NASHVILLE — First Amendment and civil rights advocate John Seigenthaler was honored Thursday with the 19thannual Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award from The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.
John Seigenthaler
Seigenthaler, 85, received the honor among 700 guests at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel, including civil rights legend and U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who spoke at the event. Read the Tennessean story about the event here.
The Community Foundation hailed Seigenthaler as a man who “has dedicated his life to defending human rights” and was worthy of the award “because of his continuing and tireless service to others.”
According to the foundation, “Seigenthaler’s bold, unwavering and selfless search for justice has touched many causes, social issues and lives.”
The legendary journalist has strong ties to MTSU through the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, which was instituted in 1986. He was also a Cornerstone Donor for the Center for Innovation in Media opened earlier this year in the College of Mass Communications.
Seigenthaler, longtime president, editor and publisher of the Nashville Tennessean, is now chairman emeritus of that newspaper. He was also the first editorial director of USA TODAY and the first chairman of the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. He is a leading nationwide spokesman for First Amendment Freedoms.
COMMENTS ARE OFF THIS POST