2008 Freedom Award Honors Al Gore and Diane Nash for 'A Climate of Change'

'We Americans write our own history. And the chapters of which we're proudest are the ones where we had the courage to change. Time and again, Americans have seen the need for change, and have taken the initiative to bring that change to life.' Vice President Al Gore, 1996

'We had the goal of desegregating lunch counters and we did that; the problems that we now face threaten both blacks and whites -- environmental pollution, nuclear threats. Once you change yourself, the rest of society has to fit against you. The people as a whole need to see themselves in charge and take matters into their own hands.' Diane Nash, 2003

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Civil Rights Museum will honor former Vice President Al Gore, for the International Freedom Award and Diane Nash, for the 2008 National Freedom Award.

This year's theme, "A Climate of Change" personifies the individual sacrifices, influence and awareness of both Gore and Nash as creating lasting impressions on America and globally.

In 2007, Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (together with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) for "efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." He is also the author of the 2006 text, An Inconvenient Truth on the topic of global warming and starred in the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, released in conjunction with the book. He helped to organize the July 7, 2007 benefit concert for global warming, Live Earth.

In April 1960 Nash helped to found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), in 1961, she took over responsibility for the Freedom Rides fromBirmingham, Alabama toJackson, Mississippi. Nash also designed the strategy used by the SNCC in theSelma, Alabama "Right to Vote" campaign, and was an important organizer for the 1963 campaign inBirmingham. She spent 30 days in aSouth Carolina jail after protesting segregation inRock Hill in February 1961. President John F. Kennedy, appointed her to a national committee that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Museum President Beverly Robertson said Gore's and Nash's contribution to creating a better way of life for all people will be a powerful experience this year, "The mere fact that Diane Nash was born and raised on theSouthside ofChicago but ended up inNashville, TN at Fisk as one of the movements most dynamic young leaders is astounding, while just a few miles away inCarthage, TN, was Al Gore's home. And later Gore moved toNashville to work as a journalist. While Ms. Nash was on the front lines of the civil rights movement in this country, Mr. Gore was inVietnam. Although they started inTennessee with separate missions, what they did through out their lives, changed the nation and impacted the world. I look forward to hearing their testimonies."

2008 Freedom Award Events -- Tuesday October 28, 2008

The 2008 Freedom Award Public Forum sponsored by International Paper is at 10:30 a.m. at the Temple of Deliverance; Public Forum emcee is television and screen actress and recording artist Raven Symone; free to the public.

Freedom Award Ceremony,Memphis Convention Center at 6:30 p.m.; tickets are $200 per person with sponsorship tables for 10 ranging from $2,000 to $35,000.

Major event sponsors are International Paper, Hyde Family Foundation, FedEx, ExxonMobil and Harrah's Entertainment.

Past recipients include Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Bill Clinton, Bono, John Lewis, Oprah Winfrey, Ruby Dee, Stevie Wonder, Elie Wiesel, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Jimmy Carter, Colin Powell, Benjamin Hooks, Maxine Smith, Desmond Tutu, Mikhail Gorbachev, John Hope Franklin and Earvin Magic Johnson.

The National Civil Rights Museum, located at the Lorraine Motel, assassination site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., chronicles key episodes of the American civil rights movement and the legacy of this movement to inspire participation in civil and human rights efforts globally, through our collections, exhibitions, and educational programs.

www.civilrightsmuseum.org

The Honorable Albert Gore

International Freedom Award sponsored by the Hyde Family Foundation

Former Vice President Al Gore is cofounder and Chairman of Generation Investment Management, a firm that is focused on a new approach to Sustainable Investing.

Gore is also cofounder and Chairman of Current TV, an independently owned cable and satellite television network for young people based on viewer-created content and citizen journalism. A member of the Board of Directors of Apple Computer, Inc. and a Senior Advisor to Google, Inc. Gore is also Visiting Professor at Middle Tennessee State University inMurfreesboro, Tennessee.

Gore is the author of An Inconvenient Truth, a best-selling book on the threat of and solutions to global warming, and the subject of the movie of the same title, which has already become one of the top documentary films in history. In 2007, An Inconvenient Truth was awarded two Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song.

Since his earliest days in the U. S. Congress 30 years ago, Al Gore has been the leading advocate for confronting the threat of global warming. His pioneering efforts were outlined in his best-selling book Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (1992). He led the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to protect the environment in a way that also strengthens the economy.

Al Gore was born on March 31, 1948, the son of former U.S. Senator Albert Gore, Sr. and Pauline Gore. Raised inCarthage, Tennessee, andWashington, D.C., he received a degree in government with honors from Harvard University in 1969. After graduation, he volunteered for enlistment in the U.S. Army and served in the Vietnam War, and later Gore moved toNashville to work as a journalist where he and his wife Tipper live today.

Ms. Diane Nash

National Freedom Award sponsored by International Paper

In 1960 at age 22, Diane Nash became the unofficial leader of theNashville sit-ins. Inspired by sit-ins inGreensboro, North Carolina, theNashville sit-ins lasted from February to May 1960 and helped desegregate lunch counters inNashville, Tennessee.

After being arrested, Nash, with John Lewis, led the protesters in a policy of refusing to pay bail, on principle. Sentenced to pay a $50 fine for sitting at a whites-only lunch counter, Nash was chosen to represent her fellow activists when she told the judge, "We feel that if we pay these fines we would be contributing to and supporting the injustice and immoral practices that have been performed in the arrest and conviction of the defendants."

When Nash provocatively asked the mayor on the steps of City Hall, "Do you feel it is wrong to discriminate against a person solely on the basis of their race or color?" The mayor admitted that he did and within a few weeks, six lunch counters inNashville were serving blacks.

In April 1960 Nash helped to found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and quit school to lead its direct action wing. In 1961, she took over responsibility for the Freedom Rides fromBirmingham, Alabama, toJackson, Mississippi.

Nash also designed the strategy used by the SNCC in theSelma, Alabama "Right to Vote" campaign, and was an important organizer for the 1963 campaign inBirmingham. Nash was arrested dozens of times for her activities and spent 30 days in aSouth Carolina jail after protesting segregation inRock Hill in February 1961.

In 1962, although she was four months pregnant, she was sentenced to two years in prison for teaching nonviolent tactics to children inJackson, Mississippi, where she and husband James Bevel were living, but was released on appeal after serving a shorter term.

President, John F. Kennedy, appointed her to a national committee that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She worked for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King, Jr. 1961 to 1965, serving as an organizer, strategist, field staff person, race-relations staff person and workshop instructor. In 1965, Martin Luther King gave the SCLC's highest award, the Rosa Parks Award, to Diane Nash and James Bevel.

In 2003, Nash received the "Distinguished American Award" from the John F. Kennedy Library and Foundation, and in 2004, the LBJ Award for Leadership in Civil Rights from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.

CONTACT: Gwen Harmon, +1-901-521-9699, ext. 241, +1-901-331-6374, gharmon@civilrightsmuseum.org

SOURCE National Civil Rights Museum

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