ABOUT THE NAACP IMAGE AWARDS

From its inception, the NAACP has been at the forefront of the struggle to ensure fair employment and positive images in the entertainment industry. In this tradition, the Beverly Hills/ Hollywood Branch of the NAACP was founded in 1962 and heralded as the first branch of the NAACP to deal specifically with the racism experienced by African Americans in the entertainment industry.

On October 22, 1962, almost immediately after its establishment, the Beverly Hills/Hollywood Branch of the NAACP hosted a dinner in the Coconut Grove Ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The evening was dedicated to honoring Sammy Davis Jr., who had loaned the Branch his Beverly Hills address, making it possible for them to get the Beverly Hills/Hollywood charter. Davis was also feted for his tireless work to obtain fair employment for African-American entertainers in Hollywood, and for his financial support in establishing the Beverly Hills/Hollywood Branch of the NAACP.

Five years later, under the leadership of then-Branch President Don Lanclos, a committee of entertainment professionals conceptualized an awards show that would celebrate the achievements of African-American artists and professionals who were largely overlooked by mainstream Hollywood. The show would also honor those people who had worked to change African-American images in Hollywood.

Toni Vaz motioned to call the show the Image Awards, and with Maggie Hathaway seconding the motion, the Beverly Hills/Hollywood Branch of the NAACP officially named the award the NAACP Image Awards. On February 4, 1967, 200 guests arrived at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to honor Sidney Poitier and nominees in two categories: Motion Picture and Television. Now spanning 81 categories, the NAACP Image Awards celebrates outstanding achievements of people of color in the arts—television, podcasts, music, literature, and film— and honors individuals and groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors.

Special honorary awards such as the Spingarn Medal, the Chairman’s Award, the President’s Award, the Vanguard Award, the Jackie Robinson Sports Award, the Key of Life Award, and the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame recognize exceptional individuals and organizations for distinguished public service.

Prior Hall of Fame inductees include groundbreaking filmmakerphotographer Gordon Parks (1984) and trailblazing talk show host, actress and OWN network founder Oprah Winfrey (2005). Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder received the Chairman’s Award in 2015, renowned filmmaker Steven Spielberg was honored with the Vanguard Award during the 31st ceremony in 2000, and esteemed actress and activist Kerry Washington was presented with the President’s Award during the 44th Awards ceremony in 2013. At the 36th NAACP Image Awards in 2005, beloved civil rights icon and former NAACP Chairman Julian Bond presented then-Senator Barack Obama with the Chairman’s Award.

Media giants continue to beam powerful images throughout the world that shape our beliefs, opinions, and decisions. Social media empowers individuals to amplify Hollywood’s images and messages, and to create and distribute their own images and messages. Given these developments, the need has never been more urgent to spotlight works that foster greater collective empathy and heighten mutual awareness and understanding.

The organization has been vocal in addressing issues of race and representation in entertainment and media since 1915, when the NAACP launched a nationwide protest against D. W. Griffith’s brazenly racist film Birth of a Nation. Based on the novel The Clansman, the film glorified the Ku Klux Klan and portrayed Blacks as menaces. “The freed man was represented either as an ignorant fool, a vicious rapist, a venal or unscrupulous politician, or a faithful idiot,” civil rights leader W.E.B. DuBois said of Birth of a Nation. Many attributed a resurgence of lynchings and deadly race riots to viewings of the film, which—at the behest of the NAACP—led some cities to ban it.

While Birth of a Nation remains one of the most controversial movies ever made (and other offensive works come and go), the voices of filmmakers from Oscar Micheaux to Spike Lee to Gina Prince-Bythewood to Ava DuVernay to Ryan Coogler and beyond continue to rise above with beautiful and varied depictions of people of color.

Today’s media landscape offers consumers virtually unlimited content, but the early days of television were marked by limited numbers of channels and programs—some of which drew great concern from the NAACP over derogatory characterizations of African Americans.

At its annual convention in July 1951, the NAACP passed a resolution critical of then-new television series Amos ‘N’ Andy and other shows that stressed negative stereotypes. The resolution maintained that such programs “depicted black people in a stereotypical and derogatory manner, and the practice of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, persons, or firms sponsoring or promoting this show, or other shows of this type are condemned.”