MEDIA ADVISORY
February 12, 2015
Contact: Jenny Bencomo at (502) 583-5314 or jbencomo@loubar.org
Louisville Bar to Recognize Local Civil Rights Trailblazers
LOUISVILLE – On Thursday, February 26, the Louisville Bar Association’s Diversity Committee will hold a reception to honor two civil rights advocates for their contributions to the promotion of racial diversity and justice within the legal community and beyond.
Raoul Cunningham and Georgia Davis Powers will be presented with the late Justice William E. McAnulty Jr. Trailblazer Award, named for the first African-American to serve on the Kentucky Supreme Court. Both Cunningham and Powers have a long history of dedication to the civil rights movement.
Cunningham, president of the Louisville branch of the NAACP, has been working for civil rights in several capacities since the age of 14; as a young man he helped register black voters and recruited other young people to picket many downtown Louisville establishments that refused to serve African-Americans. He’s been involved in government and politics for many years, and as part of his better-government efforts, managed a successful campaign to elect Georgia Davis Powers to the Kentucky Senate.
Powers, vice-president of the Louisville branch of the NAACP, has been a pioneer for both civil rights and gender issues. In 1968 she became the first African-American and first woman elected to the Kentucky Senate, a position she held for 21 years. In 1995, New Horizon Press published her memoir, “I Shared the Dream: The Pride, Passion, and Politics of the First Black Woman Senator from Kentucky,” in which she details her personal relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
During the program, Central High School Law & Government essay contest winners and the recipient of this year’s Legal Opportunity Scholarship will also be recognized.
The program, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 4:30 p.m. at the Louisville Bar Center, 600 West Main St., Ste. 110. Reservations are encouraged. For additional information about the program or to make a reservation, please contact Marisa Motley at (502) 583-5314 or mmotley@loubar.org.
About the Louisville Bar Association
The Louisville Bar Association is Kentucky’s oldest continuously operating bar association and is among the 40 largest local bars in the country with over 3,000 members and subscribers. The association’s mission is to promote justice and professional excellence and respect for the law, improve public access to the judicial system, provide law-related services to the community, and serve its members.
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