Monday, January 13, 2003

WILMINGTON, NC – Noted civil rights leader Dr. Benjamin Hooks will

speak at UNC Wilmington’s annual Martin Luther King commemoration

scheduled for 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 23, in Kenan Auditorium.

Hooks, an ordained Baptist minister, served as executive

director of the National Association for the Advancement of

Colored People (NAACP) from 1977 to 1992. Prior to heading

the NAACP, Hooks was the first black appointee to the

Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Named by

President Richard Nixon in 1972, Hooks addressed the lack

of minority ownership of television and radio stations, the minority

employment statistics for the broadcasting industry and the image of

blacks in the mass media. While Hooks was with the FCC, minority

employment in broadcasting rose from three percent to 15 percent.

Born Jan. 31, 1925, in Memphis, Tenn., Hooks attended LeMoyne College

and Howard University. He earned a law degree from DePaul University

in 1948. Following graduation, he returned to Memphis, where he

practiced from 1949 to 1965. In addition, he served as a producer and

host for television programs including Conversations in Black and White

and Forty Percent Speaks. Hooks is a member of the American Bar

Association, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the

Tennessee Council on Human Relations. In 1986, he received the

NAACP’s Springarn Medal, an annual award for outstanding

achievement by a black American.

UNCW’s King commemoration is sponsored by the university’s Office of

Campus Diversity. While admission is free and open to the public, tickets

are required and are available at the auditorium box office by calling

910/962-3500.

Note to the media: Dr. Hooks will be available for media interviews from 5

to 6 p.m., Jan. 23. To arrange, contact Lee Ann Dulatre, campus diversity,

at 910/962-3832. A photo of Hooks is available on the Web at

www.uncw.edu/news/headlines/2003/jan/20030113-01.html.