ALA’s Coretta Scott King
Awards Breakfast Canceled
Fearing the event was “becoming a pawn in a larger, more complex political agenda,” the sponsors of the 33rd Coretta Scott King Awards Breakfast, scheduled for June 19 at the San Francisco Marriott Hotel during the American Library Association’s Annual Conference, canceled the event June 4. The annual breakfast, sponsored by the ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table’s Coretta Scott King Awards Task Force, honors African-American authors and illustrators of outstanding children’s books.
In a June 1 letter to ALA President Nancy Kranich, Coretta Scott King wrote that she thought a boycott of the Marriott by union workers was justified and asked that the event be moved to another site because award recipients and attendees might have to cross picket lines. “The fact that the award is named after a living person, and that the person is Mrs. Martin Luther King Jr., we feel honor-bound to seriously consider her wishes,” Task Force Chair Carole McCullough said.
The approximately 500 breakfast ticket holders will be able to pick up discussion guides written by the award winners at the conference. All fees will be reimbursed by mail.
Posted June 11, 2001.
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