Chicago, Illinois – June 14, 2011 – Dr. Bernice A. King, internationally renowned orator and motivator, will be the speaker for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Ecumenical Service on Sunday July 17. Dr. King’s address represents the culminating activity of the Sorority’s Leadership Conference, which takes place in Atlanta July 13-17. Dr.. King, the last born daughter of the late Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is  — like her late mother — a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

Dr. King is an ordained minister, lawyer, children’s advocate and one of the bearers of the King legacy.  She has won acclaim for her powerful, motivating and life-changing oratories and her speech to the Sorority is expected to challenge members with her anthem theme:  RAISE THE STANDARD.

“We are honored to have Dr. Bernice A. King speak at our Ecumenical Service,” declared Carolyn House Stewart, international president – Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.  “With such a powerful background and ability to deliver such a compelling message, Alpha Kappa Alpha is blessed to have her as a member and as a speaker.”

Like Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Dr. King has a passion for Leadership training, Youth development, and Family Empowerment.  To that end, she has successfully coordinated women and family conferences as well as nonviolent conflict resolution conferences for college and university students. She also taught a year- long leadership development class at an inner-city church in Atlanta.

For the past four years, she has been mentoring the students at Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy (CSYKYWLA), which is a single-gender all-girls school in Atlanta.   During the 2007 inauguration of the school, she gave a charge to the sixth grade girls reminding them that they were making history because they were the first chosen to attend this school, and as a result, would be expected to set the trend others would follow.  Recently, Dr. King and the students celebrated the culmination of the Be A King™  “100 Days of Nonviolence” campaign, which she launched at the school in January 2011. The program exposed the students to nonviolence as modeled by her parents, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mrs. Coretta Scott King (Kingian Nonviolence).  She encouraged the girls to begin embracing Kingian Nonviolence as a way of life and challenged them to bullying, fighting, and negative attitudes by using their tongue in a manner that is positive and uplifting.

Stewart said King’s commitment to developing leadership skills from among youth parallels AKA’s signature initiative: Emerging Young Leaders (EYL) program.  This thrust recognizes that the increasing demands of the twenty-first century mandate our youth to be better leaders at a younger age.   Therefore, grasping the importance of making smart choices with positive consequences the EYL program targets girls in middle school and its goal is to impact the lives of 10,000 girls in grades six through eight by providing leadership development, civic engagement, enhanced academic preparation and character building.

Attorney Stewart noted that Bernice is also working on a health and wellness awareness campaign, which is a major initiative of Alpha Kappa Alpha’s current administration.

AKA’s international president added that King’s global involvement in international peace initiatives matches the Sorority’s global service focus.

“In all that Dr. King does, “observed Stewart,” she is mindful of carrying out her parents’ work and their legacy through her devotion to civil rights, her commitment to service and her sensitivity to bettering the lives of young people.”

Stewart added that Dr.. King’s lifelong commitment to service mirrors Alpha Kappa Alpha’s 103-year-old mission: to serve all mankind.

Bernice is a graduate of Spelman College where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology.  She received a Masters of Divinity and a Doctorate of Law Degree from Emory University.  She also received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree from Wesley College.  She is currently a member of the State Bar of Georgia.

Bishop Tom Diamond  had an eventful Sunday, October 31 when  Congresswoman Brown, candidate for Governor  of Florida, Alex Sink and State Representative  Audrey Gibson visited his church and joined in  fellowship. Bishop Diamond’s sermon was: How  to Stay Calm in the Storm. His message was  strong and moving. After his dynamic sermon, the  bishop stopped and took pictures with his special  guest. No one even thought that the pictures taken  would be his last pictures.

Bishop Tom E. Diamond, Senior Pastor of  Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church died  Monday of sudden heart failure. He was 67.  Bishop Diamond served as Pastor of the 2000  member church for the past 26 years.

Born in Perry, Bishop Diamond was reared in Lake  Wales. He received a bachelor’s degree in English  from Florida Memorial College. He received his master of divinity degree from  Colgate Rochester (N.Y.) Divinity School and his doctorate of ministry degree from  Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga.

