NAACP to Hold Awards Banquet Honoring NAACP Legend Ms. Carolyn Coleman and Keynote Speaker Congressman G.K. Butterfield

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 24, 2012

For More Information:     Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137

                                         Atty. Jennifer Marsh, Interim Executive Director, 919-682-4700

For Media Assistance:     Rob Stephens, Office Manager, 336-577-9335

NEWS ALERT

NAACP to Hold Medgar Evers Awards Banquet Honoring NAACP Legend Ms. Carolyn Coleman and Featuring Congressman G.K. Butterfield as Speaker

            (RALEIGH) - The Southeast Region V of the NAACP will hold its Annual Medgar Evers Awards Banquet tonight, named in honor of one of the organization's martyrs from Mississippi. Evers was shot and killed by a member of the White Citizen's Council in Jackson, MS on June 12, 1963 when he was serving as a field secretary for the NAACP.

            The banquet will take place in the Raleigh Convention Center (500 S. Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC) in Ballroom C, beginning at 7:30 PM. The Southeast Region of the NAACP is made up of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. 

The NAACP Southeast Region is pleased to have the Honorable G. K Butterfield of North Carolina's 1^st US Congressional District as the keynote speaker for the Awards Banquet.

            This year the Medgar Evers Awards Banquet will honor another NAACP freedom fighter: Ms. Carolyn Coleman. Ms. Coleman currently serves as the first Vice President of the North Carolina NAACP and Secretary for the National NAACP Board of Directors, the governing body for the organization. She is also serving her third term as a Guilford County Commissioner.

            Ms. Coleman has been involved in the NAACP at least since her student activism days at Savannah State University, where she was born. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in history and a minor in economics and sociology. She has done further study at Memphis Theological Seminary and holds the Masters of Science degree in adult education from North Carolina A & T State University. 

Previous to her work as a Commissioner, she served as the Special Assistant to Governor James B. Hunt for eight years. In this position, she advised the Governor on policy, personnel, legislation and concerns pertinent to the minority community. 

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Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.