Service illuminates life. Memphis shined a little brighter Wednesday, Oct. 17, during the National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Award Ceremony, as more than 2,000 city leaders and executives from the public and private sector crowded into the historic Orpheum Theatre downtown to celebrate service.
TVA was a sponsor of the annual event, which honored Civil Rights activist and Rainbow PUSH Coalition Founder Jesse Jackson, former Vice President Joe Biden, and prominent philanthropist J. R. Pitt Hyde of the Hyde Family Foundation. A special musical tribute also celebrated Aretha Franklin, whose family later took the stage in appreciation.
Nine employees represented TVA, including Vice President Dan Pratt, Memphis Executive Director Mark Creech and Allen Combined Cycle Plant Manager Dave Skelskey. TVA also welcomed NAACP (Memphis Chapter) Executive Director Vickie Terry as a special guest and new community partner.
“I appreciate TVA so much for inviting me, and I am looking forward to the partnership ahead because I want the community to know how TVA is ready to uplift the Memphis community,” Terry said. TVA has not forgotten about Memphis, and we’re going to work together. This is just the beginning of a long relationship.”
Terry walked the red carpet, alongside friends from TVA and MLGW, including the MLGW President and CEO J.T. Young and his wife. “It’s really important that we support activities like this in our community,” Young said. “It’s great to have national heroes being recognized here in Memphis. This is a great Civil Rights story with all the honorees, and we are just glad to participate.”
From spoken word to video chronicles of the honorees’ lives and civic contributions, the event—themed “1968”—told stories of pain and progress, including when Dr. King was killed on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel with Jackson only feet away. “We’re here tonight not because Dr. King died but because he lived,” Jackson said. “Tonight, the focus is still on eradicating poverty and racial polarization and promoting peace. This is light.”
By: Marcey Wright, @MarceyWrite, TVA public & community relations consultant IV
“The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will be LIVE!” And, that’s exactly what I thought about last night’s “performance” of “Black Panther” – like live action playing out in front of me, all around me. I’m far from a movie critic or movie buff, for that matter, but I felt compelled to share my thoughts on the recently-released “Black Panther” movie, starring all-star cast Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Lupita Nyong’o, Daniel Kaluuya, Danai Gurira, John Kani and a list of others.
It has been said that photography is the art of drawing with light. Countless photographers spend their careers “chasing” this light – some successfully, some not. It’s what makes the difference between a memorable and historic shot versus one that is seen but soon forgotten.
One of only a few women in history to hold this coveted position and the only one during her time at the White House, Lucidon recently shared select photographs from her New York Times best seller in an exclusive exhibition displayed at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library – the second of her 10-stop book tour. Ten “rainbows,” what Lucidon calls her most compelling images, dressed the walls of Central Library’s Goodwyn Gallery in October – November 2017. Then, Lucidon and her publisher, Ten Speed Press, teamed with Memphis Public Libraries to host a special reception, book discussion and signing on Thursday, Nov. 9.
“I’m still pinching myself that it actually happened,” Lucidon recalled before the standing-room-only crowd. “I was a newspaper photographer for a long time, and I moved to Washington D.C. to start my own business. I was new to the city, but news was happening – big news – the inauguration of President Obama. And I wanted to be there, so I went out into the cold with everyone else. I documented the scene as it was happening. It was freezing cold, but it was such a warm environment. … Little did I know that two years later, I’d get a phone call asking me if I wanted to be a White House photographer. Today, it still feels unreal to me to have all of these photos as a visual diary of all the experiences that we had.”
A diverse group of men, women and children of various races, ages and backgrounds held on to Lucidon’s every word, as she explained the inner “light” and hope that she ultimately captured, resulting in her book title.