11/20/2008

Knight Foundation gives $1 million to help build King memorial

The Knight Foundation hopes to boost funding and support for a national memorial to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. BY CURTIS MORGAN cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com A 20-year dream to build a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., moved a million steps closer to reality on Wednesday in Miami. A $1 million donation from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation pushed the effort to honor the slain civil rights leader over the milestone $100 million mark -- and supporters are launching a campaign, with help from former President Bill Clinton and the Miami Heat, that they hope will inspire others to at least match that amount.
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MLK Memorial Supporters in South Florida launch campaign to inspire others to donate

The Guardian (UK)
11/20/2008
A 20-year dream to build a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr on the national mall in Washington moved a million steps closer to reality yesterday in Miami.
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Akron Program Director Vivian Celeste Neal Among Women of Year

Women of Color Awards
11/11/2008

Cleveland, Ohio — Stacey Bell, co-anchor of WJW, Fox 8 News at Five and Ten, will join some of the most powerful women in the region at the 3rdAnnual Training and Leadership Development Institute and Awards Luncheon, uWomen of Power and Influence" Thursday, November 13, 2008, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. at The Forum Conference Center, One Cleveland Center Building, 1375 East 9th Street in Cleveland. The event is presented by National City and the Women of Color Foundation, with the support of: Cleveland Clinic; The Nielsen Company; and media sponsors, The Call & Post, FOX8 Television (WJW-TV), The Village Television, and Clear Channel Outdoor Media. Women of power and influence from all over Northeast Ohio will be in attendance!

...

Vivian Celeste Neal, winner of the ISIS Award, is the Community Program Director with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami, Florida. She oversees grant development and grant making, working with a Community Advisory Committee in Akron, Ohio and Fort Wayne, Indiana, two of the foundation's 26 communities. Neal spent much of her career as an educator with Akron Public Schools, during which time, she served in several positions, including teacher, principal and central office administrator. After retiring from the school district, she became Assistant to the Senior Vice President and Provost for Educational Outreach at The University of Akron. Vivian is a member of the Greater Akron Chamber Board; Akron Art Museum Board; Akron Roundtable Board; Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Kent Area Chapter of Links, Inc, Emeralds Civic Club, and The University of Akron, College of Education Alumni Board. "I am deeply honored and surprised, and sincerely appreciate this wonderful award" said Neal when Boone gave her the good news.

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1920's Diary Gives Peek at Life of John S. Knight

Akron Beacon Journal
11/11/2008
The little green book arrived at the newspaper office in a Whole Foods shopping bag, the top taped shut, with a note tucked inside.

Was there something we could do with this?

The book was a small, leather-bound diary, dated 1924, kept by Katherine ''Katie'' Knight, the first wife of John S. Knight.

For some 30 years, it had been in the possession of Beverly Feinberg, who bought the diary for next to nothing at a Knight estate sale. Paid maybe a quarter.

She left it behind with her mother when she moved to Pennsylvania. Now her mother, Ethel Kopelson, is cleaning out the family home in preparation for sale. She knew better than to throw it away, but she no longer wanted to be the caretaker.

Was there something we could do with this?

This sort of thing happens from time to time. All kinds of historical paraphernalia exists in attics and storage rooms and sheds and basements, the random effects of a living, evolving community. Some of it belongs right where it is, in the collections of families who can pass these things down. And some of it has a more formal purpose.

In this case, there was a logical destination. The University of Akron archives is the official home of John S. Knight's papers. The collection documents the professional and personal life of Knight, the longtime editor and publisher of the Akron Beacon Journal, and one of this community's most important figures in the 20th century.


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