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Staff of New York City Central Labor Council, from left, Ms. Elizabeth Hulan, Ms. Frigida Diaz and Ms. Luce Lakharam, with Ms. Lawanda Kamara, Sr. V.P. Events, Celebrate Africa Foundation
NEW YORK, New York, Sept. 14 - The Celebrate Africa Foundation today honored a great American and a daughter of Africa, the Hon. Chief Dr. Annie B. Martin, with its prestigious Humanitarian Award, at the high class Tavern-on-the-Green at the Central Park, New York. It was a Who's Who in the New York Labor unions who graced the event, including the President of the New York City Central Labor Council, the umbrella organization for the 1.6 million-member labor unions in New York, Mr. Brian McCaughlin, and the Secretary to the Council Chief Ted H. Jacobsen.
Celebrate Africa Foundation is the continental- and Diaspora-wide organization devoted to celebrating Africa and to promoting all things positive about the African continent and its people, while recognizing the problems still facing the continent. Celebrate Africa Foundation believes that until Africa begins to celebrate itself and its achievements, no one else will do it.
Its diverse board of directors includes, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Under-Secretary for Political Affairs; Mr. Ted H. Jacobsen, Secretary of the New York Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO; Dr. Annie B. Martin, President of the NAACP, New York Chapter, Chief Mrs. Opral Benson, Chairperson, Outreach Foundation; former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Niger to the UN, Ambassador Ousmane Moutari, Chief Mrs. Loretta Onyeani, Educator; Mr. Kofi A. Boateng, CPA, Chief Operating Officer, Africa-America Institute; Mrs. Ola Ifezulike, General Manager, Afribank International, and Ms. Lawanda Kamara, Sr. Vice President, Events.
Described as "a servant of God and humankind, and a legend in her own time ... a tireless and consummate leader with a stubborn and determined commitment to equal opportunity for all Americans, Dr. Annie B. Martin has been a foot soldier marching on the front lines of the civil rights movement for several decades.
She is currently a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) board of directors and the unprecedented 14 term president of the New York Branch - the first branch established and charted by the national organization and, under her leadership, is now the largest branch in the eastern region, with over 6,000 members, receiving annual national awards for outstanding program activity.
Dr. Martin is also an important and dominant voice in the American labor movement, including service as executive board member of the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO and first vice president of the Black Trade Unionists Leadership Committee of the NYC/CLC. She served as New York State Assistant Commissioner of Labor under former Governors Rockefeller, Wilson and Carey; Senior Extension Associate of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 8-138, Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Union; an adjunct professor at Columbia, Fordham and New York Universities.
As Director of Labor Participation for the American Red Cross in Greater New York, she was on duty seven days a week after the terrorist attack on America on September 11th, 2001, serving as a liaison between labor, the Red Cross and the Fire and Police Departments. She also coordinated survival and job placement problems of the many hundreds of members of organized labor and personally processed 290 claims for American Red Cross Emergency Family Gifts to families' beneficiaries who lost members at "Ground Zero."
The recipient of over 200 awards, including the Doctor of Human Letters from Claflin University, she received the coveted Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the prestigious Humanitarian Award of the International Salvation & Deliverance Ministry, and was featured in the book, "Ordinary People - Extraordinary Lives," a pictorial history of the first 100 years of organized labor's contribution to New York City.
Dr. Martin has been listed in "Who's Who in Black America," for many years and was inducted into the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers. A Life Golden Heritage and Diamond member of the NAACP, she also is a life member of the National Council of Negro Women, a member of the New York City CLUW, the Coalition of 100 Black Women, and the Soroptimist International of New York; and is a Commissioner on the Commission of the Dignity of Immigrants. She served as an officer on the Board of Directors of the New York Lung Association, president of the New York State Council of Vocational Education and the Governor's Advisory Committee for Black Affairs.
A native of Eastover, South Carolina, the seventh of eight children, she is a graduate of Allen University in Columbia and earned Master's Degrees in both Social Work and Guidance Counseling from New York University. A member of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Bethel in Harlem, where she serves on the Trustee Board and the Laymen's League. And, as Director of the NYC Central Labour Council "Labor in the Pulpit" program and guided in her daily walk by the scrip, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," she continues to help remedy the conditions of those often too powerless to help themselves.
Dr. Martin honored as a Chief by the Udumeze of Ohafia, the mighty warriors in Nigeria. Apart from the award, the event was also the first fund-raising event of the Celebrate Africa Foundation, which has achieved a great deal in its short life, raising more than $45,000.00 through the sale of tickets at $250.00 and advertisements in its Event Journal which attracted a good number of prestigious advertisers.
Though the event was advertised to start at 6:00 to 9:00, guests started arriving at 5:00, pushing the start to commence at 5:30 with assortments of drinks, hors doeuvres and carving tables of all kinds of hot food. In fact, guests enjoyed themselves so much that they didn't even leave until after 9:30 pm, with drinks and food still available. Though it was a horrendous day for travel in the New York City area, as President Bush and other world presidents were visiting New York, with cars unable to move a mile in one hour, the event started immediately at 6:30 after the arrival of the President of the New York Central Labor Council, Mr. Brian McCaughlin.
The Secretary of the New York Central Labor Council started the ball rolling with the introduction of the Chairman/CEO and founder of the Celebrate Africa Foundation, Dr. Chika Onyeani. Onyeani praised the great work of the guest of honor on behalf of African immigrants, and then proceeded to recite the accomplishments of the Celebrate Africa Foundation, including the huge success of the Wall Street Project, which was well documented in many newspapers, including the recognition accorded the event with proclamations from former Governor James McGreevey of New Jersey, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, Borough President C. Virginia Fields of Manhattan, and the New York City Council represented by Honorable Councilmembers Bill Perkins and Kendall Stewart.
On October 30th, 2004, Celebrate Africa Foundation hosted a reception at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on 135th Street and Malcolm X Blvd, where the newly appointed Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nigeria, whose President is the Chair of the African Union, was introduced to the community. On November 15, 2004, CAF participated in the Chieftaincy installation of Dr. Annie B. Martin and Mr. Ted H. Jacobsen as Chiefs of Ohafia, Nigeria.
On June 12, 2005, in partnership with Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn, New York, Celebrate Africa Foundation screened the movie "Hotel Rwanda," a movie which detailed the atrocities of the Rwandan genocide.
Speaking about Dr. Martin, President McCaughlin praised her as an tireless human rights advocate who has been in the trenches of the civil rights movement for a long, including recruiting and convincing him to join the NAACP when he was just 15 years old.
Part of the funds raised will go to famine relief in Niger, Hurricane Katrina relief, and other projects.
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