Join the ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts for our annual Bill of Rights Dinner on Friday, September 22, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. at the Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport.
We are excited to gather with ACLU supporters and champions from across the Commonwealth to celebrate the ACLU’s work fighting for reproductive freedom, racial justice, voting rights, LGBTQ equality, immigrants' rights, criminal law reform, freedom of expression, and freedom from surveillance.
For over 100 years, the ACLU has been our nation's guardian of liberty, working in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.
For questions, please email dinner@aclum.org.
Honoree
Devin McCourty
Devin McCourty played as a defensive back for the New England Patriots since being drafted in the first round by the team in 2010 and went on to win three Super Bowls before retiring in March 2023. Coupled with his distinguished NFL career, Devin has been a driving force behind efforts focused on health care, youth development and social justice in the Boston community. Devin is a champion on ACLU’s racial justice work, having worked together on initiatives to make Massachusetts a more equitable state.
Speaker
W. Kamau Bell
W. Kamau Bell is a stand-up comedian and the director and executive producer of the four-part Showtime documentary, We Need To Talk About Cosby, which premiered at Sundance. He also hosts and executive-produces the Emmy Award winning CNN docu-series United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell. His new book, Do The Work: An Antiracist Activity Book, co-written with Kate Schatz, is forthcoming from Workman in July. His most recent stand-up comedy special, Private School Negro, is available on Netflix. Kamau’s first book has an easy-to-remember title, The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6' 4", African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama's Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian. He’s the ACLU Celebrity Ambassador for Racial Justice and serves on the board of directors of Donors Choose and the advisory board of Hollaback!
Entertainment
Porsha Olayiwola
Porsha Olayiwola is a native of Chicago who writes, lives, and loves Boston. Olayiwola is a writer, performer, educator, and curator who uses afro-futurism and surrealism to examine historical and current issues in the Black, woman, and queer diasporas. She is an individual world poetry slam champion and the founder of the Roxbury Poetry Festival. Olayiwola is Brown University’s 2019 Heimark Artist-In-Residence as well as the 2021 Artist-In-Residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. She is a 2020 poet laureate fellow with the Academy of American Poets. Olayiwola earned her MFA in Poetry from Emersen College and is the author of I Shimmer Sometimes, Too. Olayiwola is the current poet laureate for the City of Boston.
Justice Sponsor
Boger Family Foundation
Constitution Sponsor
Burns & Levinson LLP
Ellen Paradise Fisher
Fish & Richardson
Nicki Nichols Gamble
Norma and Ben Shapiro
Philippe and Kate Villers
Stephen Kay and Lisbeth Tarlow
Susan Whitehead
Thomas Shapiro and Nadine Bonda
Freedom Sponsor
AE Events
Anderson & Kreiger
Carrie Chatterson Studio
Garden of Eden & Associates, Inc.
Harmony Wu
Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP
Hyams Foundation
Judith Obermayer
Mintz
New Commonwealth Fund
Opalite Media
William Zucker and Laurent Delli-Bovi
2023 Host Committee
Naomi Aberly and Laurence Lebowitz
Amy and Joshua Boger
David Bowman
Stephen Chan
Howard Cooper
Ellen Paradise Fisher
Nicki Nichols Gamble
Judge Nancy Gertner (Ret.) and John Reinstein
Robert and Linda Glassman
Don Glazer
Stanley N. Griffith and Ann E. Schauffler
Holly Gunner and Anne Chalmers
Rahsaan and Trinette S. Hall
Geraldine S. Hines
Stephen Kay
Ann Lambert
Daniele Lantagne and Jeremy Brown
Maria Manning
Martha Minow and Joe Singer
Marty Murphy and Jill Reilly
Sarah Patrick
Colette Phillips
Kevin and Daniella Prussia
John and Kathy Roberts
Carol Rose and Tom Harrington
Ann Burks Sagan and Paul Sagan
Jocelyn Sargent
Norma and Ben Shapiro
Thomas Shapiro and Nadine Bonda
Ambassador John Shattuck and Ellen Hume
Harvey Silverglate
Marjorie Suisman
Bob Thomas and Polly Hoppin
Phil and Kate Villers
Lauren Weitzen
Susan Whitehead
Douglass Williams
Harmony Wu
William Zucker and Lolly Delli-Bovi
Arnie Reisman Freedom of Expression Fund
Learn about the Arnie Reisman Freedom of Expression Fund here.