The Baltimore Branch NAACP will be hailed as one of the NAACP’s top local units when the nation’s oldest civil right gathers for the annual convention in Orlando, Fla, the NAACP said July 12.
The branch is to receive the prestigious 2013 Thalheimer Award, the NAACP’s top award to given to branches and units for outstanding achievements.
The award will be presented to Branch President Tessa Hill-Aston for the Baltimore unit’s efforts to protect voter rights against attempts to dilute the Black vote, to ensure that immigrants are not turned away from entry into the U.S. without due process, to enhance the re-entry into the mainstream of ex-offenders and to establish a citywide Boy Scout Troop.
“The branch has been extraordinarily busy trying to protect the hard fought civil rights gains for African Americans and to break down barriers to equality for all communities in Maryland,” said Hill-Aston.
“This recognition by the National NAACP is confirmation that we are on the right track and shows that the work we’re making a difference. We are very humbled to receive the Thalheimer Award again,” she said in a statement issued July 12.
The award is named after noted Johns Hopkins University educator and philanthropist Dr. Ross Thalheimer.