The National Civil Rights Museum in Downtown Memphis marked its 20-year anniversary Saturday, thanking supporters and visitors with what museum director Beverly Robertson called a "community celebration. Attendees toured the museum at a reduced admission price and enjoyed music, food and remarks from Memphis Mayor AC Wharton and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell.
The National Civil Rights Museum will honor nine with 2011 Freedom Awards , including actors Cicely Tyson and Danny Glover and sports heroes Bill Russell and Alonzo Mourning, as part of the museum's 20th anniversary celebration. The museum also is honoring seven icons of the civil rights movement, including Rainbow/PUSH coalition founder Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Honorees represent environmental and human rights, civil rights and social change and philanthropy and humanitarian work MEMPHIS, Tenn., July 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 2010 Freedom Awards by the National Civil Rights Museum will be presented to Dr. Wangari Maathi of Kenya for environmental and human rights, Dr. Dorothy Cotton for civil rights and social change and Eva Longoria Parker for philanthropy and humanitarianism.
This year's star-studded Freedom Awards ceremony to benefit the National Civil Rights Museum was a success, said Beverly Robertson, the museum's executive director. The recent event at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, which featured 19 honorees, including Usher , Danny Glover, Cicely Tyson and Hill Harper , was "the biggest one yet," Beverly said. "There were ... more than 2,000 people in attendance, 45 new table sponsors from across the country and a red carpet that rivals the Oscars.
The National President of The Links, Incorporated, Dr. Gwendolyn Lee, announced the $1 million grant to the National Civil Rights Museum to support the mission of the museum. "We are pleased to announce that this grant will preserve the legacy of a people and a movement that defined social action and social change across this nation," said Dr. Lee. "With the deaths of Coretta Scott King and Rosa Parks, women who were stalwarts in the Civil Rights Movement, it is the right moment in time for The Links, Incorporated to take this historic step in capturing the contributions of those who paved the way for social and economic justice for African Americans." The funds will be used to establish The Links Incorporated Educational and Cultural Center at the National Civil Rights Museum.
Beverly Robertson and I sat talking in a small meeting room in the bowels of the National Civil Rights Museum on a sunny day last week. Outside, the museum's lobby and gift shop were packed with visitors. In the courtyard, several people were taking photos of the museum's exterior and of friends and family members.
D'Army Bailey, a founder of the National Civil Rights Museum and one of its board's most aggressive critics: At the same time (Hyde) was allegedly discriminating against blacks he was sitting at the head of the table at the museum.
McLemore touted downtown's economic development boom, spurred by projects like the Capital City Convention Center, Old Capitol Green and the Farish Street Entertainment District, and said the civil rights museum holds a natural place in the revitalization. Ben Allen, president of Downtown Jackson Partners, said at the press conference that he has seen figures showing that, with all the residential development downtown in the form of loft apartments and condos, that in 10 years there could be as many as 25,000 people living downtown, tripling traffic on Pearl Street and Pascagoula Street.
Children will be the focus of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday events at the National Civil Rights Museum Saturday and during King's Jan. 16 birthday celebration. On Saturday, the eve of King's actual Jan. 15 birthday (he would be 83), is billed as King Youth Day with events for children scheduled in the museum's Rose Room from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Included is a program by Dr. Joe P. Cornelius called "Hats," using more than a dozen hats to teach about African-American history from slavery to the present.
To: NATIONAL EDITORS Contact: Gwen Harmon of National Civil Rights Museum, +1-901-521- 9699, ext. 241, gharmon@civilrightsmuseum.org
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