Featured performances by Faith Hill and Oleta Adams at Ceremony
By The National Civil Rights Museum

"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 whitesenvironmental 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

"To young people who don't think education is important, tell them this: I wonder what would've come of me if I hadn't chosen my profession." B. B. King 2008

(Memphis, TN) The National Civil Rights Museum will honor former Vice President Al Gore, for the International Freedom Award, Diane Nash, for the 2008 National Freedom Award and B. B. King for the Lifetime Achievement 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, while King's contribution to the performing and recording arts paved the way for hundreds of musicians after him and positioned the Delta corridor as a economic success for tourism.

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 manmade 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 Awardwinning 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 from Birmingham, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi. Nash also designed the strategy used by the SNCC in the Selma, Alabama "Right to Vote" campaign, and was an important organizer for the 1963 campaign in Birmingham. She spent 30 days in a South Carolina jail after protesting segregation in Rock 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 the Southside of Chicago but ended up in Nashville, TN at Fisk as one of the movements most dynamic young leaders is astounding, while just a few miles away in Carthage, TN, was Al Gore's home. And later Gore moved to Nashville to work as a journalist.

While Ms. Nash was on the front lines of the civil rights movement in this country, Mr. Gore was in Vietnam. Although they started in Tennessee with separate missions, what they did through out their lives, changed the nation and impacted the world. I look forward to hearing their testimonies. And what can you say about the great B. B King? We all grew up with his music that literally transformed the industry into respecting what the blues means for a people. He reminds us that music is a universal language."

2008 Freedom Award Events Tuesday October 28, 2008 The 2008 Freedom Award Public Forum sponsored by International Paper is at 10:00 a.m. at the Temple of Deliverance. 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 Weisel, 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



Former Vice President 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 viewercreated 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 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Gore is the author of An Inconvenient Truth, a bestselling 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 bestselling book Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (1992). He led the ClintonGore 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 in Carthage, Tennessee, and Washington, 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 to Nashville 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 official leader of the Nashville sitins. Inspired by sitins in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Nashville sitins lasted from February to May 1960 and helped desegregate lunch counters in Nashville, 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 whitesonly 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 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 in Nashville 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 from Birmingham, Alabama, to Jackson, Mississippi. Nash also designed the strategy used by the SNCC in the Selma, Alabama "Right to Vote" campaign, and was an important organizer for the 1963 campaign in Birmingham. Nash was arrested dozens of times for her activities and spent 30 days in a South Carolina jail after protesting segregation in Rock 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 in Jackson, 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.



B.B. King Lifetime Achievement Award sponsored by FedEx

B. B. King arrived in Memphis for the first time in 1946 to work as a musician, but after a few months of hardship he left, going back to Mississippi. There he decided to prepare himself better for the next visit and returned to Memphis two years later. Initially he worked at the local R&B radio channel WDIA as a singer. In 1949, he began recording songs under contract with Los Angelesbased RPM Records. Many of King's early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. King was also a disc jockey in Memphis, Tennessee, where he gained the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy", later shortened to "B. B."

In the 1950s, B. B. King became one of the most important names in R&B music, amassing an impressive list of hits. In June 2006, a groundbreaking was held for a new

B. B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi. The center opened on September 13, 2008 and is dedicated to offering Delta young people hope.

The proposed educational, cultural and character development programming will take the form of classes, mentoring, interactive exhibits and B.B. King could not find in the Mississippi of his youth.

          • On December 15, 2006, President George W. Bush awarded King the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

          • In 2004, he was awarded an honorary Ph.D from the University of Mississippi and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music awarded him the Polar Music Prize, for his "significant contributions to the blues".

          • King was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1990.

          • He was officially inducted 1987 into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame King was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.

          • As of 2006, he has won 14 Grammy Awards, of which nine have been the Grammy award for Best Traditional Blues Album

          • King was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995.



Freedom Award Entertainers

Faith Hill

Over the course of her career Faith has endeared herself to those that she's met and she's been called upon by others to take part in some of the world's most prestigious events. She's been fortunate enough to perform at just about every major awards show, including multiple appearances at The Academy Awards. She's performed the National Anthem at Super Bowl XXXIV and performed live from Rome for "Live8." She wasted no time in accepting the opportunity to perform on "America: A Tribute To Heroes," the groundbreaking cross networked effort to raise money to benefit the rescue workers and victims of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon and immediately after Hurricane Katrina appeared on NBC's "A Concert for Hurricane Relief."

Hill has been honored by the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music, the Grammy Awards, the American Music Awards and the People's Choice Awards. Her Soul2Soul II Tour 2006 with husband McGraw became the highestgrossing country tour of all time. In 2001 she was named one of the "30 Most Powerful Women in America" by Ladies Home Journal.

Her focus changed to charitable endeavors in 2005. In the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina, Hill and her husband, who was raised in Louisiana, joined groups taking supplies to Gulfport, Mississippi. The two also hosted several charity concerts to benefit those who were displaced by the storm. Later in the year the couple established the Neighbor's Keeper Foundation, which provides funding for community charities to assist with basic humanitarian services in the event of a natural disaster or for desperate personal circumstances.



Oleta Adams

Since the runaway success of her 1990 debut album Circle of One (which went Platinum), and the impassioned hit single "Get Here" (the Brenda Russell composition that became an unofficial anthem of the 1991 Gulf War) Oleta Adams has inspired a growing legion of fans in the U.S. and Europe with journeys of the heart via songs that draw deeply from her roots in gospel, while crossing effortlessly into the realms of soul, R&B, urban, and popular music.

Her success, nurtured by worldwide tours with Tears for Fears, Phil Collins, Michael Bolton, and Luther Vandross, has been solidified by four Grammy nominations and a seemingly bottomless well of creative energy.

With seven CDs, which includes secular, gospel, and a Christmas album, and a new secular release scheduled for 2008, worldwide acclaim and over twoand ahalf million albums sold, Oleta's musical odyssey continues ? spiritually and creatively. For this consummate artist composerproducermusician, many goals remain on the horizon.

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