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Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. State Commission Presents Annual Celebration
M.L. King Jr. Citizenship Award and Essay and Visual Art Contest Winners to be presented
FRANKFORT, Ky. —The Martin Luther King Jr. State Commission will present its Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. State Celebration on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, 100 West Broadway, Frankfort, Ky. beginning at 4 p.m. EST. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Dream, Act, Inspire.”
Donald W. Smith, superintendent of Marion County Schools, will be the featured keynote speaker for this year’s event. Smith began his career in public education in 1994 at Dunbar High School in Lexington. A former head football coach at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Smith is one of seven members of the Kentucky Commissioner of Education’s Superintendents Advisory Committee and a member of Governor Steve Beshear’s Graduate Kentucky initiative.
During the celebration, the Commission will present the annual Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Citizenship Award. This award is given each year to an individual who embodies the spirit and energy of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a great American civil rights leader, religious patriot and winner of the Nobel Peace prize. The 2011 award will be presented to Raoul Cunningham, president of the NAACP Louisville Branch.
Cunningham became active in civil rights in 1961 and, as a student at Howard University, he volunteered for the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. He was elected president of the Louisville branch of the NAACP in 2004. Cunningham was inducted into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame in 2003 and received the city of Louisville’s Martin Luther King Freedom Award in 2006.
Nominees for the Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Citizenship Award were evaluated on their demonstrated leadership and achievement in the areas of racial equality, interracial harmony, economic justice, participation in the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday observances and dedication to Dr. King’s dream.
The Commission will also award U.S. Savings Bonds to 18 elementary, middle and high school students who were selected as winners of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay Contest and/or Visual Art Contest.
The event is free and open to the public.
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