TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, outstanding University of Alabama student Kendra Key and the Rev. T.W. Linton, a Tuscaloosa pastor and business owner, will be among those receiving awards this month from the Martin Luther King Jr. Realizing the Dream Committee.
Also among the honorees will be members of the original Realizing the Dream Committee, which was founded in 1990. The founders of the Realizing the Dream effort were members of The University of Alabama and Stillman College as well as community leaders.
The Realizing the Dream Committee is made up of members of The University of Alabama, Shelton State Community College and Stillman College communities. The group will co-host a private banquet with the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16, at the Hotel Capstone. U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., will be the guest speaker.
For information on covering the banquet, contact the committee at 205/348-8376 or send an e-mail to samory.pruitt@ua.edu.
The following individuals will be recognized:
Founders Awards
Cordell Wynn (then-president of Stillman College)
Roger Sayers (then-president of UA)
Scott Bridges (UA)
Sarah Davis (Stillman)
James A. Williams (Stillman)
Mary Jolley (UA)
Harry Knopke (UA)
Malcolm Portera (UA)
Stephen Martin (UA)
John Nettles (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)
Charles Steele (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)
Sustaining the Dream Award
The 2009 Sustaining the Dream Award is presented to individuals and organizations in the community who support the continuing mission of the Realizing the Dream Initiative. This year’s recipients are Mercedes-Benz U.S. International; First Missionary Baptist Church, Anniston, Ala.; and E. Culpepper Clark, formerly of UA and now dean of Grady College at the University of Georgia.
Realizing the Dream Horizon Award
The 2009 Horizon Award is presented to a youth or young adult in the community for demonstrating Outstanding Vision and Hope that promotes social justice, equality and peace. This year, it goes to UA junior political-science major Kendra Key from Tuscaloosa. She is a 2008-2009 Blackburn Institute student chair and received the 2008 Capstone Hero Award.
Realizing the Dream Call to Conscience Award
The Realizing the Dream Call to Conscience Award is presented to an individual in the community for demonstrating outstanding leadership and courage that help to establish social justice, equality and peace. This year’s recipient is Mayor Walt Maddox of Tuscaloosa.
Realizing the Dream Mountaintop Award
The 2009 Mountaintop Award is a lifetime achievement award presented to an individual in the community for demonstrating a lifetime of commitment to the Dream and in so doing has furthered the cause for social justice, equality and peace. This year’s award goes to the Rev. T.W. Linton. Linton is pastor of The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he owns Howard and Linton’s Barber and Beauty Shop. He led marches in 1964 and 1965 during the civil rights movement and was a liaison between segregated businesses and the Tuscaloosa Citizens for Action Committee.
The Realizing the Dream Committee’s mission is to raise consciousness about injustice and promote equality, peace and social justice by creating educational and cultural opportunities for growth, empowerment and social change so that every person may experience the bounty of life’s abundant possibilities.
Contact
Richard LeComte, UA Public Relations, 205/348-3782, rllecomte@advance.ua.edu
Source
Samory T. Pruitt, Vice President for Community Affairs, 205/348-8376, samory.pruitt@ua.edu