U.S. CONGRESS TO HONOR BLACK PRESS
ON 180TH ANNIVERSARY AT ANNUAL
OBSERVANCE OF BLACK PRESS WEEK

(AANEWSWIRE) Washington, DC--- The U.S. Congress is expected to give special recognition to the Black Press on its 180th anniversary during the annual observance of Black Press Week, March
14-17.

A congressional resolution introduced by the leadership of the Congressional Black
Caucus will be presented to officials of the National Newspaper Publishers Association
Foundation, sponsors of Black Press Week, and the National Newspaper Publishers
Association (NNPA), the trade group for the more than 200 Black newspapers. The
resolution will cite the historic role of the Black Press as the strong, influential voice of the
Black community beginning with the anti-slavery movement and the founding of the first
black newspaper, Freedom™s Journal on March 17, l827.

Major highlights of Black Press Week include the annual Newsmaker of the Year Awards
Dinner on Thursday, March 15, honoring New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, representing
the nation™s continuing concern over the gulf area devastated by Hurricane Katrina, the
Tuskegee Airmen, and Simeon Booker, who recently retired after serving for 50 years at the
Washington Bureau Chief for Ebony and Jet Magazines. The dinner will be held at the
Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.

According to Dorothy Leavell, Chairman of the NNPA Foundation board of directors and
publisher of the Chicago and Gary Crusader newspapers, NNPA editors and publishers will
have a series of issue-oriented meetings with members of the Congressional Black Caucus,
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and top officials of the
Republican National Committee.

At a Friday, March 16 luncheon at Howard University, an Enshrinement ceremony will be
held to induct two NNPA publishers into the Black Press Hall of Fame. In addition, for the
first time, special recognition will be given to the œUnsung Heroes of the Black Press, those
reporters of Black newspapers who covered the civil rights movement in the south during the
height of the violence. These former reporters include Moses Newsom, of the Baltimore Afro-
American, Dorothy Gilliam, of the Tri-State Defender, and Simeon Booker, of Jet Magazine.

For additional information and tickets to the Newsmaker Dinner call (202) 488-4948.

 

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