Tribune Publisher, Staff Honored by Local Organizations
The New Orleans Tribune and its publisher Beverly McKenna were honored with the African American Leadership Project’s (AALP) Institution of the Year award for outstanding reporting, incisive commentary, and journalistic advocacy for social justice on behalf of those needing a voice.
The award was presented when the AALP, a community-based advocacy, organizing planning, policy and consensus building network recently held its annual Morris F.X. Jeff Jr. Community Service Awards Dinner. The event, named in honor of community leader and activist Morris F.X. Jeff Jr., is held to recognize persons and institutions for their distinguished and exemplary service to the New Orleans community.
Upon accepting the award, McKenna said “there is no greater honor, in our estimation, than to be honored by our own, by those whose struggles we share and whose causes we champion.”
And earlier this month, The New Orleans Tribune’s editor, Anitra Brown, received the Shirley B. Porter President’s Award from the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People at the civil rights organization’s annual Freedom Fund Banquet. Brown was selected by New Orleans NAACP President Danatus King for her journalistic efforts aimed at informing and motivating the community.
“Receiving this honor is humbling and affirming,” Brown said as she received the award. “It’s humbling because I am being honored for simply doing what I love and doing my job. It is affirming because as a journalist, you begin your career hoping to move and motivate, challenge and change. I believe this award means that I have had that impact.”
Dillard University Programs, Personnel, Alumna Land Top Ratings
Dillard University‘s School of Nursing was honored for the second year as “Best Nursing Program” during the annual HBCU Media Awards held at Dillard University on Friday, July 11. The University also garnered awards for “Best Female Alumnus,” Cynthia Butler-McIntyre; and President Walter M. Kimbrough was selected as “HBCU Male President of the Year.”
Founded in 1942, Dillard’s School of Nursing is the first four-year accredited nursing program in the state of Louisiana. At the time of its founding, Dillard’s program was the only collegiate nursing school open to African-Americans in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Mississippi. In 1952, it became the first accredited nursing program in Louisiana. Today, Dillard’s School of Nursing is based in the Professional Schools and Sciences Building, which opened in 2010.
Dillard University President Walter M. Kimbrough, Ph.D., was selected as the “Best Male HBCU President of the Year.” Known as the “Hip Hop Prez” by his more than 9,000 Twitter followers @hiphopprez, Kimbrough has fostered a forward-thinking, student-focused culture on Dillard’s campus and is one of the most dynamic leaders in higher education today. The media has taken notice and Kimbrough has been featured in a myriad of local and national media including, the Times-Picayune, the New Orleans Advocate, the New Orleans Tribune, NPR’s “Tell Me More,” radio show, MSNBC’s Melissa-Harris-Perry Show and Huffington Post Live.
Cynthia Butler-McIntyre, a 1976 Dillard University alumna, immediate past and the 24th national president of Delta Theta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., was selected as “Best Female Alumnus.” Butler-McIntyre is a veteran educator who currently serves as director of human resources for the Jefferson Parish Public School System. She has impacted the lives of countless young people for over 30 years as a teacher, assistant principal, summer school principal and personnel administrator in her school district. Butler-McIntyre often returns to visit her alma mater and always finds ways to give back.
In addition to the HBCU Media Awards, the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference recently announced that Kiki Baker Barnes is the 2013-14 GCAC Athletics Director of the Year.
Barnes recently completed her eighth year in the position at Dillard University. She also serves as GCAC President. She first won the award back in 2010-11.
New Orleans NAACP President Will Step Down Later This Year
Danatus N. King, president of the New Orleans Branch NAACP, recently announced that he is resigning as president of the branch effective at the end of his current term.
King was first elected in November 2004.
King announced that after serving as president for the past 10 years, having twice been reelected without opposition, he is resigning to devote more time to his ministry.
For the past 35 years, King has served as the messenger with the Church of God Almighty. For more than 10 years, his show The Message has aired 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, Cox Cable Orleans and at www.livestream.com/messengerdnk.
In announcing his resignation, King said that a worldwide lecture tour is currently being planned to expand the church’s ministry and it is a task that will prevent him from devoting the time necessary to effectively lead the New Orleans Branch NAACP.
New Orleans African American Historymakers Included in Groundbreaking Archives Move to The Library of Congress
The HistoryMakers, the nation’s largest African American video oral history archive (www.thehistorymakers.com), has become a part of the Library of Congress.
This unique collection of thousands of hours of interviews captures African American life, history and culture as well as the struggles and achievements of the black experience.
The HistoryMakers’ collection comprises 2,600 videotaped interviews with African Americans in 39 states, 380 cities and towns including those in Florida. The interviews, which average three to six hours in length, span across subject areas ranging from science, politics and the military to sports, music and entertainment. It boasts a long list of notables, including President Barack Obama, who was interviewed when he was an Illinois state senator, General Colin Powell, child advocate Marion Wright Edelman, baseball legend Ernie Banks, entertainer/activist Harry Belafonte, poet/writer Maya Angelou, historian Lerone Bennett, Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke, movie producer Reuben Cannon, historian John Hope Franklin, publisher Earl Graves, singer Isaac Hayes, Attorney General Eric Holder, musician B.B. King, poet Nikki Giovanni and actors Diahann Carroll, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
New Orleanians featured in the history archive are: Harold Battiste, Leah Chase, Freddi Evans, Norman Francis, Judge Ivan Lemelle, Ellis Marsalis, Alden McDonald, John “Deacon” Moore, the late Honorable Revius Ortique, Kalamu ya Salaam, Charles Teamer, Irma Thomas, Paul Valteau, Vance Vaucresson, Michel White and Dr. Gloria Jackson Bacon.
