Human Rights Award Will be Presented April 4 at The U of M
For release: April 1, 2003
For press information, contact Gabrielle Maxey

The University of Memphis will present this year's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Award to Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks. The presentation ceremony will begin at 9:30 a.m. Friday, April 4, in the Michael D. Rose Theatre. The presentation will be followed by a symposium on "Environmental Racism."

The award recognizes an individual whose activities exemplify non-violent leadership in the pursuit of social justice and human rights.

An ordained minister and former executive director of the NAACP, Hooks was the first black person appointed to a judgeship in Tennessee and first black member of the Federal Communications Commission. He has long been a voice on behalf of the principles of political and civil rights.

Hooks is a distinguished adjunct professor of political science and history at The U of M. He has donated his papers dealing with the civil rights struggle to the University, where they are part of the Benjamin Hooks Institute for Social Change.

The keynote speaker for the symposium will be Dr. Robert D. Bullard, Ware professor of sociology and director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. Bullard is the author of Racism and the Environment, a textbook used at The U of M.

A panel discussion will follow with Maquita Bradshaw and Balinda Moore. Among their topics will be the Defense Depot and Velsicol Chemical Corp. The moderator will be Dr. Benjamin Marquez of the political science department at the University of Wisconsin.

A discussion luncheon will follow in the University Center Ballroom.

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