The National Civil Rights Museum will honor two of the nations leaders for civil and human rights whose accomplishments span a period of 35 years as the 2003 Freedom Award recipients at the annual Freedom Award banquet October 28, 2003.

2003 Freedom Award honoree, Maxine Smith of Memphis, Tennessee was the Executive Secretary of the Memphis National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1968, and worked on the coordinating committee of the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was in Memphis in 1968 to support the workers when he was assassinated. As a member of the coordinating committee of the school boycotts in 1969, Mrs. Smith�s efforts led to the first African -American becoming Superintendent of Memphis City Schools. Mrs. Smith became a volunteer for the Memphis Branch NAACP, after being denied admission to Memphis State University in the late 1950�s, based solely on her race. For 32 years during her 33-year tenure as the Executive Secretary, the Branch received the Thalheimer Award, the NAACP�s top national award. Additionally she has been received the Bill of Rights Award by the American Civil Liberties Union; the Humanitarian of the Year Award by the National Conference of Christian Jews and the Richard H. Green award in urban education by the Council of the The Great City Schools. She was elected to the Memphis Board of Education for 6 four-year terms. She is a member of the following boards: National Civil Rights Museum, National Board of the NAACP, National Women�s Foundation for Greater Memphis, National Kidney Foundation, and the Tennessee Board of Regents.

2003 Freedom Award honoree, William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States. In 1999, then President Bill Clinton paid a visit to the National Civil Rights Museum and remarked, � Every American student should visit this historic site.� Bill Clinton was elected President in 1992 and again in 1996, the first Democratic president to be awarded a second term in six decades. His core values of building community, creating opportunity, embracing diversity and supporting causes for racial reconciliation, health care for the poor and human rights continues through the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation.

During his presidency, the Clinton administration created over 22 million jobs, increased the minimum wage for the first time in 6 years for 10 million workers, appointed a record number of women and minorities to senior cabinet positions and saw the highest homeownership and college enrollment rates in history.

His support and national policies brought about the following changes:

� Increased funding for civil rights enforcement from $47 million in 1992 to $82 million in 2000.

� Ordered a review of federal affirmative action programs, which concluded that affirmative action is still an effective and important tool to expand educational and economic opportunity to all Americans.

� Created the National Church Arson Task Force in 1995 to investigate arson crimes.

� Fought for and won passage of the Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act, to increase penalties for hate crimes as part of the 1994 Crime Bill.

� Worked to end racial profiling by directing cabinet agencies to collect data on racial profiling.

International policy accomplishments include: the Bosnian peace settlement to end the largest campaign of force in NATO�s history; Middle East summit for the Middle East peace process; the Good Friday Peace Accord between Catholic and Protestant leaders in Northern Ireland and the Wye River Memorandum between Benjamin Netanyahu and Yassir Arafat.

The National Civil Rights Museum�s Freedom Award is sponsored by International Paper and the Hyde Family Foundations.

Reservations for the October 28th Freedom Award banquet at the Peabody Hotel may be made by calling the National Civil Rights Museum at (901) 521-9699, extension 237, or by emailing: freedomaward@civilrightsmuseum.org

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Media Contact: Gwen Harmon +1 901-521-9699 ext 240 gharmon@civilrightsmuseum.org