His first pastorate was in 1975 at St. Peter’s Missionary Baptist Church in Gifford,  Fla., before accepting the pastorate at Abyssinia here in  1984, he was pastor of Mount Bethel Missionary accepting the pastorate at Abyssinia here in 1984, he was pastor of Mount Bethel  Missionary Baptist Church in Daytona Beach.

One of Bishop Diamond’s sons, the Rev. Eugene Diamond, was named co-pastor in  1998 and was elevated to pastor in 2002 when his father was named senior pastor.

In November 1999, the church, which had been a fixture on Kings Road just west  of Edward Waters College for more than two decades, purchased 10 acres of land in  North Jacksonville on Interstate Center Drive just west of I-95. The church moved  to its new sanctuary in 2005.

Bishop Diamond was a former president of the Florida General Baptist Congress of  General Education and taught preachers on growing churches through Sunday school  as a teacher of the ministers division of the National Congress of Christian  Education.

He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the Baptist Ministers Alliance and  the NAACP. He authored several books, including “Book of Sermons – Not Much  Just Crumbs,” “Sermons from the Heart of the Diamond Mind,” and “From Boys to  Men.”

Known for his strong involvement in civil rights, Bishop Diamond led numerous  demonstration and challenged issues that were pertinent to the well being of local citizens.  He received various awards from his work and became well known throughout  the country for his preaching and teaching style.

“Bishop was a dynamic Father, Pastor, Husband, and friend” says Eric Sparrow, a  staff member of the church. “Jacksonville and the country have lost one of its greatest.”

Bishop Diamond is survived by his wife of 46 years, Lois B. Diamond: another son,  Minister Roderick Diamond of Jacksonville; eight grandchildren; and three brothers,  Bennett Diamond of Albany, Ga.; Oscar Patterson of Adel, Ga.; and Willie Hill Jr. of  Jacksonville.

Homegoing services for Bishop Diamond will be Saturday, November 6 at 11:00  a.m. at Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church.

Congresswoman Corrine Brown said, “We are all deeply and profoundly sadden by  the tragic and sudden loss of the Reverend Tom Diamond, of Abyssinia Missionary  Baptist Church, whom I considered as a personal friend and spiritual leader. Tom  Diamond was a man of great stature and one who was blessed with the passion to  serve his community. A man who was dedicated to living the true word and who  took his truths from the pulpit to the streets, teaching, preaching and reminding us of  our obligation to ourselves and to our community. He is to be remembered for his  dedication, determination and his unwavering belief in the sanctity of the Holy word  and its practice in service to mankind.

We offer our prayers for Mrs. Diamond and the Diamond family, his parishioners  and the community he so dearly loved. We are indebted to Reverend Tom Diamond  for all his good works and his love for all of us as shown as a true advocate for peace,  justice and fairness.”

A billboard near an Atlanta highway reads, “Love Like Him, Live Like Him, Lead Like Him.” The motto refers to Jesus Christ, but the smiling face next to it is that of Bishop Eddie Long.

Long built a humble suburban Atlanta congregation into a giant TV ministry on the strength of his charisma and his interpretation of the Gospels, including the magnetic idea that the faithful will be rewarded with wealth. It’s a doctrine the architect and leader of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church embodies with his own luxury lifestyle, including a private jet, jewels, a luxury automobile and a mansion.

“It’s like the ‘in’ church to be associated with,” said Terry Belton of Charlotte, N.C., who has attended the New Birth church there with his wife. “You feel like you’re going to prosper by being associated with that church. A lot of people go there because of him. We went … because of him.”

Now the shepherd needs his flock more than ever. Long, an outspoken opponent of gay marriage, has been sued by four young men who say he used his money and power to coerce them into sexual relationships. No criminal charges are likely because the men were beyond the age of consent, but the allegations and the hypocrisy they would expose if proven could threaten his leadership of New Birth, which boasts more than 25,000 members, a sprawling campus and a $50 million, 297,000-square-foot cathedral.

