For more than six decades, San Franciscan Aileen Hernandez has been working to make American society more equal. A native New Yorker born of Jamaican parents, she moved to California to work for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. She went on to become the only woman appointed by President Johnson to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and, soon after, helped found the National Organization for Women (NOW). She became NOW’s second president, where she worked for more inclusion of women of color in the women’s rights movement.
Hernandez joins us as part of our "First Person" series, showcasing the innovators, leaders and others who make Northern California unique.
- More: First Person series page