Black, Hispanic And U.S. Asian Wires Create Alliance
South Plainfield, NJ – Black PR Wire (BPRW), Hispanic PR Wire (HPRW) and U.S. Asian Wire (USAW) have formed a strategic marketing and multicultural news distribution alliance that will help marketers improve their reach to multicultural media audiences. The move facilitates multicultural outreach efforts for clients seeking to augment their penetration of mainstream media as the scope and coverage of ethnic media expands. The alliance ensures that news will reach the specialized targeted media reached by USAW, HPRW, and BPRW effortlessly through the new Top 100, Top 300 and Top 500 Multicultural Circuits. The importance of diversity and multicultural outreach efforts is underscored by explosive population growth, as nearly one-third of America's population is of either Asian, Black or Hispanic origin.
For more information, visit www.blackprwire.com, www.hispanicprwire.com or www.usasianwire.com.

TV One Airs Historic Series Roots
Silver Spring, MD – TV One is bringing Roots, the epic mini-series that 30 years ago changed the face of television, to a new generation of viewers when the network debuts the 12-hour award-winning television event, beginning Easter Sunday, April 8. The Emmy-, Golden Globe- and Peabody Award-winning miniseries, which follows several generations of an enslaved family from Africa in the 1700s to emancipation during the Civil War, will air in six parts from 8 to10 p.m. Sunday, April 8 through Thursday, April 13, repeating each evening at 10 p.m. and the following day at noon, with the finale airing on Sunday, April 15, at 8 and 10 p.m., repeating on April 16 at noon (all times ET). This historic series, based on the late Alex Haley's best-selling book about his ancestors, begins with the harrowing story of Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton), a young West African who is captured by slave traders in 1750 and sold into slavery in America, through the emancipation of Chicken George (Ben Vereen), Kunta Kinte's grandson.
For more information, visit www.tvoneonline.com.

Tuskegee Airmen Receive Congressional Gold Medal
Nationwide – Nearly 400 black World War II pilots, including several from the Denver metropolitan area, received the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honor, on March 29. Last April, Congress passed legislation approving the citation honoring the Tuskegee Airmen, black aviators whose flying skills in the skies over Africa and Europe helped persuade President Harry S. Truman to end segregation in the U.S. military in 1948. But design disputes stalled the release of the medal for almost a year, prompting some of the aviators -- many of them in their 80s -- to worry that the delay might allow death to cheat some of them of the recognition they deserved. The Tuskegee Airmen were best known for flying fighter escorts for Allied bombers over Europe. The group is said never to have lost a bomber.
For more information, visit www.tuskegeeairman.org.

Civil Rights Leaders Footsteps Placed In International Civil Rights Walk of Fame
Atlanta, GA –The International Civil Rights Walk of Fame, now in its fourth year, added 13 esteemed civil rights leaders to the permanent collection of footprints at its 2007 induction ceremony Feb. 26. The 2007 assemblage of inductees included Lerone Bennett, Jr.; Tony Bennett; Marian Wright Edelman; Mayor Shirley Franklin; Attorney Frankie Freeman; Joe Louis; Dr. Otis Moss, Jr.; Sir Lynden Pindling; Sir Sidney Poitier; Dr. Otis W. Smith; Congresswoman Maxine Waters; the Honorable L. Douglas Wilder; and Jean Childs Young. The International Civil Rights Walk of Fame is sponsored by the Trumpet Awards Foundation, Inc., and was created and designed by Xernona Clayton, Trumpet Awards founder and executive producer.
For more information, visit www.trumpetfoundation.org.

NAR Announces $1 Million For MLK Memorial
Washington, DC – The Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation announced that the National Association of Realtors will donate $1 million to help build the King memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The Memorial will be situated adjacent to the F.D.R. Memorial and in a direct line between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Congress passed Joint Resolutions in 1996 authorizing Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. to establish a memorial honoring Dr. King to be built in Washington, DC. The Ceremonial Groundbreaking took place Nov. 13, 2006, and the Memorial is scheduled to be completed in 2008.
For more information, visit www.mlkmemorial.org.

ExxonMobil Contributes $1 Million To UNCF
Irving, Texas – The Exxon Mobil Foundation donated $1 million to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) in support of the organization's efforts to increase minority degree attainment by reducing financial barriers to college. The company made the contribution at the UNCF's 63rd Annual Awards Dinner in New York on March 9, where it was the presenting sponsor. This year's Annual Awards Dinner raised $2.6 million in support of the organization. The Annual Awards Dinner brings together 1,400 friends and supporters of UNCF, including board members, college presidents, corporate partners, students and alumni. This year, former Presidents George H.W. Bush and William J. Clinton were presented with UNCF's highest honor, the Frederick D. Patterson Award. The award is given to individuals and corporations who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to the expansion of educational opportunities to deserving young men and women.
For more information, visit www.uncf.org.

Award-Winning Black Illustrator Dies At 82
Baltimore, MD – Thomas Stockett, illustrator/political cartoonist for the Afro-American Newspaper, died Wednesday, Feb. 21, at Maryland General Hospital in Baltimore, MD. He was 82. Known also as Tommy and T. Stockett, Stockett started his art career at four years old and began painting as a teenager. He received his art education at Carver High School. He worked for a local sign shop where he designed movie billboards for various theaters in Baltimore. He joined the Afro-American Newspapers in 1955 as the political cartoonist, where he was given the assignment of using his drawings to illustrate an editorial point and help readers envision a particular topic from a Black perspective. He was to receive a Black History Month Recognition by the state of Maryland on Feb. 27 for his years of service to the Afro-American Newspapers.
For more information, visit www.afro.com.

NABA CEO Honored By Network Journal
Greenbelt, MD – Gwendolyn D. Skillern, CPA, president and CEO of the National Association of Black Accountants Inc., was honored as one of 25 influential Black women in business by the Network Journal, a leading professional and small business magazine. In its ninth consecutive year, the Network Journal's award program recognizes a select group of women for attaining significant levels of success in their profession or in business. The theme of the 2007 luncheon was "Women Going the Distance," and in her role as national president and CEO, Skillern is doing that by making a dramatic impact within the accounting and financial services industry. She leads NABA in its effort to give voice and provide resources to people of color around issues of career advancement, entrepreneurship, navigating corporate America and non-profit leadership, among others.
For more information, visit www.nabainc.org.