Less than two weeks after the allegations emerged, Long’s congregation seems to be behind him; they gave him an enthusiastic welcome at services last weekend and have taken to social media to defend him. To his followers, Long and the church built with their money under his leadership are nearly inseparable.

“Eddie Long is the embodiment of their way of life, the pathway to their salvation,” said branding expert Goldie Taylor, who lived for years in the neighborhood where New Birth is located and has watched the church’s phenomenal growth.

“If something happens to negatively impact the power of the brand that is Bishop Eddie Long, you have to ask yourself, where will New Birth be?” Taylor said. “If they can’t believe in him, what can they believe in?”

Long built a fiercely loyal and insular community inspired by his message of prosperity and his personal journey from a modest background as a preacher’s son into an influential leader of a multimillion-dollar ministry.

“He’s top of the line, one of the best at it,” said Bishop Carlton Pearson, a friend of Long’s for 20 years. “He’s a tall, muscular, well-spoken, handsome black man with power and influence and authority. It’s very intoxicating, both for him, and for those who drink from that same spiked fountain.”

Eddie L. Long was born on May 12, 1953, in Charlotte, N.C., one of four sons of the Rev. Floyd Long, a Baptist preacher, and his wife, Hattie. He played football in high school and attended North Carolina Central University, where he was a radio personality, a promoter and president of his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi. He graduated in 1976 with a degree in business administration.

His first job was with Ford Motor Co. in Richmond, Va., where Long was a factory sales representative. He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution years later that he was fired from that job for putting personal phone calls in an expense report. In 1979 he moved to Atlanta and worked for Honeywell for eight years before entering the ministry full-time.

He was a pastor for two years at Cedar Springs Baptist Church in Cedartown and earned a master’s of divinity from Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta in 1986.

In 1987, he began working at the church that would become his legacy. New Birth Missionary Baptist was a modest church of about 300 members. The church’s founder and former pastor, the Rev. Kenneth Samuel, had been ousted after clashing with the deacons who ran the church’s affairs.

Long was much more adept at church politics, Samuel said.

“After some years of dealing with (the deacons), he dismissed the whole board,” said Samuel, who now leads the 3,000-member Victory for the World Church in Stone Mountain, Ga. “He just took unilateral control over the church. He was more savvy at church politics than I was.”

New Birth grew quickly under Long. According to a history on the church’s website, by 1992, the church boasted more than 8,000 members and moved into a $2 million facility. Long opened the New Birth Academy.

In 1994, Long was consecrated as the third presiding bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship under Bishop Paul S. Morton of New Orleans.

A decade after he arrived, Long’s congregation swelled to 18,000. A lucrative land deal gave the church an $11 million profit that it used to pay off its debts and buy 240 acres in DeKalb County for its current site.

New Birth’s rise paralleled Atlanta’s growing reputation as a draw for upwardly mobile blacks. DeKalb County, where the church is located, is home to one of the country’s most affluent black enclaves.

“The growth of New Birth …had just as much to do Eddie Long as it had to do with how New Birth really became the epicenter of the emergence of the black middle class in South DeKalb County,” branding expert Taylor said.

Long became a fixture in black Atlanta society, sitting on numerous boards of directors and being honored by organizations including Big Brothers Big Sisters, Omega Psi Phi fraternity and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2005, he was given the Trumpet Award, one of the highest honors devoted to African-Americans.

The church’s explosive growth is built largely on what is known as prosperity gospel, which has also attracted attention to Long and his ministry. In 2005, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Long was the biggest beneficiary of the charity he established to help the needy, receiving more than $3 million in salary, benefits and property between 1997 and 2000 — including his $1.4 million six-bedroom, nine-bath home and $350,000 Bentley.

Long told the newspaper that New Birth was “not just a church, we’re an international corporation.”

