The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Franklin E. Kameny, one of the nation’s most prominent gay rights leaders, died in his sleep yesterday, on National Coming Out Day. He was 86.

In honor of the opening of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial this week on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., AARP, as part of its “My Generation” series, has produced a short video about the life and legacy of Dr. King’s work and his message of hope and peace for all humanity.

The video features  interviews with former U.S. Secretary of State Gen. Colin L. Powell (Ret), acclaimed journalist Colman McCarthy, Freedom Rider Reverend Perry A. Smith, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Karen Narasaki of the Asian American Justice Center, Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers and Zainab Al-Suwaij of the American Islamic Congress.

[CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER: Join us on Sat. Aug. 27 to Rally and March for Jobs, Justice, and the American Dream in Washington, D.C. ]

[CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER: The official dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial will take place this Sunday, August 28.]

George Washington University has announced that civil rights champion William L. Taylor’s collection of legal papers, speeches, and historical documents will be housed at its Graduate School of Education and Human Development Gelman Library.  Taylor died in June 2010.

Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, spoke Tuesday at the State Department with Luis CdeBaca, ambassador-at-large to monitor and combat trafficking in persons, on ways of combating human trafficking and modern day slavery. The discussion was part of an ongoing video program by the Bureau of Public Affairs entitled "Conversations with America,” which aims to provide insight into how the leaders of national nongovernmental organizations engage with senior State Department officials around foreign policy and global issues.

Barack Obama was an Illinois state senator running for the U.S. Senate when he was tapped by Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign to deliver the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Although Obama had never before used a teleprompter, his 17-minute speech helped set the stage for one of the most dramatic ascents in U.S. political history. Overnight, Obama went from being an unknown state lawmaker with a funny name to a rising superstar in the Democratic Party.

That address and 17 others provide the framework for "Power in Words: The Stories behind Barack Obama's Speeches, from the State House to the White House," by Mary Frances Berry, an acclaimed historian and former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and Josh Gottheimer, a former presidential speechwriter for Bill Clinton. The 18 speeches, reproduced in full, cover a six-year period beginning with Obama's 2002 rationale for opposing the war in Iraq to his 2008 presidential victory speech in Hyde Park.