Student Support Safety Coalition is recipient of Bill of Rights Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: aclutn@aclu-tn.org

NASHVILLE - Legendary folk musicians Guy and Candie Carawan will receive the ACLU-TN Lifetime Achievement Award at the Saturday, Nov. 1st ACLU-TN Bill of Rights Celebration.  For over fifty years, the Carawans, affiliated with the Highlander Research and Community Education Center, have used song to promote citizenship education, civil rights work and community organizing.

"The Carawans lifelong integration of music with activism, including their role in introducing 'We Shall Overcome' to the civil rights movement, exemplifies the power of freedom of expression to promote justice and equality," said Hedy Weinberg, ACLU-TN Executive Director.

The "Support Student Safety Coalition," a group of former and current Nashville high school students who led a successful campaign for the adoption of a comprehensive anti-discrimination policy by the Metro Nashville School Board will receive the Bill of Rights Award.

Attorney Edmund Schmidt III, who successfully filed a lawsuit to protect religious freedom in the Wilson County School System will receive the Bruce Kramer Cooperating Attorney Award.

"This year promises to be very memorable as we honor civil libertarians whose activism began nearly sixty years ago, as well as young people who have recently picked up the torch," said ACLU-TN Executive Director Hedy Weinberg.

In addition, Grammy-award winning songwriter and recording artist Don Henry will perform at the Celebration.

ACLU-TN is the only statewide organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the constitutional guarantees of the Bill of Rights. An affiliate of the national ACLU, ACLU-TN is a private, non-profit, non-partisan membership organization. Recent successes include protecting free speech rights of students and teachers; defending religious freedom in public schools; leading "Know Your Rights" workshops for immigrants and their advocates; challenging efforts to erode reproductive freedom; mobilizing support to protect the LGBT community from discrimination; and representing disenfranchised voters seeking to restore their voting rights.

The ACLU-TN Bill of Rights Celebration will begin at 6:30 pm with a silent auction of autographed books, art and more. Dinner, the awards presentation and Henry's musical performance will follow at 7:45 p.m. The Celebration will take place at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel at 2100 West End Avenue in Nashville.

Tickets are $120 per person and a table for ten is $1200. Seating is limited - reserve your tickets now by calling the ACLU-TN office at 615-320-7142 or visiting the website at www.aclu-tn.org.