2011 Realizing the Dream Events
Legacy Banquet
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Hank Klibanoff (center) and Dr. Samory Pruitt (right) congratulate the recipients of the 2011 Realizing the Dream Awards, from left, Sean Hudson, Horizon Award; Harrison Taylor, Call to Conscience Award; and Bill Lanford (second from right), Mountaintop Award. |
On Jan. 14, the Martin Luther King Jr. Realizing the Dream Committee and the Tuscaloosa Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference hosted the third annual Legacy Banquet. The event pays tribute to those individuals who have made and continue to make significant contributions to the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sean L. Hudson, Harrison L. Taylor and William H. Lanford were presented 2011 Realizing the Dream Awards in three categories.
Hudson, a sophomore majoring in social work and psychology at UA, received the Horizon Award, which is presented to a youth or young adult in the community for demonstrating outstanding vision and hope that promotes social justice, equality and peace.
Taylor, president of the Tuscaloosa City Council, received the Call to Conscience Award. The award is presented to an individual in the community for demonstrating outstanding leadership and courage that help to establish social justice, equality and peace.
Lanford, CEO, civic leader and former elected city official, received the Mountaintop Award. The lifetime achievement award is presented to an individual in the community who has demonstrated an unyielding commitment to the dream and who, in so doing, has furthered the cause for social justice, equality and peace.
To read more about the award recipients, click here.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hank Klibanoff was the guest speaker for the banquet. Klibanoff grew up witnessing the civil rights movement and the evolution of race relations in the South. Those experiences, along with his 35 years as a newspaper reporter and editor in Mississippi and at the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, were key influences. He also co-wrote “The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation.” The book won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for history. Klibanoff now is the managing editor of the Civil Rights Cold Case Project (www.coldcases.org) and is the James M. Cox Jr. Professor of Journalism at Emory University in Atlanta.
22nd Annual Realizing the Dream Concert
Featured Performers: The Alabama Symphony Orchestra with guest conductor Michael Morgan
Daniel Bernard Roumain, violinist
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Concert Choir
Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011
7:30 p.m., Concert Hall of Moody Music Building
Funding provided by the Gloria Narramore Moody Foundation.
SCLC Unity Day Activities – January 17, 2011
Unity Breakfast – 7 a.m. – Stillman College, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Speaker: Rev. Schmitt Moore, pastor, Beulah Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Unity March – Noon – The march will originate at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, and will proceed to Tuscaloosa City Hall.
Mass Rally – 6 p.m. – First African Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Speaker: Rev. Frank Kennedy, Sr., pastor, Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church, Northport, Ala.
Performing Arts Presentation
“The Miracle Worker”
Theatre Tuscaloosa
Feb. 4-13, 2011
7:30 p.m., Bean Brown Theatre, Shelton State Martin Campus
Distinguished Lecture Series
Dr. Linda Royster Beito
Associate professor and chair of the social sciences department at Stillman College
Book: “Black Maverick: T.R.M. Howard’s Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power”
Beito co-authored the book with her husband, Dr. David T. Beito, professor of history at The University of Alabama.
Feb. 22, 2011
7 p.m., Stinson Auditorium, Stillman College Campus