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For immediate release
December 17, 2008 |
Washington, D.C.—Georgetown University will award the seventh annual “John Thompson Legacy of a Dream Award” to Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund. Edelman will receive the award in honor of her work to better the lives of others during the annual “Let Freedom Ring” Concert to be held at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Monday, January 19, 2009 at 6 p.m.
“This award recognizes those who have shown the courage and determination to promote compassion and create social change in the way Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned,” says Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia. “A lifelong advocate for disadvantaged Americans, Marian Wright Edelman embodies our vision for this award. We are proud to honor her unceasing efforts to champion policies and programs that lift children out of poverty, protect them from abuse and neglect, and ensure their access to health care, quality education, and a moral and spiritual foundation.”
“I am deeply honored and humbled to receive Georgetown’s ‘Legacy of a Dream’ award,” Mrs. Edelman said. “Celebrating Dr. King’s life this year has special poignancy and promise with the election of our first African American President. President-elect Obama, and we, must now make sure that the hopefulness of this moment will see meat put on its bones: health care for all 9 million uninsured children and a pipeline to college?not to prison?for the 13 million children living in poverty in our rich nation.”
A graduate of Spelman College and Yale Law School, Marian Wright Edelman began her career in the mid-'60s when, as the first Black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar, she directed the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund office in Jackson, Miss. In l968, she moved to Washington, D.C., as counsel for the Poor People's Campaign that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. began organizing before his death. She founded the Washington Research Project, a public interest law firm and the parent body of the Children's Defense Fund. For two years she served as the director of the Center for Law and Education at Harvard University and in 1973 founded CDF.
Edelman is the author of nine books, including this year’s “The Sea is So Wide and My Boat is So Small: Charting a Course for the Next Generation” and #1 New York Times bestseller, “The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours.” She has also received many honorary degrees and awards including the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Prize, the Heinz Award, a Niebuhr Award and a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship. In 2000, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award for her writings.
Every year during the Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration week, the University presents the “Legacy of a Dream Award” to an individual or organization whose contributions to community service or social justice reflect the values and ideals upheld by Dr. King. The award and activities are part of the University’s ongoing "Let Freedom Ring" initiative honoring Dr. King’s legacy.
The first "Legacy of a Dream Award" was presented in 2003 to John Thompson, Coach Emeritus of Georgetown men's basketball team, in honor of his service to the community and dedication to the values of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Past awardees include Colin and Alma Powell (2004), William H. Gray III of the United Negro College Fund (2005), Rosa Parks, who received the award posthumously (2006), the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (2007) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) who received the award in 2008.
About Georgetown’s Let Freedom Ring Initiative
Georgetown University’s annual Let Freedom Ring Initiative honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through a series of academic, artistic, and extracurricular programs that examine Dr. King's life and work and address the contemporary challenges our nation faces in order to fulfill his dream of justice and equality for all people. For a complete listing of the week's events, visit http://mlk.georgetown.edu.
About Georgetown University
Georgetown University is the oldest and largest Catholic and Jesuit university in America, founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. Georgetown today is a major student-centered, international, research university offering respected undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in Washington, D.C., Doha, Qatar and around the world. For more information about Georgetown University, visit www.georgetown.edu.
