Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights Dinner Committee Members
On June 1, 2017, The Lawyers’ Committee For Civil Rights Under Law hosted it 17th Annual Corporate Leadership Award Dinner. This year, Cipriani Wall Street was the venue of choice and over 800 distinguished guests gathered for the celebration. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights or Lawyers’ Committee, is a civil rights organization founded in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy.
Laz Alonso
The celebration kicked off with a VIP reception where guests mixed-and-mingled generously. In attendance were Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and other notables.
Opening remarks at the gala were given by Lawyers’ Committee National Spokesman Hill Harper, an Award-winning actor, and bestselling author, and the evening’s Co-Emcee, Laz Alonso, a film and television actor.
Soothing evening entertainment was provided by the Mike King Trio and a graceful solo was performed by acclaimed recording artist, producer, and educator Candice Hoyes.
The pre-dinner invocation was given by Eboni Marshall Turman, Ph.D., scholar, preacher and activist.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Senior Advisor to The Rock Creek Group and Former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland (left) and Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee For Civil Rights, present Congressman John Lewis (center) with the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Prize.
Dinner highlights garnered a presentation by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Senior Advisor to The Rock Creek Group and Former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, of the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Prize to Honoree Congressman John Lewis. Afterward, Lewis gave insight into his life growing up as a youngster in Alabama and shared poignant memories of from his lifetime. The A. Leon Higginbotham Corporate Leadership Award to Craig Menear, Chairman, CEO & President, The Home Depot. and the presentation of the A. Leon Higginbotham Corporate Award was presented
The A. Leon Higginbotham Corporate Leadership Award was presented to Craig Menear, Chairman, CEO & President, The Home Depot by Teresa Wynn Rosenborough and Mark Wasserman, Dinner Co-Chairs. Afterward, Menear gave acceptance remarks.
John Lewis was born February 21, 1940, just outside of Troy, Alabama, John R. Lewis was the son of Alabama sharecroppers. At that time African Americans in the South were subjected to a humiliating segregation and systematic discrimination and intimidation.
Lewis attended the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee and later earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Religion and Philosophy from Fisk University. As a student his unwavering dynamic influence allowed him to start organizing students and others to join the Civil Rights Movement following the direction of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As the movement gained momentum John Lewis joined the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) that would be at the forefront of the students against Jim Crow in America.
From the Bus Boycott in Montgomery John Lewis continued to find a way to get in the way. He organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee and volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides across the South, challenging segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. He was arrested more than 40 times, attacked by angry mobs, and severely beaten by the police, often for simply sitting in seats reserved for white patrons.
Serving as the president of the SNCC from 1963 to 1966, John Lewis was recognized as one of the “Big Six” leaders of the Civil Rights Movement along with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Whitney Young, A. Phillip Randolph, James Farmer and Roy Wilkins. As a young man, he continued the fight against Jim Crow. Lewis helped coordinate and delivered the Keynote address at the March on Washington in August 1963, where Dr. King’s gave the historical “I Have a Dream” speech.
Since the days of Jim Crow, John Lewis has devoted his life to serving his community and his country. He held his first political office in Atlanta City Hall as an Atlanta city council member in 1982. Four years later in 1986, Lewis was elected as the Representative for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District which encompasses the entire city of Atlanta, and parts of Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties. Often called “one of the most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced,” Congressman John Lewis has dedicated himself to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building what he calls “The Beloved Community” in America. Today, John Lewis lives in Atlanta, Georgia and is the widower of Lillian Miles. He has one son, John Miles.
Craig Menear
Craig Menear was named President of The Home Depot in 2014. He has more than three decades of experience in the retail and hardware home improvement industry, more than half of which have been with the company. With a focus on the extended aisle and uniting our store and dot-com operations, Craig and his team are creating a seamless interconnected retail experience.
During this tenure with The Home Depot, Craig revamped the company’s merchandising operations and strategy, sparking industry-leading product innovation. He and his team also executed one of the most dramatic supply chain transformations in retail history. In 2013, under Craig’s leadership, HomeDepot.com sales grew 50 percent and accounted for $900 million of the company’s total sales growth of $5 billion.
ABOUT THE LAWYERS’ COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is to secure equal justice for all through the rule of law, targeting, in particular, the inequities confronting African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities. The Lawyers’ Committee is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to enlist the private bar’s leadership and resources in combating racial discrimination and the resulting inequality of opportunity – work that continues to be vital today. Learn More at
