President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
First female president of Liberia
International Freedom Award

Internationally known as Africa’s “Iron Lady,” President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is a leading promoter of peace, justice, and democratic rule. In November 2005, she was elected President of Liberia and became the first woman to lead an African nation. The Harvard educated former World Bank economist won the election with an impressive 59.4 % of the vote.

Before her election, she worked tirelessly to bring justice to her people in Liberia and had spent more than a year in jail at the hands of the military dictatorship of General Samuel Doe. After having her life threatened by former President Charles Taylor, she campaigned relentlessly for Taylor’s removal from office and played an active and supportive role in the establishing the Transitional Government of Liberia as the country prepared for elections in 2005.

president Johnson-Sirleaf had previously served as the Chairperson of the Governance Reform Commission of the National Transitional Government of Liberia until she had resigned in 2004 to accept the nomination of the Unity Party of Liberia as its Standard Bearer.

Also a presidential candidate in the 1997 Liberia general election, she finished second in the field of 13 candidates. Before that, she served for five years as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa and was the first woman to lead the United Nations Development Project for Africa. Throughout her professional career, she served in several financial positions such as the first woman Minister of Finance for Liberia, Vice President of Citicorp, Vice President of the HSBC Equator Bank, and the Senior Loan Officer of the World Bank.

She has been awarded many special honors, including the Commander de l’Ordre du Mono of Togo (1996), the Ralph Bunche International Leadership Award of United States (1995 and 1996), the Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Of Speech Award of the United States (1988), and the Grand Commander of the Star of African Redemption of Liberia (1980). TOP

Dr. John Hope Franklin
National Freedom Award

John Hope Franklin is the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History, and for seven years was Professor of Legal History in the Law School at Duke University. He is a native of Oklahoma and a graduate of Fisk University. He received the A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in history from Harvard University. He has taught at a number of institutions, including Fisk University, St. Augustine's College, North Carolina Central University, and Howard University. In 1956 he went to Brooklyn College as Chairman of the Department of History; and in 1964, he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago, serving as Chairman of the Department of History from 1967 to 1970. At Chicago, he was the John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor from 1969 to 1982, when he became Professor Emeritus.

Professor Franklin's numerous publications include The Emancipation Proclamation, The Militant South, The Free Negro in North Carolina, Reconstruction After the Civil War, and A Southern Odyssey: Travelers in the Ante-bellum North. Perhaps his best known book is From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans, now in its seventh edition. His Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities for 1976 was published in 1985 and received the Clarence L. Holte Literary Prize for that year. In 1990, a collection of essays covering a teaching and writing career of fifty years, was published under the title, Race and History: Selected Essays, 1938-1988. In 1993, he published The Color Line: Legacy for the Twenty-first Century. Professor Franklin's most recent book, My Life and an Era: The Autobiography of Buck Colbert Franklin, is an autobiography of his father that he edited with his son, John Whittington Franklin. His current research deals with "Dissidents on the Plantation: Runaway Slaves."

Professor Franklin has served on many national commissions and delegations, including the National Council on the Humanities, from which he resigned in 1979, when the President appointed him to the Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. Currently, Professor Franklin serves as chairman of the advisory board for One America: The President's Initiative on Race.

In addition to his many awards, Dr. Franklin has received honorary degrees from more than one hundred colleges and universities.

Professor Franklin has been extensively written about in various articles and books. Most recently he was the subject of the film First Person Singular: John Hope Franklin. Produced by Lives and Legacies Films, the documentary was featured on PBS in June 1997.

His latest works Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation, In search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South and Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin were all published in 2005

The National Freedom Award is sponsored by International Paper.
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Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jr.
Lifetime Achievement Award

Earvin Johnson, Jr. is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Magic Johnson Enterprises which owns and/or operates business ventures across 89 cities and 22 states. Formed in 1987, Magic Johnson Enterprises strategically invests, consults, partners and endorses opportunities and services that particularly focus on ethnically diverse urban communities.

Through Magic Johnson Enterprises (MJE), Mr. Johnson has bolstered the economy by establishing brand name businesses in underserved communities, training and hiring local residents and employing local contractors. As the only joint venture partner of Starbucks, Mr. Johnson has opened 112 stores across the country (with a commitment to open a total of 125). His real estate fund, Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, is the country’s largest private real estate fund focused on the revitalization of underserved communities.

Partnerships with corporations such as Burger King help to bring quality and convenience to urban America. Mr. Johnson is one of Burger King’s biggest franchisees with 31 restaurants to date in Atlanta, Birmingham, Dallas and Miami. He has also established a dozen 24 Hour Fitness Magic Sport centers. The facilities in Sherman Oaks and San Leandro, California have over 18,000 members and rank #1 and #2 in the Magic-Sport fitness chain. Additionally, Mr. Johnson has established 27 Washington Mutual Home Loan Centers, several AMC Magic Johnson Theatres and his T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant in Los Angeles is the number one grossing stand alone corporate T.G.I.Friday’s restaurant in the Western Division.

Magic Johnson Enterprises recently launched two new initiatives: the Magic Johnson Travel Group and SodexhoMagic, LLC. The Magic Johnson Travel Group is the first multicultural home-based travel agent initiative and franchise network. It is designed to cultivate growth in the minority travel market and develop entrepreneurs from urban America. SodexhoMagic, LLC provides an extensive portfolio of food and facilities management services as well as offers signature dining facilities. The aforementioned businesses have been at the forefront of urban development and are directly responsible for tremendous growth across the country.

In addition to his varied business accomplishments, Mr. Johnson is internationally recognized as the number one rated athlete for corporate endorsements (TSE Sports & Entertainment Survey, April 2007) and one of the most highly rated celebrities able to influence consumer purchasing power (rated 6 out of 350 according to the 2006 Davie Brown Index). He currently has endorsement partnerships with Abbott Laboratories and TNT.

As Chairman and Founder of the Magic Johnson Foundation, Inc., Mr. Johnson continues to focus on improving the quality of life for people residing in urban communities. The Foundation has distributed over 800 college scholarships to deserving minority students, many of which have been recipients of the Foundation’s Taylor Michaels Scholarship Program. To help bridge the digital divide in minority communities, Mr. Johnson currently has 23 Magic Johnson Empowerment Centers. The Foundation also has established four HIV/AIDS clinics and continues to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS through programs such as the “I Stand With Magic” campaign to end HIV/AIDS in the black community.

Mr. Johnson is universally known for his 13 year career in the NBA. His honors include: five national championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, 3 MVP awards, 12 NBA All-Star games, a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain and induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
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