“We’re not just a bumbling bunch of preachers who can’t talk and all we’re doing is baptizing babies,” he went on to say. “I deal with the White House … I deal with presidents around this world … You’ve got to put me on a different scale than the little black preacher sitting over there that’s supposed to be just getting by because the people are suffering.”

Long’s lavish lifestyle was the subject of a Senate probe launched by Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who inquired about the finances of half a dozen televangelist preachers with a prosperity message. Grassley’s office has issued no final report on the inquiry.

Denise Blount, a church member who has known Long since he went to college with her brother, said the bishop’s wealth doesn’t bother her.

“The things I want, I work for them,” Blount said. “I don’t see him being any different. Whatever I could afford, that’s what I would want to have. When you grow as Bishop has grown, you basically earn the right to have a nicer home or nicer car.”

Such trappings also play well into his message of muscular Christianity, which has attracted many black men to his congregation. From the pulpit, Long projects an image of strength, fatherhood and leadership rooted in religion.

Anthony Cannon, who attended New Birth as a teenager and formed a father-son relationship with the pastor in college, said Long’s presence in his life meant everything.

“He knew I didn’t have my father in my life,” said Cannon, now 25. “As a young man growing up, you gravitate to male figures in your life. With him being there for me, having someone to talk to … that meant a lot to me.”

One of Long’s accusers, Jamal Parris, has said he also considered Long to be a father figure, but also a “predator” and a “monster.”

As a young man spending time with Long, “You can’t believe the place you are at in your life and the things you are doing and the cars you are driving, and the people you are meeting,” Parris told Fox TV affiliate WAGA. “So, it becomes, if I want to continue to feel this love and this power, I’ll do whatever my dad wants me to.”

Long’s views on masculinity include his strong opposition to gay marriage. He made headlines in 2004 when he led a march protesting gay marriage with the Rev. Bernice King, daughter of civil rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and an elder at New Birth. King participated in the march over the protests of her mother Coretta Scott King, an advocate for gay rights. To begin the march, Long lit a torch using the eternal flame next to Martin Luther King’s grave.

Two years later, Coretta Scott King’s funeral was held at New Birth. Civil rights leader Julian Bond, a longtime friend of King’s, did not attend because of his opposition to Long’s views on gay rights. Bond has condemned Long in the wake of the allegations against him.

“I knew that Bishop Long was a raving homophobe,” Bond told Atlanta’s WXIA-TV. “And I knew she would be twisting in her grave if she were buried there. And I’d be twisting in my grave if I went to the funeral there.”

Pearson, Long’s longtime friend, said Long’s views and outspokenness on the issue could be an effort to deflect. “Anybody who points at something like that is fearing that aspect of themselves,” he said.

Whatever comes of the lawsuits, members of New Birth may be inclined to stand by their leader because of how he transformed their church, which Spelman College professor William Jelani Cobb called “the spiritual equivalent of Yankee Stadium.”

“To say that you’re a member of New Birth has a certain cachet,” Cobb said. “When you see the plain size of the grounds and the campus, if you’re one that believes in this idea of God’s elect, that’s the most compelling argument that they must be teaching a valid gospel.”

Join Harris Chapel Family and the South Florida community as they celebrate Rev. Dr. Jimmie L. Brown ‘Chief’ Jimmie Brown’s Fifth at Harris Chapel and 36 years in the ministry on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010 at 7:30 p.m., hosted by Rodney Baltimore of HOT 105.

He has been a United Methodist pastor for 36 years and is currently the senior pastor of Harris Chapel United Methodist Church in Oakland Park, Fla.

Dr. Brown and his wife Michelle have five sons and ten grandchildren.

Dr. Brown is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force (1962-1969). He received the Bronze Star as well as the Air Force Commendation Medal for his service during the Vietnam War.

He is a retired Division Chief of Miami-Dade Police Department 30 years. During his tenure,. Rev. Brown rose through the ranks of Police Officer to that of Division Chief. Upon his retirement in 1999, he was Chief of the Special Investigation Division.

