National Bar Association's 28th Annual Mid-Year Conference and Gertrude E. Rush Award Dinner

The National Bar Association (NBA) honored five black Illinois luminaries during its Gertrude E. Rush Awards Dinner at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. The 2008 recipients were Linda Johnson Rice, president and CEO, Johnson Publishing Co. Inc.; Lerone Bennett Jr., author, historian and EBONY Magazine executive editor emeritus; Emil Jones, Illinois State Senate president; Judge Ann Claire Williams, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit; and Judge William Cousins Jr., Illinois Appellate Court (retired). Kirkland was a Gold Sponsor of this event.