Thernstrom's opposition to affirmative action comes from an interesting place -- she is by no means a racist. At one point she was fully a liberal democrat, but used as a tool by Republicans under Ronald Reagan to help achieve their goals of eliminating portions of the Voting Rights Act.
[1] "The Thernstroms in Black and White", The American Prospect, March 2001.Father: (businessman)
Mother: (d. breast cancer)
Husband: Stephan Thernstrom (Harvard professor, b. 1934, m. 1958, two children)
Daughter: Melanie
University: BA, Barnard College
University: PhD Government, Harvard University (1975)
Board of Education Massachusetts State Board of Education
US Commission on Civil Rights Vice Chair
Bush-Cheney '04
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Senior Fellow
Independent Women's Forum Advisory Board
Center for Equal Opportunity Board Member
Center of the American Experiment
Aspen Institute 1992-97
Institute for Justice Board Member
Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research Advisory Board
Cascade Policy Institute Adjunct Scholar
Author of books:
Whose Votes Count: Affirmative Action and Minority Voting Rights (1987)
America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible (1997, with Stephan Thernstrom)
No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning (2003)
AKA Abigail Mann