• 1983 – Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Stephen B. Oates
• 1982 – The Child Savers by Peter S. Prescott
• 1981 – Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom by William Chafe

Journalism Award

Main article: Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award

The Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award was established in 1968 by a group of reporters covering Kennedy's presidential campaign and "honors those who report on issues that reflect Kennedy's concerns including human rights, social justice and the power of individual action in the United States and around the world." Entries include insights into the causes, conditions and remedies of injustice and critical analysis of relevant public policies, programs, attitudes and private endeavors.

Led by a committee of six independent journalists, the Awards are judged by more than fifty journalists each year. Previous winners include World News anchor Diane Sawyer.

Other initiatives

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights also promotes a video contest, titled Speak Truth to Power. It is co-sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers and the Tribeca Festival.

References

References

1. James Santel. (December 16, 2014). "Introducing Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights". rfkcenter.org.
2. "Organization Overview".
3. "Careers {{!}} RFK Human Rights".
4. Staff Writer (October 30, 1968). "RFK Memorial Created" ''The Hartford Courant'', p. 7.
5. Nan Robertson. (October 30, 1968). "New Fund Honors Robert Kennedy: Family Plans Foundation to Advance His Ideals". [[The New York Times]].
6. "Explore the Life and Legacy of Robert F. Kennedy". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.
7. "First Thoughts: No Pain, No Gain?".
8. "Partnership: RFK Center and the California International Law Center Search for Peace and Justice in Darfur | Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights".
9. "Human Rights Award Laureates". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.
10. Parkins, Katie. (May 20, 2025). "Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award names Colorado immigrant rights activist as 2025 recipient". [[KMGH-TV.
11. "Trans Latina woman honored with esteemed human rights award".
12. (May 15, 2023). "Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Announces 2023 Human Rights Award Laureate". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.
13. (May 5, 2022). "Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Announces 2022 Human Rights Award Laureates". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.
14. "2024 Ripple of Hope Award Gala".
15. Kim, Allen. (July 29, 2020). "Kaepernick and Fauci will be honored as Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights award laureates".
16. (December 10, 2020). "RFK Human Rights Honors 2020 Ripple of Hope Award Laureates".
17. "Our Past Laureates".
18. (26 June 2025). "Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Names 2025 Ripple of Hope Award Laureates".
19. Escarpio, Max. (December 10, 2025). "NBA Legend Magic Johnson Sends Message After Receiving Honor". Athlon Sports.
20. (24 September 2025). "Stephen Colbert to Receive 2025 Ripple of Hope Award from RFK Human Rights".
21. (May 2024). "Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Names 2024 Ripple of Hope Award Laureates".
22. (25 September 2024). "Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Names Susan Livingston as 2024 Ripple of Hope Award Laureate".
23. (2021-04-20). "JK Rowling returns award from group linked to Kennedy family".
24. (2020-08-28). "JK Rowling returns award after Kerry Kennedy criticism". BBC News.
25. "Book and Journalism Awards". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.
26. "Past Book Award Laureates". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.
27. "Journalism Winners".
28. (2025-01-07). "Speak Truth to Power Video Contest".