Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and entertainer Bono were named recipients Thursday of the National Civil Rights Museum’s annual Freedom Awards.
The museum on the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder gives two Freedom Awards annually to recipients who have worked to advance civil rights.
Past recipients include civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, former South African President Nelson Mandela and former President Carter.
Lewis “has maintained an unfailing, principled commitment to the ideals of equality and justice,” the museum said in making the announcements.
Lewis will receive the museum’s “national award” at a banquet in Memphis on Oct. 18. At that ceremony, U2 frontman Bono will get the museum’s “international award.”
Bono, a native of Ireland who rose to fame as singer with the rock group U2, has championed social justice with his music and activism, the museum said.
The main section of the museum is built around the former Lorraine Motel, where King was killed by a sniper April 4, 1968, as he stood on a second-floor balcony.
King’s convicted killer, James Earl Ray, died in prison in 1998.
