President Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2009 (Video and Pics)

click on each photo for biography of the recipients: Stephen Hawking, Sidney Poitier, Billie Jean King, Pedro Jose Greer, Joseph Lowery, Joseph Medicine Crow, Nancy Goodman Brinker, Mary Robinson, Muhammad Yunus, Harvey Milk, Sandra Day O'Connor, Chita Rivera, Ted Kennedy, Janet Rowley, Jack Kemp, Desmond Tutu

2009 Medal of Freedom Recipients



**note** Harvey Milk's award is accepted by his nephew, Stuart Milk; Senator Ted Kennedy's award is accepted by his daughter, Kara; Jack Kemp's award is accepted by his wife, Joanne

President Barack Obama awarded the nation's highest civilian honor to 16 "agents of change" on Wednesday, highlighting their accomplishments as examples of the heights a person can reach and the difference they can make in the lives of others.

"What unites them is a belief ... that our lives are what we make of them, that no barriers of race, gender or physical infirmity can restrain the human spirit, and that the truest test of a person's life is what we do for one another," Obama said at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, overflowing with guests as well as White House aides who came to glimpse the celebrities in their midst.

"The recipients of the Medal of Freedom did not set out to win this or any other award. They did not set out in pursuit of glory or fame or riches," the president continued. "Rather they set out, guided by passion, committed to hard work, aided by persistence, often with few advantages but the gifts, grace and good name God gave them." read more here....

MSNBC Video

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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients Announced

The list below:

Nancy Goodman Brinker is the founder of Susan G, Komen for the Cure, a grassroots organization that invests in research to fight breast cancer.

Pedro Jose Greer Jr. is the founder of Camillus Health Concern, an agency that provides medical care to more than 10,000 homeless patients a year in Miami, Florida.

Stephen Hawking is a theoretical physicist and author who has worked through a severe physical disability to pioneer academic research in math and physics.

Jack Kemp, who receives the award posthumously, served as a congressman and as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He also encouraged development in urban communities.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, has served as a senator for 46 years and has pushed for quality and affordable health care for children, seniors and people with disabilities.

Billie Jean King, a professional tennis player of the 1960s and 1970s, was the first openly lesbian major sports figure in the United States.

Rev. Joseph Lowery has been a leader of the struggle for civil rights since the 1950s. His work included helping to organize the Montgomery bus boycott that followed Rosa Park's refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger in 1955.

Joe Medicine Crow – High Bird is the last living Plains Indian war chief and author on Native American history and culture.

Harvey Milk, who receives the award posthumously, became the first openly gay elected official of a major U.S. city when he joined the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He pushed the civil rights movement for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Sandra Day O'Connor was the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Sidney Poitier was the first African American to be nominated for and win an Academy Award for best actor.

Chita Rivera was the first Latina recipient of the performing arts award from the Kennedy Center. She made her breakthrough performance in 1957 as Anita in the Broadway premiere of West Side Story and has won two Tony Awards.

Mary Robinson was the first female president of Ireland. She is also the founder of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, an organization that focuses on the link between human rights and globalization.

Janet Davison Rowley is a human geneticist and the first scientist to identify a chromosomal translocation as the cause of leukemia and other cancers. She received the National Medal of Science in 1999, the United States' highest scientific award.

Desmond Tutu is a retired Anglican archbishop who played a lead role in South Africa's anti-apartheid movement. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

Muhammad Yunus pioneered micro-loans in his effort to reverse poverty trends. The Bangladeshi economist provided small, low-interest loans to low-income people in Bangladesh. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Video and Pictures of the ceremony at the White House, here

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