THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Lilly Ledbetter
April 14, 1938 – October 12, 2024
“Lilly Ledbetter never set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She just wanted to be paid the same as a man for her hard work. But this grandmother from Alabama kept on fighting until the day I signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law – my first as president.” – Barack Obama, October 13, 2024
An icon of the fight for equal pay.
Photo. Lilly Ledbetter (center), watches Pres. Barack Obama sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 at the White House on January 29, 2009. Also pictured are Washington senator Patty Murray, Maryland senators Steny Hoyer (back, second from left) and Barbara Mikulski (front left), and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (behind Ledbetter) of Washington, D.C.
More About Lilly:
- Obituary, The New York Times
- Remembering Lilly Ledbetter: A Life of Grit and Persistence, by Josie Cox, October 2024
- Lilly, a 2024 film, directed and produced by Rachel Feldman. It premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival on October 10, 2024.
- A Call to Act: Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. The documentary tells the story of Lilly Ledbetter, whose fight for equal pay for equal work eventually involved all three branches of government. Her Supreme Court case, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., turned on the interpretation of the 180-day statute of limitations for filing a discrimination complaint under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After losing at the Supreme Court, Ledbetter urged Congress to start the 180-day clock for filing a complaint on the date an employee learned of the discrimination. The result was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.
- National Women’s Hall of Fame
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Wikipedia page