Louis Martin 31*35 Indiana Ave., Chicago 16, CAlumet 3-5656 DEFeHDE'l HONOR HOLL CITES LAVS GARROWAY, HOUSEWIFE WHO INSPIRED BIS BOYCOTT, 11* CHICAGO, January 12 — Television star Dave Garroway, and housewife who inspired the Montgomery, Ala, bus boycott, are among 11* individuals and two groups named to the Chicago Defender Honor Roll for 1956. The impact of desegregation in public schools and public transpor­ tation on American life is reflected in half the 16 citations. Six whites and eight Negroes are honored in the annual selections announced today by John H. Sengstacke, editor and publisher of the Defender. The student body of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College at Tallahassee, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are the groups cited. The Honor Holl was created by the Defender to give recognition to those individuals and groups who did most in the preceding years to strengthen democracy at home, and peace in the world. Past Honor Rolls have cited president Dwight D. Eisenhower, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Ralph Bunche, Jackie Robinson and Mme. V. L. Pandit. In announcing the selections, Sengstacke declared: ”We have moved so rapidly toward complete freedom of movement in some areas in 1956, that the full significance of many events in the succession of judicial orders and individual acts has not always been apparent. -2- News Release "No doubt all of those cited by us did not foresee the far reaching effects of their efforts.. But by their achievements, by their resistance to oppression, and by their dedication to compliance with the law of the land they have demonstrated the highest expression of democracy." Selection to the Honor Roll is by the editors of the Defender. One individual or group is subsequently chosen to receive the Robert S. Abbott Award in memory of the paper's founder. The 1956 citations are as follows* THE ¡EV. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. —“ for distinguished leadership of the successful effort by Negro citizens of Montgomery, Ala., to integrate the bus system of their community. MRS. RUBY HURT,EV — for her courageous work as Southern Regional Director of the NAACP in the face of open hostility and threatened violence. MRS. VENICE SPRIGGS---- for her dedication and accomplishment in encouraging Negroes of the deep South to register and vote despite intimidation. (Posthumous award) MIS. ROSA P^RKS — for her steadfast courage and her great faith in democracy which led her to resist the humiliating demands of the Jim Crow system, thereby inspiring the Montgomery bus boycott. DR. OMER N. CARMICHAEL---- for his successful leadership in complying with the Supreme Court order as superintendent of the public schools of Louisville, Kentucky, MRS. JAMES GORDON ---- for courage which marks her as a symbol of all the parents of Negro children who fought so nobly to open the doors of public schools, as she did in Clay, Kentucky. -3- News Release LOUIS "SATCHMO" Ali’ETBONG — for rising above and beyond the color line in pursuit of his profession as a gifted exponent of native American musical expression, and for strengthening the bonds of inter­ national good will. DR. DEBORAH COGGINS — for refusing to be intimidated by those who fired her as a (Florida) county medical officer for dining with a Negro nurse. DAVE GARROWAY — for impartial and objective reporting of the national scene on his morning program "Today*1 over NBC. STEVE ALLEN — for democratic and unbiased presentation of artists of all creeds and colors on his program "Tonight" over NBC. JOHN D. BRITTAIN ---- for subordinating his own misgivings about integration to the greater and higher duty of encouraging compliance with the law in his capacity as principal of the integrated high school of Clinton, Tennessee. FRANK liOBLNSON — for great skill and sportsmanship in winning the Rookie of the Year award of the National Lea6ue as a member of the Cincinnati Redlegs. MRS. .»UTHER1NE LUCY FOSTER---- for her courage and noble determi­ nation in pursuing her democratic right to enroll and study in the graduate school of the University of Alabama. THE REV. PAUL TURNER — for his brave and dramatic defiance of mob violence in escorting Negro students of Clinton, Tenn, high school to class in tha face of physical attack. THE FLORIDA AGRICULTURAL -UD MECHANICAL UNIVERSITY STUDENT BODY — for inspiring the Negro citizenry to boycott the Jim Crow bus system of Tallahassee, Florida. -U- News Itolease THE NAT10SAL ASSOC IATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE---- for strengthening American democracy and continuing its fight against racist bigotry despite oppressive and violent retaliation by whito supremacy extremists, and despite repressive legislation. - 6 -.