Close Menu
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    • Home
    • About Us
    • Digital Subscription
    • Advertisement
    • Contact Us
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    The Tennessee TribuneThe Tennessee Tribune
    Advertise With Us
    • Home
      • COVID-19 Resource Center
        • Dr. Henry Louis Gates’ PSA Radio
      • Featured
    • News
      • State
      • Local
      • National/International News
      • Global
      • Business
        • Commentary
        • Finance
        • Local Business
      • Investigative Stories
        • Affordable Housing
        • DCS Investigation
        • Gentrification
    • Editorial
      • National Politics
      • Local News
      • Local Editorial
      • Political Editorial
      • Editorial Cartoons
      • Cycle of Shame
    • Community
      • History
      • Tennessee
        • Chattanooga
        • Clarksville
        • Knoxville
        • Memphis
      • Public Notices
      • Women
        • Let’s Talk with Ms. June
    • Education
      • College
        • American Baptist College
        • Belmont University
        • Fisk
        • HBCU
        • Meharry
        • MTSU
        • University of Tennessee
        • TSU
        • Vanderbilt
      • Elementary
      • High School
    • Lifestyle
      • Art
      • Auto
      • Tribune Travel
      • Entertainment
        • 5 Questions With
        • Books
        • Events
        • Film Review
        • Local Entertainment
      • Family
      • Food
        • Drinks
      • Health & Wellness
      • Home & Garden
      • Featured Books
    • Religion
      • National Religion
      • Local Religion
      • Obituaries
        • National Obituaries
        • Local Obituaries
      • Faith Commentary
    • Sports
      • MLB
        • Sounds
      • NBA
      • NCAA
      • NFL
        • Predators
        • Titans
      • NHL
      • Other Sports
      • Golf
      • Professional Sports
      • Sports Commentary
      • Metro Sports
    • Media
      • Video
      • Photo Galleries
      • Take 10
      • Trending With The Tribune
    • Classified
    • Obituaries
      • Local Obituaries
      • National Obituaries
    The Tennessee TribuneThe Tennessee Tribune
    Entertainment

    US Lawyer Depicted in ‘Just Mercy’ Wins ‘Alternative Nobel’

    Article submittedBy Article submittedOctober 4, 2020Updated:October 4, 2020No Comments3 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Telegram Pinterest Tumblr Reddit Email
    This Dec. 16, 2019 photo shows civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson posing for a portrait in New York to promote the film "Just Mercy." (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    By JAY REEVES
    Associated Press

    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) _ An Alabama human rights attorney whose work fighting racial injustice was depicted in the Hollywood movie “Just Mercy” was among four activists awarded a global honor sometimes referred to as the “alternative Nobel“ on Thursday.

    Bryan Stevenson, who founded the Equal Justice Initiative in 1989 while working to free wrongly convicted people from prison and was the driving force behind a national memorial to the victims of lynching, was named a recipient of annual Right Livelihood Award.

    The Swedish Right Livelihood Foundation cited Stevenson for “his inspiring endeavor to reform the U.S. criminal justice system and advance racial reconciliation in the face of historic trauma.”

    “His compassion has shown that each human being is worth fighting for,” the foundation said in honoring Stevenson and the other recipients.

    Stevenson, in a video released by the foundation, called the award a “great honor.“

    “And it comes at a moment when there’s a lot of uncertainty and a lot of anxiety about our efforts to achieve justice in America,” he said.

    Stevenson’s work was the subject of the 2019 movie starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, based on Stevenson bestselling book “Just Mercy.”

    The film tells the story of Stevenson’s successful work to win the freedom of a Black man wrongly convicted of murder, Walter McMillan, from Alabama’s death row in 1993. In all, Stevenson and his staff have won freedom or other relief for more than 135 people on death row, according to Equal Justice Initiative.

    The movie was released for free viewing on digital platforms in June as the nation grappled with the fallout from the police killing of George Floyd by police in Minnesota.

    Stevenson, 61, also has argued and won cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including a decision that banned mandatory life-without-parole sentences for children 16 years old or younger.

    A native of Delaware, Stevenson graduated from Harvard University’s law school and moved to the South, where he began representing poor, mostly Black people in a system historically stacked against minorities.

    Aside from his work in the courtroom, Stevenson has spearheaded a drive to document and acknowledge America’s history of racial injustice. The work resulted in the construction in Montgomery of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opened in 2018 and honors more than 4,000 victims of racist lynchings in the United States.

    The Right Livelihood Awards were created in 1980 to recognize work that the founder, Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull, felt was being overlooked by the Nobel Foundation’s better-known prizes.

    Other recipients for 2020 included Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski and his non-governmental organization Human Rights Center Viasna; Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has defended activists, opposition politicians and women prosecuted for removing their headscarves; and environmental activist Lottie Cunningham Wren of Nicaragua.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Article submitted

    Related Posts

    ‘I AM QUEEN’ Premieres at TPAC, Celebrating the Power and Presence of Black Women in Nashville

    April 18, 2025

    BADWest Explores Love, Resistance and Power, May 16

    April 12, 2025

    New “Friday” film forthcoming

    April 11, 2025

    Maestro Parnther Returns to Nashville Symphony in ‘Mendelssohn’s Fifth’

    April 10, 2025

    WEATHER HUNTERS, New STEM Series Created by & Starring Al Roker, Launches on PBS KIDS July 7, 2025

    April 9, 2025

    Pure Hell; Fires Reignited Decades Later

    April 8, 2025

    Comments are closed.

    Business

    FUNdraising Good Times Survival through partnerships, collaborations, and mergers

    May 14, 2025

    Target Boycotts and its Effect on Both Sides of the Black Dollar

    May 6, 2025

    FedEx to Launch FedEx Easy Returns at 3,000 Locations Across the US, Supported by Blue Yonder

    May 2, 2025
    1 2 3 … 382 Next
    Education
    Education

    MTSU provides 300-plus area girls solid career choices at second annual ‘Ladies in Concrete’ event

    By adminMay 16, 2025

    MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University’s celebrated Concrete Industry Management program hosted over 320…

    From Stratford to Harvard: GEAR UP Student Earns Full Scholarship to Ivy League School

    May 14, 2025

    Austin Peay State University graduates 1,400 students at Spring 2025 commencement

    May 14, 2025

    MTSU College of Media and Entertainment adds 4 alums to prestigious ‘Wall of Fame’

    May 14, 2025
    The Tennessee Tribune
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    • About Us
    • Digital Subscription
    • Store
    • Advertise With Us
    • Contact
    © 2025 The Tennessee Tribune - Site Designed by No Regret Media.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Our Spring Sale Has Started

    You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https://wppopupmaker.com/guides/auto-opening-announcement-popups/