“The way I was raised — and my parents are here from Maryland — was to believe one biblical principle: To whom much is given, much is required,” said Underwood, the passionate AIDS activist, author and philanthropist. “I tend to look at this thing called celebrity as currency. And the question [is]: when you have that currency, what are you going to do with it? How are you going to help others? How are you going to give back?”
Holder, appointed by President Barack Obama as the first African American to helm the U.S. Department of Justice, praised Thurgood Marshall. Marshall, best known for his work in the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 that desegregated the nation’s schools, became the first black Supreme Court justice when President Lyndon Johnson appointed him.
“As a lawyer, he was a champion for a people who turned to rise. As a justice, he was a voice for the people who could not speak for themselves. As a leader, he was a visionary who saw the power of education to eradicate Jim Crow,” Holder said.
Also honored were: California Congresswoman Barbara Lee; Jane Oates, the assistant secretary of the Labor Department; Pearlie Reed, assistant secretary for the Department of Agriculture; and Annie P. Whatley, the acting director for the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, a division of the Department of Energy. For their part, Hennessy made a contribution to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund for two, four-year Hennessy 44 Leaders Scholarships. –terry shropshire
