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Equal Opportunity Day thus provided the National Urban League with the opportunity to say to the nation that the promise of equality inherent in the Gettysburg Address and in the other documents that shape our lives, had not been met. It was also a time to remind the American people that if our nation was ever to be what it professed to be, then the promise had to be redeemed. And it was a time to honor special individuals who had made major contributions to achieving equal opportunity.

On this, the occasion of the 26th Annual Equal Opportunity Day Dinner, redemption still eludes us, but we have come a long way along the road and our goals draws nearer.

The two champions of equal opportunity that we honor tonight—Dorothy I. Height, National President of the National Council of Negro Women, and Coy G. Eklund, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S.—have helped mightily to bring us further along the road. Their commitment to equal opportunity is total. They honor us by being the recipients of the highest honor the National Urban League can bestow—the Equal Opportunity Day Award.

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