The National Civil Rights Museum remembered several civil rights icons who died this year, honoring them during its 35th annual Freedom Award ceremony.
The ceremony, held at the Orpheum Theatre on Oct. 1, celebrated people who have made "significant contributions" to civil and human rights. In addition to modern-day leaders, the museum paid tribute to several past recipients of the award.
The ceremony recognized Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Gloria Steinem, Clara Ester and Dolly Parton as part of its memorial tribute. Jackson, LaFayette and Steinem are past recipients of the Freedom Award.
Jackson fought for civil rights alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and ran for president two times. The museum's tribute to Jackson called
him a "towering figure in the American civil rights movement." He received the Freedom Award in 2018.
LaFayette was an important strategist in the civil rights movement and helped coordinate the 1960 sit-ins. He was also part of the Freedom Rides and the 1965 Selma movement, and taught nonviolence as a method for social change. He received the Freedom Award in 2012.
Steinem was a writer, organizer and activist who co-founded the Women's Action Alliance and National Women's Political Caucus. Steinem helped transform the women's rights movement, the museum's tribute read. She received the Freedom Award in 2019.
Ester was an activist who was involved in the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike and served as a youth organizer for the Second Poor People's Campaign in Marks, Mississippi. Ester was on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel when Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot.
Parton was a "beloved singer" and a "global icon and humanitarian," the museum's tribute read, who helped deliver books to millions of children through her Imagination Library program. During a tribute video played at the ceremony, the museum noted Parton's reluctance to call her work activism, and that she "just did it."
Past honorees have also included Coretta Scott King, Nelson Mandela, John Lewis, Oprah Winfrey, Stacey Abrams, and Spike Lee.
This year's honorees were Shavon Arline-Bradley, president and CEO of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW); Fred Gray, a civil rights attorney who represented Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; Bakari Sellers, an author, attorney, and political commentator; and Nneka Ogwumike, a power forward for the Los Angeles Sparks and the 2016 WNBA MVP.
Jack Armstrong covers breaking news and the environment for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at jack.armstrong@commercialappeal.com and followed on X @jca2902.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Jesse Jackson, Dolly Parton among late icons honored at Freedom Award
