Lois Reckitt named 2024 Gerda Haas Award Recipient
The HHRC is delighted to announce that Lois Galgay Reckitt is the 2024 recipient of the Gerda Haas Award for Excellence in Human Rights Education and Leadership. Our community will honor Lois posthumously at our Annual Meeting on September 5th, 2024.
Gerda Haas, founding visionary of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine, has inspired many with her passion for human rights education. A Holocaust survivor originally from Germany, Gerda learned that students were not being taught about the Holocaust in Maine schools. She not only identified a critical educational void, she took action to rectify it. The HHRC welcomes the opportunity to recognize and honor an individual who, like Gerda Haas, has demonstrated excellence and initiative in human rights education and leadership. Former recipients of the award include: Corey Hinton, Mary Bonauto, Grace Valenzuela, Rachel Talbot Ross, Richard Blanco, Christopher Meyers Asch, Pious Ali, ILAP, Tim Wilson, and Betsy Parsons.
Says Tam Huynh, Executive Director of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center, “We are honored to recognize and celebrate Lois Reckitt’s extraordinary life dedicated to strengthening equal rights and protections for women. Passionate, brilliant and undeterred, Lois founded and led organizations to address inequities and needs, spoke out against bias, and served for six years in the state legislature. She is a model of determination, generosity, and unwavering commitment. This award is meant to inspire the next generation with optimism and action: qualities Lois exhibited in every aspect of her life. We look forward to honoring Lois at our 2024 Annual Meeting on September 5th—and hope you will join us.”
Lois Reckitt was known as a powerful activist for women, working on behalf of oppressed, vulnerable and marginalized people throughout her adult life—indeed right up until her death. Lois was committed to making sure that all people were treated with respect and dignity. And she would say that there is still much work to be done in making sure that all people are treated fairly and that equality and safety are afforded to all persons.
From 1984 to 1987, Lois served as executive vice president of the National Organization for Women in Washington, D.C. and then deputy director of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a political action committee that she had co-founded in 1980. Back in Maine, Lois became co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the Maine Coalition for Human Rights, the Maine Women’s Lobby, and the first Maine chapter of the National Organization for Women. She established the Family Crisis Shelter in Portland and successfully lobbied to protect victims of domestic abuse, leading to the passage of several bills. Lois was inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998. She served in the Maine House of Representatives from 2016 until her death in 2023 where she fought to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in the Maine Constitution.
To learn more and purchase tickets to the HHRC Annual Meeting, visit www.hhrcmaine.org.