NAIS - Conference Preview - December 5-7, 2008 - (Page 8)

speakers sir sidney Poitier Opening Ceremonies Keynote Address FriDay, DeCember 5 John trudell General Session FriDay, DeCember 5 8:00am – 9:30am Legendary civil rights activist, humanitarian, and Academy Award winning actor, director, producer, and best-selling author, Sir Sidney Poitier has won many honors and awards in his more than 50-year career. In 1968, H.M. Queen Elizabeth II knighted Poitier. His spiritual autobiography, The Measure of a Man, reached bestseller status when originally published in 2000, and achieved that rank again in 2007 when chosen for Oprah’s Book Club. The recipient of four honorary doctorate degrees from institutions of higher learning, Poitier has won the BAFTA, three Golden Globes, an American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement, the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement, the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement, five NAACP Image, and two Golden Bear awards. In 2007, he resigned his ambassadorships to Japan from the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. His third book, Life Beyond Measure: Letters To My GreatGranddaughter, debuted in April 2008. 4:30pm – 5:30pm Recording artist, poet, and champion of indigenous issues, John Trudell is as direct and plainspoken as the words he puts to music. Born of mixed tribal blood, Trudell grew up in and around the Santee Sioux reservation near Omaha, Nebraska. The struggle against economic and cultural deprivation would become the raw material for his uncompromising artistic vision. The Vietnam Veteran participated in the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz Island by Indians of All Tribes, becoming their spokesman. Trudell later served as chairman of the American Indian Movement. In 1979, his mother-in-law, wife, and three children were killed in a fire of unknown origin—a horrific tragedy that led Trudell to find his voice as an artist and poet, writing, in his words, “to stay connected to this reality.” A meeting with Jackson Browne, in 1979, led Trudell into the world of music. He has since recorded many albums including AKA Grafitti Man, Fables and Other Realities, and many others. Questions about pocc or sdlc? call nais at (202) 973-9700.

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NAIS - Conference Preview - December 5-7, 2008

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