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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2001

News Release

NEA Announces 2001 Human & Civil Rights Award Winners

A teenager who experienced the abject misery of war as a child in Vietnam, but has triumphed to advocate the value of education in the United States. A 74-year-old trial lawyer who galvanized Georgia schools and businesses to successfully serve a sudden influx of immigrant students. A survivor of the Holocaust who has employed her ordeals to compel others to demand fundamental human, civil and educational rights. These are just a few of the outstanding individuals who are honored this year by the National Education Association (NEA) for their extraordinary work to advance human and civil rights.

NEA President Bob Chase will present these honors at the Association's annual Human and Civil Rights Awards banquet on July 3 at The Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. The event, held each year during the Association's Annual Meeting, is expected to attract 2,000 educators and invited guests.

Presented for more than 30 years, the NEA Human and Civil Rights Awards are named in memory of human and civil rights leaders and NEA activists. "I could not be more proud of the exciting, inspiring, and diverse group of pioneers we are honoring this year," said Bob Chase, president of NEA. "Their work and contributions make life richer for all of us."

The 2001 HCR award winners are:

Lieu Tran, a 17-year-old high school student from West Valley City, Utah, who will receive the Ellison S. Onizuka Memorial Award for her inspiring journey from Vietnamese refugee to honors student and education advocate in her adopted country.

As a child laborer during the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, Tran was separated from her family and witnessed the killing of her brother and sister. She escaped the prison camp and was miraculously reunited with her parents in the Philippines. They then immigrated to the United States. Despite the nightmare, her inability to speak English and lack of previous schooling, Tran persevered and now, as a junior at Highland High School in Salt Lake City, she is a member of the National Honor Society. She also has volunteered for Utahns Against Hunger, organized service projects for city beautification, and has served as a translator for organizations aiding Vietnamese families.

Erwin Mitchell, a trial lawyer in Dalton, Georgia, will receive the George I. S?nchez Memorial Award in recognition of his work to help educate an influx of immigrant Spanish-speaking children to Dalton, a city with little experience of Latinos. Mitchell is also honored for helping to give Dalton teachers a greater appreciation of Latin culture.

Mitchell organized local public schools and businesses to respond to the challenge of teaching non-English speaking students, who mushroomed from four percent of the city's school population in 1989 to 44 percent in 1998. The resulting coalition established the "Georgia Project," which in partnership with the Universidad de Monterrey in Mexico, developed bilingual curricula, teacher exchanges, and Hispanic leadership cultivation.

Maud Dahme, president of the New Jersey State Board of Education from Annandale, New Jersey, will receive one of two H. Councill Trenholm Awards for her work to ensure that migrant children attain a quality public education.

Dahme has used her devastating experiences as a survivor of the Holocaust during the Nazi occupation of Holland to instill in others a basic respect for human rights. She has been instrumental in working to make Holocaust studies a required part of the curriculum of New Jersey public schools and frequently speaks to students and educators about the war.

The other winners, in alphabetical order, are:

Eleanor Coleman, of Little Rock, AR, will receive the other H. Councill Trenholm Memorial Award for her pioneering work to provide counseling services to disadvantaged, elementary schoolchildren throughout the state of Arkansas. Coleman began to teach at a time when school counseling was still unheard of. In part, because of her work, every school in the Little Rock School District has a guidance counselor today. She continues her work as a counselor at Forest Park Elementary School.

Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, from Baltimore, MD, will be presented with the Author-Illustrator Human and Civil Rights Award in recognition of his superb work to boost African-American student achievement in math and science. During his presidency at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Hrabowski established the Meyerhoff Program, a scholarship program designed to attract African-American students pursuing careers in math, science and engineering. His program has since become a model for other universities seeking to bolster minority student achievement in math and science.

Brett B. Johnson, an Omaha, NE, high school student, will receive the SuAnne Big Crow Memorial Award for fearlessly organizing fellow students to launch a campaign against discrimination and bullying in school, with a focus on gay and lesbian students. Johnson has frequently stepped forward to testify to the many incidents of anti-gay harassment she has witnessed in her school and forced the local school board to add sexual orientation to the board's safe school agenda. She is now working with the ACLU to add sexual orientation to her school district's anti-harassment policy.

NEA-New Mexico will receive the Rosena J. Willis Memorial Award for its work to involve more minorities in the organization. Working with the NEA Human and Civil Rights Department and the Minority Affairs Committee, the state Association established the Essential Resource Cadre. This three-year program cultivates minority education leadership, community action and legislative work. Minority enrollment has since mushroomed.

Rev. Peggy M. Peterman, St. Petersburg, FL, will be presented with the Carter G. Woodson Memorial Award in honor of her work using the arts to promote a love of learning and of self in young African Americans. She founded and directs the Black History Pageant of the local Bethel Community Baptist Church, which has presented Black History productions on Africa and African-American history for the past 23 years.

James P. Testerman, York, PA, will receive the Virginia Uribe Award for Creative Leadership in Human Rights for his efforts to ensure a safe educational environment for gays and lesbians. During his tenure as co-chair of the NEA Gay and Lesbian Caucus, Testerman co-authored more than two dozen articles on improving conditions and opportunities for gay and lesbian students and teachers. He also successfully advocated with NEA Member Benefits to ensure that all benefit programs include a provision for domestic partners.

Amy Tsubokawa, Lakewood, CA, will be presented with the Mary Hatwood Futrell Award in honor of her role as a trainer with NEA's Human and Civil Right's Women's Leadership Training Program and with California Challenge, a multicultural diversity training program sponsored by the California Teachers Association. As a child, she experienced the horror of imprisonment in an American concentration camp during World War II. Rather than become defeated by her internment, Tsubokawa became emboldened and proudly tells her story in order to eliminate the shame and fear many Japanese Americans harbor from their horrendous imprisonment.

Last, but by no means least, former Mississippi Governor William Winter, Jackson, MS, will receive the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Award for his work to remove all vestiges of Jim Crowe law from his state's institutions. During his tenure (1980-84), Gov. Winter led the successful effort to pass the nation's first truly comprehensive education reform act, which, among other things, established Mississippi's first public kindergarten for all children.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.