Dr. Benjamin Hooks Job Corps Center announces Inaugural Memorial Walk Celebrating the legacy of their namesake Civil Rights Icon

 

Memphis, TN (BlackNews.com) — Around the country everyone knows Job Corps for its’ no-cost education program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor that helps young people ages 16 through 24 improve the quality of their lives through career technical and academic training. But in Memphis, Job Corps has some Civil Rights/Black History significance associated with it. Job Corps entered the City of Memphis in 1998 as the Memphis Job Corps Center. But in 2006, the center name was changed to honor Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks, a native leader in the civil rights movement who also sat on the Job Corps board working alongside the executive director and administration to improve the quality of the programs.

Who was Dr. Benjamin Hooks? Dr. Hooks was a lawyer, a businessman and a Baptist minister, heading two separate churches. He was the first black to be appointed to the criminal court bench in his native Tennessee, and he was the first African-American to be named to the five-member Federal Communications Commission. He also came to symbolize an older generation of leaders who had marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and who had fought for the passage of landmark civil rights legislation

The Inaugural Memorial 5K Run/Walk is not about walking or racing to the finish, it is about life, honoring the legacy of Dr. Benjamin Hooks, celebrating the gift he gave to our world, and extending his efforts to the masses and future generations. This is not just another 5k event. This tribute to Dr. Benjamin Hooks is a non-competitive 5K (3.1 mile) fun run/walk for students, families with young children, the casual walker, the corporate professional, athlete and others who want to be involved with the new era of social leadership. It is a walk of legacy, and a gathering to show that we can each make a difference and change the world.

Event Details:
* What: Dr. Benjamin Hooks Inaugural Memorial 5K Run/Walk
* Who: Presented by the Dr. Benjamin Hooks Job Corp Center / National Civil Rights Museum and is open to the public
* When: Saturday April 30th, 2011 Race Starts at 9:30am
* Where: National Civil Rights Museum | 450 Mulberry Street, Memphis, TN 38103

Dr. Benjamin Hooks Award Short List:
* NAACP created the Benjamin L. Hooks Distinguished Service Award, which is awarded to persons for efforts in implementing policies and programs which promote equal opportunity.
* University of Memphis created the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change.
* Hooks received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in November 2007.
* Was inducted in the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site on January 12, 2008

Sadly on April 15, 2010 the world lost a great man, a pioneer, an icon. “Our national life is richer for the time Dr. Hooks spent on this earth,” President Obama said. “And our union is more perfect for the way he spent it: Giving a voice to the voiceless.” *

* www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-04-15-hooks-obituary_N.htm

For more information regarding the legacy and life of Dr. Benjamin Hooks or the Inaugural Memorial 5K, visit www.yourturnnow.org