Senator Philip A. Hart and Theodore Sachs were recipients of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Annual Bill of Rights Award on Saturday evening, December 4. The Award was made during the intermission of the show “VOICES, Inc.”, the musical production from New York brought to Detroit for one night only.
Both Senator Hart and Mr. Sachs were honored for their exceptional personal contributions on behalf’ of the right to an equal vote; Their awards were presented by Congressman John Conyers Jr., and Councilman-elect Nicholas Hood. Conyers and Hood have themselves been active in the civil rights field before their careers in politics began. Hood, as a prominent minister, and Conyers as a practicing attorney and a former board member of the Metropolitan Detroit Branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU has thus combined a civic event with an evening’s entertainment. The musical was an octet performing scenes from Negro history in song style and in narrative. Beginning with Bantu tribal chants and slave ship scenes, the singers took us through the Civil War right up to the present day in Selma and elsewhere on the Civil Rights frontier.