He has hosted the highly rated talk show “HOT TALK” on WHQT-FM for over 20 years and is also an adjunct professor at Barry University, and is the president/CEO of JLB Consulting, Inc.

Dr. Brown is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, The Society for Human Resource Management (SRHM), The American Legion, The American Civil Liberties Union, The American Association of Christian Counselors, Kiwanis Club of Oakland Park, and a life member of the NAACP. Dr. Brown is also a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and the Vietnam Security Police Association. He has received over 300 awards from civic, professional and fraternal organization. Dr. Brown was inducted into the Miami-Dade College Hall of Fame (2006).

RSVP at (954) 486-5963 or (954) 649-7609 to reserve your table(s) or ticket(s). The event is being catered by S&J Catering of Miramar, Fla.

All events begin with services:

Aug. 17, 7:30 p.m. – Rev. Dr. Wayne Finn, Kelly’s Chapel United Methodist Church, Miami, Fla.

Aug. 19, Rev. G. Bernard Pope, First Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, Dania Fla.

Aug. 21, 6 p.m. – Harris Chapel Pastor’s Appreciation Banquet Life Enrichment Center,

Individual $30.00 & Table $450.00 Deadline to purchase banquet tickets is Aug. 16.

Aug. 22, 4 p.m. – Rev. Dr. Manuel Sykes, Bethel Com-munity Baptist, St. Petersburg, Fla. Saturday night August 21, culminating Banquet.

All events will be held at Harris Chapel at 2351 N.W. 26 St., Oakland Park, Fla.

Darryl Fortson, a family physician, remembers when he first decided to write a book.

“I was talking to a fraternity brother at a Morehouse College reunion in Atlanta when he interrupted me in mid speech and said that I should write a book,” recalls Fortson, president and CEO of Fortson Family Care And Wellness Center in Munster and a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

And so Fortson, a Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse, who says that before that aha moment his ideas had been “rattling around my head in an amorphous form,” penned “Dear Cisco, Dear Keith: A Frat Brother’s Letters On God, His Love, His People, And Their Struggles” (XLibris 2010, hardcover $30, softcover $20).

“I started writing letters about different topics that I wanted to speak to,” says Fortson, also a graduate of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. “There were topics that my patients brought to me on such things as feelings, being overweight and on taking care of one self.  I wrote letters to other fraternity brothers who I thought it would be appropriate to write to and letters to my sons, my daughter and my wife.”

Fortson is so happy that his fraternity brother, Gerald Cisco Brown, started him on the path to writing his book that he dedicated it both to him as well as another friend, Keith Allen, who he has known since they were 6 years old.

Writing is a passion for Fortson and besides being a former opinion columnist, is the author of a screenplay based on a faith topic, wrote the five poems that appear in his book and is currently working on another book.  Besides writing and medicine, Fortson also finds the time to teach a faith-based weight loss class at his church, Family Christian Center in Munster.

“My faith is very important to me,” he says. “I dedicated all of my writing, all of my artistic expression to speak to what Jesus Christ has to do with our everyday life.”

Darryl Fortson book signings

* Noon to 2 p.m. Friday at Methodist Hospital, Northlake Campus Gift Shop, (219) 886-4000

* Noon to 2 p.m. May 26 at Methodist Hospital, Southlake Campus Gift Shop, (219) 738-5500

FYI: To order a copy, visit www.dearciscodearkeith.com or stop by Dr. Fortson’s office at 1950 45th Avenue in Munster.

While attending Oakland University, Tanika earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 2002 and went on to pursue a Master of Business Administration in Strategic Marketing from Arizona State University, which she earned in 2006.  Tanika currently resides in Minneapolis, MN where she works at General Mills in Consumer Insights.

As a woman striving to strengthen her walk with Christ through Biblical training, she developed a desire to share God’s Word with believers as well as non-believers.  She combined this desire with her passion for writing and in 2009  her Christian Blog entitled “My Alabaster Box” was formed.  Here she shares teaching, inspiration and encouragement related to spiritual growth, prayer, faith, how to hear from God, patience in the life of a believer and much more!  It is her hope that through this blog, she is able to touch the hearts of many, bless people in their Christian walk and bring lost souls to Christ.

