National Organization for Women

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Palm Beach NOW and the Case That Changed Workplace Harassment Law

In the late 1980s, Palm Beach County NOW was actively organizing around sexual violence and workplace harassment. After a reported rape at a public beach in Boca Raton in 1989, the chapter organized a “Take Back the Beach” protest to call attention to violence against women and unsafe conditions in public spaces. During that action, a male lifeguard approached NOW members to share concerns about the sexual harassment of female lifeguards within the City of Boca Raton’s lifeguard department.

Shortly afterward, two lifeguards, including Beth Ann Faragher, attended a NOW program on sexual harassment featuring employment rights attorneys Bill and Karen Amlong. Although they were not scheduled speakers, they spoke from the audience about the hostile work environment they were experiencing. Through those connections, they were put in contact with legal representation that would eventually take the case forward.

Faragher filed suit against the City of Boca Raton, and the case ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court as Faragher v. City of Boca Raton.

In 1998, the Court ruled that employers can be held vicariously liable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for sexual harassment committed by supervisors that creates a hostile work environment. The decision established that employers have an affirmative duty to prevent and correct harassment and clarified when they can and cannot avoid liability. This ruling became one of the foundational precedents governing workplace sexual harassment law in the United States.

Palm Beach County NOW did not litigate the case before the Supreme Court. However, the chapter’s local organizing played a meaningful role in creating the space where survivors were heard, believed, and connected to attorneys willing to take action. The educational programming, protest organizing, and direct advocacy of chapter members helped move the issue from silence to accountability.

Faragher later attended Florida Atlantic University, went on to law school, worked as a public defender in Colorado, and now serves as a judge in Denver.

This Women’s History Month, we recognize how individual acts of courage can reshape national law. What began as women speaking openly about harassment in their workplace became a Supreme Court decision that clarified employer responsibility across the country.

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Rev. Jesse Jackson Is Now An Ancestor, Leaving A Legacy of Civil Rights Leadership And Advocacy

Rev. Jesse Jackson with NOW members at the March on Washington for Affirmative Action, 2000.

Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson Sr., civil rights leader, Baptist minister, and two-time presidential candidate, has died at 84. For more than five decades, Jackson stood at the forefront of movements for racial justice, voting rights, economic equity, and affirmative action, shaping national conversations about democracy and inclusion.

Jackson first rose to prominence in the 1960s as a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr., participating in voter registration campaigns and major civil rights actions across the South. Following King’s assassination, Jackson founded Operation PUSH, later merging efforts into the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, an organization dedicated to political empowerment, economic justice, and educational equity.

In the 1980s, Jackson launched historic presidential campaigns that expanded the political imagination of the Democratic Party and helped build multiracial coalitions of Black, Latino, labor, youth, and progressive voters. His campaigns emphasized what he called a “Rainbow Coalition,” foregrounding the interconnectedness of struggles against racism, poverty, militarism, and discrimination.

Jackson remained a visible and vocal advocate for affirmative action throughout his life. At the 2000 March on Washington for Affirmative Action, he stood alongside feminist leaders, labor organizers, and civil rights activists in defense of policies designed to address systemic racial inequities in education and employment. The photograph we are featuring, capturing Jackson with NOW members at that march, reflects a moment of coalition-building at a time when affirmative action faced escalating legal and political attacks.

For feminist organizations committed to racial justice, Jackson’s presence at that march underscored the shared stakes of these struggles. Affirmative action has long been critical for Black communities as well as women, working-class families, and other marginalized groups seeking equitable access to education and opportunity.

Throughout his career, Jackson used his platform to call attention to structural injustice while urging civic participation. He advocated for expanding the electorate, strengthening voting protections, addressing economic inequality, and building cross-movement solidarity.

Rev. Jesse Jackson’s life spanned the modern civil rights era, from the movement’s most dangerous years to today’s renewed backlash against equity. He carried forward a vision of democracy that required participation, accountability, and structural change.

The image from the 2000 march reminds us that feminist and civil rights struggles have long been intertwined. Defending racial justice in education and employment has always been part of the broader work of gender justice. That coalition work continues.

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Censorship Is Reshaping Florida’s Classrooms

International Day of Education is meant to affirm a simple truth: every person deserves access to knowledge that is accurate, inclusive, and reflective of our shared humanity. But in Florida, that promise is increasingly out of reach. Instead of expanding educational access, the state has doubled down on censorship, stripping shelves, restricting curriculum, and silencing the educators and librarians who make learning possible.

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