Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the first African-American Attorney General of the United States.
He proudly wears the titles of Judge, Lawyer and Political Advisor. He was born to parents Eric
and Miriam Holder in New York City. His parents both held strong ties to Barbados.
Holder got into the prestigious Stuyvesant High School which was an hour-and-a-half commute
from his home. He says he concentrated mainly on his studies in high school, and felt
overwhelmed by the rigorous academic demands placed on him at Stuyvesant. However, the
young man stayed well rounded; he was selected as the captain of the basketball team, and
in 1969 he earned his high school diploma, as well as a Regents Scholarship.
That same year, Holder entered college at Columbia University. He played freshman basketball,
attended shows at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, spent Saturdays mentoring local kids, and
became active in civil rights. He received his Bachelor's Degree in American history from
Columbia University in 1973. In 1974, he began attending Columbia Law School while also
clerking for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Department of Justice's Criminal Division.
In 1976, Holder earned his Law Degree, and The Department of Justice gave him a job as part
of the Attorney General's honors program.
In 1988, Holder was nominated by former President Reagan to become an associate judge of the
Superior Court of the District of Columbia. During this time he presided over hundreds of civil
and criminal trials. Holder was then nominated by President Clinton to serve as the U.S. Attorney
for Washington, D.C. in 1993. He was the first African-American to serve in the position. During
his four-year term, he created a domestic violence unit, a community prosecution project, and a
program for restricting gun laws.
In 1997, Holder made history yet again when President Clinton nominated him to be the deputy
Attorney General. As Deputy Attorney General, Holder developed and issued the "Holder
Memorandum," which spelled out the guidelines for the criminal prosecution of corporations.
He was quickly confirmed several months later by a unanimous vote in the Senate. He was the first
African-American elected to the position, as well as the highest-ranking black person in law
enforcement in the history of the United States at that time.
At the president's request, Holder created the organization, Lawyers for One America. The group
was designed to bring greater diversity to the law profession, and increase pro bono work among
the nation's Lawyers.
After serving in this position for four years, Holder joined the private sector to work at the Law
Firm, Covington and Burling LLC, in 2001. He continues to work at the firm, representing clients
such as the National Football League during its investigation of quarterback Michael Vick, and
the negotiation of an agreement with the Justice Department for Chiquita Brands International.
In addition to his normal workload, Holder serves on a number of philanthropic boards, including
the Columbia University board, the Save the Children Foundation, and Concerned Black Men, a
group that seeks to help troubled youth in D.C. He has also been nationally recognized for his
work in the law profession; he was featured in the 2007 edition of The Best Lawyers in America,
and in 2008 he was named by The National Law Journal as one of "The Most 50 Influential
Minority Lawyers in America" as well as by Legal Times for being one of the "Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Past 30 Years."
In late 2007, Holder joined Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign as a senior legal
advisor, and later served as one of three members on Obama's vice-presidential selection
committee.
http://www.biography.com/people/eric-holder-391612#awesm=~oDI6sVmNBTSwGq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Holder
