Benjamin Hooks is seen here in a 2004 photo. The civil rights leader, lawyer, judge and Baptist preacher died in Memphis, Thursday, at the age of 85.
He grew up working at his father's photography store on one of black America's most important streets, Memphis' famed Beale Street, and later recalled believing the best job would be a few blocks away at the whites-only Peabody because of the access it would provide to a world of privilege and wealth that little Benny Hooks could only imagine.
By the end of his life, Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks would be invited to the White House by President George W. Bush to receive the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and months later would visit with a black presidential candidate named Barack Obama on his condominium balcony with a majestic view of the Mississippi River.
The article here...
Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks
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