Tanika is also a current student at Rhema Correspondence Bible School and a member of Mighty Fortress International Church (Minneapolis, MN) under the pastoral leadership of Dr. Tom R. Williams. In her spare time she enjoys reading, writing, praise & worship dance, traveling and spending time with her family and close friends.

Please visit her Blog at www.alabasterbox1.blogspot.com and pass it on to your family and friends.  It will be a blessing to you and someone else!

Benjamin Lawson Hooks was an American civil rights leader. A Baptist minister and practicing attorney, he served as executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1977 to 1992, and throughout his career was a vocal campaigner for civil rights in the United States.

Hooks was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He was the fifth of seven children of Robert B. Hooks and Bessie White Hooks. His father was a photographer and owned a photography studio with his brother Henry known at the time as Hooks Brothers, and the family was fairly comfortable by the standards of Black people for the day. Still, he recalls that he had to wear handme- down clothes and that his mother had to be careful to make the dollars stretch to feed and care for the family.

On November 6, 1976, the 64- member board of directors of the NAACP elected Hooks executive director of the organization.

In the late 1970s the membership had declined from a high of about 500,000 to only about 200,000. Hooks was determined to add to the enrollment and to raise money for the organization’s severely depleted treasury, without changing the NAACP’s goals or mandates. “Black Americans are not defeated,” he told Ebony soon after his formal induction in 1977. “The civil rights movement is not dead. If anyone thinks that we are going to stop agitating, they had better think again. If anyone thinks that we are going to stop litigating, they had better close the courts. If anyone thinks that we are not going to demonstrate and protest, they had better roll up the sidewalks.”

In his early years at the NAACP, Hooks had some bitter arguments with Margaret Bush Wilson, chairwoman of the NAACP’s board of directors. At one point in 1983, Wilson summarily suspended Hooks after a quarrel over the organization’s policy. Wilson accused Hooks of the board backed Hooks and he never officially left his post as executive director. He has overseen the organization’s positions on affirmative action, federal aid to cities, foreign relations with repressive governments such as that in South Africa, and domestic policy decisions of every sort.

Hooks liked to call himself “just a poor little ol’ country preacher,” but his modesty hardly hid his long list of accomplishments.

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and its International President Sheryl P. Underwood join the world in mourning the passing of one of our most noble servants and influent ial leaders, Reverend Dr. Benjamin Hooks.

With the passing of Rev. Dr. Hooks, our brother of Omega Psi Phi, the world is short yet another civil rights champion and historical figure who helped shape American culture. Rev. Dr. Hooks will long be remembered as one who fought to eradicate bigotry and injustice.

The leadership he provided to our nation, and especially the NAACP, provided access to millions who knew no access, and under his leadership, the NAACP realized lowered debt, increased membership and heighten visibility.

Rev. Dr. Hooks fought for the underserved and the overlooked.

From the halls of justice to the baseball field, he remained committed to creating opportunities for inclusion for people who had long been relegated to the back of the line or the back of the bus. He was a servant leader with great vision; working to open doors of employment, community development and access within some of our nations most tightly shut institutions.

Not only did he serve this nation as a leader during the civil rights movement, he served his country in the United States Army. He often found himself guarding those who had more rights and access than he. He will be remembered as a champion of minorities and the less fortunate.

He was a warrior, placed among us at a time when strength and clarity were needed. We ask the current President of the NAACP, Benjamin Jealous, to accept our condolences and share them wi th Chairman Julian Bond, the officers and members of his prestigious organization.

Benjamin L. Hooks, a champion of minorities and the poor who as executive director of the NAACP increased the group’s stature, has died. He was 85.

State Rep. Ulysses Jones, a member of the church where Hooks was pastor, said Hooks died early Thursday at his home, following a long illness.

