2011 Boston NAACP Awardees

 

 Lifetime Achievement Award: Congressman James E. Clyburn
Congressman Clyburn began his civil rights advocacy at the age of 12, as President of his NAACP Youth Chapter in Sumter South Carolina. The Congressman has risked his life and forfeited his freedom on numerous occasions for social justiceand equal rights and has continued his fight in Congress since 1992.
Women in the NAACP (W.I.N.) Florence Lesueur Award:
Betty Robinson Hansen As a former Branch President and long-time Executive Committee Member, Mrs. Robinson-Hansen has served the branch for over four decades, and notably worked in the Branch office when it was fire bombed in 1975
guscott Distinguished Service Award: Kenneth Guscott
Former Branch President and Founder of Long Bay Management, Mr. Guscott is one of a few who who led the Boston Branch through some of the most turbulent periods in Boston’s story. He served as President from 1963 to 1968, during the height of the civil rights movement, and is credited for the branch’s efforts to address education inequality in the Boston Public Schools.
avigreen Kivie Kaplan Humanitarian Award: Avi Green.
Mr Green is Co-Director of the Massachusetts Voter Education Network, Inc. (Mass Vote). He has made it his charge to increase civic engagement by advocating for a more participative government. Under his leadership, significant resources have been targeted to communities of color to increase voter registration, education and turnout.
Next Generation Leadership Award: Tanisha Sullivan, Esq.
 Ms. Sullivan is the president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Boston Alumnae Chapter and Co-Owner, Black Pages of New England. She has already created a footprint in the Boston NAACP by offering countless hours of legal advice and has launched a local civil rights initiative and steered her sorority toward being more engaged on social and political issues.