Tuskegee civil rights attorney Fred Gray will be one of seventeen Americans to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The White House announced the list of recipients of the nation’s highest civilian award. Gray represented Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior and civil right icon Rosa Parks. His was the first voice heard on Alabama Public Radio’s international award-winning documentary “The King of Alabama,” about the fiftieth anniversary of MLK’s assassination.
“If you were to go in a room where he was just seated. He was not a person who would monopolize a conversation,” Gray said of his famous client.
Fred Gray will join actor Denzel Washington and Olympic champion Simone Biles at the White House to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor from President Biden. President Biden describes winners of the Medal of Freedom as people who embody the soul of the nation through hard work, perseverance, and faith. The White House describes the Presidential Medal of Freedom as an honor presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.
Another recipient of the Medal of Freedom this week will include former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, a survivor of gun violence who co-founded Giffords, a nonprofit organization dedicated to gun violence prevention. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs will receive a posthumous Medal of Freedom. Khizr Khan is a Gold Star father and founder of the Constitution Literacy and National Unity Center. The honors will be presented at a ceremony at the White House this coming Thursday.