Hooks became executive director of the NAACP in 1977, taking over a group that was $1 million in debt and shrunk to 200,000 members from nearly a half-million in the 1950s and 1960s. He pledged to increase enrollment and raise money for the organization.

“Black Americans are not defeated,” he told Ebony magazine soon after his induction. “The civil rights movement is not dead. If anyone thinks that we are going to stop agitating, they had better think again. If anyone thinks that we are going to stop litigating, they had better close the courts. If anyone thinks that we are not going to demonstrate and protest, they had better roll up the sidewalks.”

By the time he ended his position as executive director in 1992, the group rebounded, with membership growing by several hundred thousand. Toward this, he created community radiothons to make the public more aware of activities by local NAACP branches and boost membership.

“He came in at a time the NAACP was struggling and gave it a strong foundation. He brought dignity and strong leadership to the organization,” Jones said.

Hooks also created an initiative that expanded employment opportunities for blacks in Major League Baseball and launched a program where corporations participated in economic development projects in black communities.

“The nation best remembers Benjamin Hooks as the leader of the NAACP,” President George W. Bush said in 2007 when he presented Hooks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the country’s highest civilian honors. “Dr. Hooks was a calm yet forceful voice for fairness, opportunity and personal responsibility. He never tired or faltered in demanding that our nation live up to its founding ideals of liberty and equality.”

Nearly two decades earlier, Hooks pleaded with Bush’s father, then-President George H.W. Bush, for action on a string of gasoline bomb attacks in the South that killed in December 1989 a federal judge in Alabama and a black civil rights lawyer in Savannah, Ga.

The same month, another bomb was intercepted at an NAACP office in Jacksonville, Fla. and an Atlanta television station received a letter threatening more attacks on judges, attorneys and NAACP leaders.

“We believe that this latest incident is an effort to intimidate our association, to strike fear in our hearts,” he said at the time. “It will not succeed. We intend to go about our business, but we will most certainly be taking precautions.”

Walter Leroy Moody, now 75, was convicted of the killings and other charges in 1997 and remains on Alabama’s death row.

Hooks’ inspiration to fight social injustice and bigotry stemmed from his experience of guarding Italian prisoners of war while serving overseas in the Army during World War II — foreign prisoners were allowed to eat in “for whites only” restaurants while he was barred from them.

When no law school in the South would admit him, he used the GI bill to attend DePaul University in Chicago, where he earned a law degree in 1948. He later opened his own law practice in his hometown of Memphis, Tenn.

“At that time you were insulted by law clerks, excluded from white bar associations and when I was in court, I was lucky to be called ‘Ben,’” he once said in an interview with Jet magazine. “Usually it was just ‘boy.’”

In 1965 he was appointed to a newly created seat on the Tennessee Criminal Court, making him the first black judge since Reconstruction in a state trial court anywhere in the South.

“It was a national story for a black in the Deep South to be nominated for a judgeship,” he said years later.

President Richard Nixon nominated Hooks to the Federal Communications Commission in 1972. He was its first black commissioner, serving for five years before resigning to lead the NAACP.

“Hooks’ career as a Federal Communications Commissioner did change the organization,” according to the 1995 book, ‘Commissioners of the FCC.’ “He regarded the minorities and the poor as his constituency.”

At the FCC, he addressed the lack of minority leadership in media and persuaded the commission to propose a new rule requiring TV and radio stations to be offered publicly before they could be sold. Minority employment in broadcasting grew from 3 percent to 15 percent during his tenure.

He later was the chairman of the board of directors of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and helped create The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis.

In his last keynote speech to an NAACP national convention in 1992, he urged members who had found financial success to never forget those less fortunate.

“Remember,” he said, “that down in the valley where crime abounds and dope proliferates … where babies are having babies, our brothers and sisters are crying to us, ‘Is anyone listening? Does anyone care?

Rev. Dr. Jo Ann Browning, Co-Pastor for Ebenezer A.M.E. Church and Author, has been recognized by Cambridge Who’s Who for demonstrating dedication, leadership and excellence in religious services.

