Civil rights museum honors Michelle Obama, grassroots group

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Former first lady Michelle Obama and The Poor People’s Campaign have been chosen to receive Freedom Awards from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The museum said Wednesday that Obama and the campaign’s leaders, the Rev. William Barber and the Rev. Liz Theoharis, will be honored at a virtual ceremony Oct. 14. The awards are bestowed annually by the museum on the grounds of the former motel where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot in 1968. Michelle Obama has been an advocate for healthy families, higher education and international girls’ education. The Poor People’s Campaign seeks to combat racism and poverty, among other problems.