Mary Ruth Robinson

Mary Ruth Robinson ...is a Memphis Tennessee activist.

Award

On January 14, 2012 more than 800 people joyfully crammed into the sanctuary at First Congregational Church to celebrate thirty years of work at the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center. It was by far our largest gathering yet, which can mainly be attributed to our amazing keynote speaker, Prof. Noam Chomsky. As Prof. Chomsky sad to a reporter from the Commercial Appeal, the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center is "carrying out King's actual work and actual concerns."

We cannot think of a more appropriate quote to synopsize our work today. We were after all founded on the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in order to carry forward the work that he and his peers and forerunners began before us. Indeed, we do stand on the shoulders of so many past heroes that have come before us.

One of those heroes, Mary Ruth Robinson, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the event. In addition to recognizing our past heroes we were able to honor our current ones. Josephine Alexander, who recently stepped down as the coordinator for the GrowMemphis program, received the first annual Golden Pitchfork Award for her work not only to till the soil for justice, but to raise hell when necessary as well.^[1]