President Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 17 individuals yesterday. First established by President Kennedy in 1963, it is the nation’s highest civilian award.
Among the awardees:
–35-year-old African American gymnast Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history with 32 Olympic and world championship medals.
—Fred Gray, a civil rights attorney who has represented Rosa Parks, the NAACP, Martin Luther King, Jr., and victims of the Tuskegee experiment.
–Denzel Washington, although he did not attend today’s ceremony, the actor, director, and producer has won two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globes, and a lifetime Cecil B. DeMille Award. He has also served as a national spokesman for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America for over 25 years.
–Diane Nash, a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, who has organized some of the most important civil rights campaigns of the 20th century.
Click ▶️ to listen to AURN Washington Correspondent Ebony McMorris’s report:
