Tafeni English

Tafeni L. English is the director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Alabama state office. A native of Alabama, she builds partnerships with local communities to advance the SPLC’s mission to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people.

Earlier, English served as the director of the SPLC’s Civil Rights Memorial Center (CRMC), responsibilities she retains in her current role. The CRMC is an interpretive center in Montgomery, Alabama, which provides visitors with a deeper understanding of the civil rights movement. As CRMC director, she has traveled across the country to speak to community and youth groups about ways to fight systemic racism and usher in social change for justice, equity, accessibility and inclusion for all.

English first joined the SPLC in 1997 as a research analyst for its Intelligence Project, which monitors hate groups and other far-right extremists. She later served as the first director of the Mix It Up at Lunch Day program. Developed by the SPLC’s Teaching Tolerance program, now Learning for Justice, Mix It Up encourages schoolchildren to identify, question and cross social boundaries by sitting with someone new in the school cafeteria.

English later worked for another Montgomery-based civil rights organization before returning to the SPLC in 2019. She has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Troy University, where she also earned a master’s degree in counseling and psychology.