Reverend Dr. C. Robert Finch, Presiding Elder

Mrs. Mary T. Jones, Gala Chair Person                                Mrs. Gwen Fugh Dillihunt, Event Coordinator

NEWS RELEASE

                                                Contact:   Florence Howard, 901-827-0836

                                                                            Rev. C. Robert Finch, 901-832-4626

 PRESIDING ELDER FINCH, FOUNDER OF

AFRICAN AMERICAN LEGACY AWARDS,

EXPLAINS CONCEPT

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – April 4, 2011) – Presiding Elder of the North Memphis District of the AME Church, Rev. C. Robert Finch said that he started the Legacy Awards in 2007 with the understanding that there were pioneers, trailblazers and persons in the city who had made significant contributions to the Civil Rights Movement whose works should not be forgotten. 

 “There are those who said, ‘what are you going to do once you do the heavy hitters like Benjamin Hooks.’   Well, we did honor those heavy hitters in the first year and each year we find more people who have not been recognized,” said Finch.

 On Friday, April 8, at the Fifth Annual African American Legacy Awards, the North Memphis District of the AME Church will recognize a divers group of 13 pioneers and trailblazers of the civil and human rights movements.  Dr. Jerome V. Harris, executive director of the AMEC Department of Annuity Investment and Insurance, will serve as the before dinner speaker for the gala which begins at 6:30 p.m. at Memphis Marriott East, 2625 Thousand Oaks Blvd.  Dr. Christopher P. Davis, senior pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church on Holmes Road in Whitehaven, and Rev. Linda Willis, pastor of New Life in Christ Fellowship Church in Southaven, are emcees for the evening.   Entertainment will be provided by Alfred Rudd and Company with special guest Miss Ruby Wilson. For ticket information, call (901) 626-6070. 

Honorees for 2011 are: 

·    Ekundayo Bandele, founder/executive director of Hattiloo Theatre, set designer, director, author, and playwright;

·    Rev. Benjamin Booker, Presiding Elder Emeritus of the North Memphis District of the AME Church who marched with Dr. H. Ralph Jackson, Dr. Henry Logan Starks and Dr. Martin Luther King;

·    Michael Floyd, Esq., managing attorney for the Michael G. Floyd Law Office in Memphis who protested numerous violations of civil and human rights in New York, Philadelphia, Greensboro and Memphis;

·    Evander Ford, LeMoyne College student who participated in 1960 Memphis Student Sit-in and was denied his degree as a result, received his degree from LeMoyne-Owen College in 2004;

·    Onie Johns, co-founder of the Caritas Community and founder of The Caritas Village community center which seeks to break downs walls of hostility between the races, build bridges between the rich and poor  and to provide a positive alternative to the streets for neighborhood children;

·    Johnny Jones III, a trailblazer from Munford (Tenn.) who played football at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (under the leadership of Coach John Majors) and  in the Canadian League;

·    Myron Lowery, chairman of the Memphis City Council and former Memphis Mayor Pro Tem;

·    Beverly Nicholson, former liaison to the United Nations who was instrumental assisting the wives of 1968 striking sanitation workers;

·    Elmore Nickleberry, one of the 1300 striking sanitation workers (1968) and among the few still employed by the Sanitation Department, serves as a focal point for the award-winning “I Am A Man” movie (2009);

·    Deanie Parker, singer/songwriter for Stax Records who later served as president of Soulsville Foundation, executive producer of the “I Am A Man” movie/documentary about 1968 Sanitation Strike;

·    Glenwood Roane Sr., Esq. of the Glenwood P. Roane Law Office, who was involved in fighting civil rights cases in Virginia prior to moving to Memphis

·    The Honorable Judge Tarik Sugarmon, a youthful trailblazer who was among the second group of students to integrate Peabody Elementary School in 1962.

·    Jocelyn Dan Wurzburg, J.D., an attorney and longtime human rights activist who organized a march on City Hall to assist sanitation workers in 1968, founder of Memphis Panel of American Women.

 A general officer in the national office of the African Episcopal Methodist Church (AMEC) and a Memphis resident, Dr. Harris is a graduate of Omega Senior Management Commercial School of Banking of San Francisco, Alabama State University and the School of Banking at Louisiana State University.  Previously with Regions Bank, he also holds an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.

 Rev. Finch’s is one of two districts that make up the West Tennessee Conference of the 13th District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.  The North Memphis District, which embraces “a more excellent way” in its overall ministry, comprises 22 churches in Memphis and West Tennessee, has 4,500 members and is 142 years old.

 The North Memphis District of the AME Church is headquartered at 2673 Colony Park Drive. Other gala committee members are Rev. Finch, Gwen Fugh-Dillihunt, Mary T. Jones, Rev. Dave L. Adams Sr., Rev. I. W. Booker and Rev. Kirk Ridley Sr. 

Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie is presiding bishop of the 13^th District which includes both Tennessee and Kentucky.

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