Deborah Tucker

Deborah D. Tucker is an American activist and executive who founded the first shelter in the United States for victims of domestic violence and their children. In 2014, she was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame.

Work and activism While she was in her twenties, Tucker began volunteer work at the first rape crisis center in Austin, Texas in 1973. Tucker helped to pass the Violence Against Women Act by acting as the founding chair of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. She also participated in the Department of Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence. She served from 2000-2003 as the co-chair of the task force, as appointed by then-president George W. Bush and then-Secretary-of-State Donald Rumsfeld. She currently serves as the executive director of the National Center for Domestic Violence. For her work, Tucker has received numerous honors and awards, including Public Citizen of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers, and the Standing In The Light of Justice Award and the Marshall Domestic Violence Peace Prize both by the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

Further resources A video interview with Deborah Tucker about her work An interview with Deborah Tucker about domestic violence in the military An essay by Tucker about the Violence Against Women Act