Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 1-26-18

Feature
Award Recipients Chosen For NAACP Annual Freedom Fund Banquet
BY IRIS B. HOLTON
Sentinel City Editor
On Thursday, February 8th, members of the commu- nity will gather at the Hilton Tampa Downtown for the An- nual NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner. The dinner is slated to begin at 6 p.m.
This year, the organization will celebrate its 100th An- niversary and will hold the dinner during Black History Month for the first time in its history. The dinner is the or- ganization’s largest fundraiser of the year. Usually held in the fall, it was postponed last year as a result of the damage caused by Hurricane Irma.
The organization has se- lected “Steadfast and Im- movable” as its theme. The Chairman and Co-Chairman of the dinner are Ms. Yvette Lewis and Joe Robinson, President and Second Vice President, respectively. At- torney Tom Scarritt, Jr., is this year’s Honorary Chair- man.
Rev. Larry J. Mouton, Jr., Senior Pastor of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church will deliver the keynote address.
Award Recipients This year, Michael Dozier has been chosen as the recipient of the Living Bridges Award. This award is presented to an individual who has dedicated years of time and energy to the com- munity. He or she has consis- tently worked to improve the community alone and in con-
junction with others.
MS. YVETTE LEWIS
... Freedom Fund Dinner Chairman and President, Hillsborough County
Branch NAACP
Six community members have been selected as recipi- ents of the “Unsung Hero Award.” They are as follows: Ms. Mary M. James, W. E. B. DuBose Unsung Hero Award; Thaddeus Bullard, Rev. Hosea Williams Unsung Hero Award; and Pastor Tom Jones, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Unsung Hero Award.
Ms. Connie Burton is the recipient of the Fannie Lou Hamer Unsung Hero Award. Fannie Lou Hamer was a voting rights activist, a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, and phi- lanthropist.
Two local businesses will be awarded the Madame C. J. Walker Unsung Hero Award. The recipients are Rechi Butler and Carl “Ice Cream” Waltower.
The National Association for the Advancement of Col- ored People, (NAACP), was
REV. LARRY J. MOUTON, JR. Keynote Speaker
established in February 1909 in New York City. Its founders, an interracial group of activists, created the organ- ization to address issues per- taining to people of color, partially in response to the 1908 Springfield race riot in Illinois.
Its members included:
Mary White Ovington, Henry Moskowitz, William English Walling, Oswald Garrison Villard, along with African Americans W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida Wells Barnett, Archibald Grimke and Mary Church Terrell.
In February 1917, W. E. B. Du Bois came to Tampa to organize the Tampa Branch. He signed up 110 members, and its first presi- dent was Daniel W. Perkins, Esq.
For more information about the dinner, contact the Hillsborough County Branch NAACP at (813) 234-8683 or visit the website at www.hills- boroughnaacp.org.
MS. MARY M. JAMES W. E. B. DuBose Unsung Hero Award Recipient
CARL WALTOWER Madame C. J. Walker Unsung Hero Award Recipient
PASTOR TOM JONES Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Unsung Hero Award Recipient
MICHAEL DOZIER Living Bridges Award Recipient
RECHI BUTLER Madame C. J. Walker Unsung Hero Award Recipient
THADDEUS BULLARD Rev. Hosea Williams Unsung Hero Award Recipient
MS. CONNIE BURTON Fannie Lou Hamer Unsung Hero Award Recipient
PAGE 2-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2018