Henri Giles is a writer and award-winning television producer based near Nashville. She works on national television programs and produces projects for corporations and non-profit organizations.
Joseph E. Lowery, a minister in the United Methodist Church, is an activist in the American civil rights movement. He served as the third president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference from 1978-1998, after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and his immediate successor, Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy, and participated in most of the major activities of the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the '60s.
In addition to speaking at Coretta Scott Kings funeral and giving the benediction at President Barack Obamas inauguration, Rev. Joseph E. Lowery is most recently noted for winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His numerous other awards include: the NAACP award at its 1997 convention for, dean of the civil rights movement, and Lifetime Achievement Award. He also received the Martin Luther King Jr. Center Peace Award and the National Urban Leagues Whitney M. Young, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. Ebony has named him one of the 15 greatest black preachers.
Lowery has also received several honorary doctorates from colleges and universities. In addition, he was given the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. On his 80th birthday in 2001, the city of Atlanta changed the name of Ashby Street to Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard, Atlanta Public Schools established the Joseph E. Lowery Lecture Series on Civic Engagement and Clark Atlanta University founded the Joseph E. Lowery Institute for Justice & Human Rights.