Reverend Dr. Jo Ann Browning accepted the call to preach in 1982 at Hemmingway Memorial A.M.E. Church in Chapel Oaks, Maryland. For nine months in 1983, she served on the ministerial staff at St. Paul A.M.E. Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When her husband was appointed to pastor Ebenezer A.M.E. Church in 1983, the church had 17 members and a $12,000 budget. Rev. Jo Ann immediately began assisting her husband and was hired as an assistant minister in 1985. From 1986 to 1991, she served as assistant pastor and then co-pastor since 1998. In 1998, Bishop Vinton R. Anderson (retired), presiding prelate of the Second Episcopal District, appointed Rev. Dr. Jo Ann Browning as co-pastor of the Ebenezer A.M.E. Church. This unprecedented appointment officially recognized the Brownings as a pastoral team in the A.M.E. church. In 2005 through 2009, the present Bishop, Presiding Prelate Adam J. Richardson continued this unique appointment. Currently, Ebenezer’s membership exceeds 10,000 with more than 100 ministries and a budget of $10 million.

In addition to her responsibilities at Ebenezer, Rev. Browning has had the opportunity to preach, teach and facilitate workshops throughout the United States, Haiti, Bermuda, Barbados, Germany, Israel and South Africa. In July of 2002, she was inducted into Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. as an honorary member. In November of 2006, she received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from the African Methodist Episcopal University in Monrovia, Liberia.

Rev. Browning has organized and convened women’s spiritual retreats, attracting thousands of women from across the nation and other countries. June 2009 will mark Ebenezer’s 25th Annual Women’s Spiritual Retreat.

In 2006, she founded Journey of Faith, LLC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the empowerment of women. She also released her first book, “Our Savior, Our Sisters, Ourselves: Biblical Teachings & Reflections on Women’s Relationships.” The book provides teachings that explore the realities of being a black woman, wife, mother and minister. It is designed to empower and bless women as they continue on their journeys of faith.

In June 2009, she released her second book, “Faithful, Focused & Fearless: Lessons to Fortify Your Future.” Rev. Dr. Jo Ann Browning is grateful for the opportunity to share these teachings that she received from the Lord with all women of God, regardless of race.

In all that has been said and done, she continuously gives God all the praise, honor and glory for the opportunity to be a humble servant of her God.

The Reverend Dr. Jo Ann Browning is married to the Reverend Dr. Grainger Browning, Jr., who is the Senior Pastor. She is the very proud mother of two children, Grainger III, a 2008 graduate of Morehouse College, and Candace, a 2008 graduate of Hampton University. She also has two grandchildren, Kaylah Jo Ann Browning and Grainger Browning IV.

Rev. Dr. Browning graduated from Boston University in 1976 with a bachelor of science in communications. She received a master of divinity in 1986 and a doctorate of ministry from the Howard University School of Divinity in 1991. She was a recipient of the Benjamin E. Mays Fellowship and the Pew Fellowship.

For more information on Ebenezer A.M.E. Church, visit http://www.ebenerame.org.

Stanford Who’s Who welcomes Pastor David E. Roberts II to the ranks of premier professionals as a result of his remarkable work in the area of Religious Services. As Pastor of The Morning Star First Baptist Church, as well as throughout his brilliant religious career, he has consistently demonstrated the passion, vision and dedication necessary to be among the best.

In addition to delivering spectacular sermons to his congregation, he performs a variety of other services to the community. Pastor Roberts is actively involved in helping the homeless, marriage counseling, youth counseling, and helping in prisons with developing educational opportunities.

Most important to Pastor Roberts is spreading the word of God. He served as a Chaplain in the United States Navy for 20 years. Pastor Roberts is a Board Member of the NAACP. He also served as President of KAPPA ALPHA PSI.

During his educational career, David earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from Western Carolina University and a Master’s Degree in Divinity from Liberty University. He enjoys running, exercising, bowling, basketball and movies in his leisure time.