Past Honornees

1993

Gregory Baranco • Juanita Baranco • Dr. Benjamin Carson • Dr. Johnnetta Cole (Black Colleges)• Comer Cottrell • Isabell Cottrell • Anita DeFrantz • Suzanne dePasse • Mayor Henry Espy (National Conference of Black Mayors)• Bishop Barbara Harris • Judge Leon Higginbotham • Evander Holyfield • Dr. Benjamin Hooks (NAACP) • Kevin Hooks • John Jacob (National Urban League) • Rev. Jesse Jackson • Mayor Maynard Jackson • Dr. Mae Jemison • Robert Johnson • James Earl Jones • Quincy Jones • Coretta Scott King • Jennifer Lawson • Rev. Joseph Lowery (SCLC) • Justice Thurgood Marshall • Robi Reed • Rachel Robinson • Herman Russell • Dr. David Satcher • Gwen Torrence • Cynthia Tucker • Governor Douglas Wilder • Peter Wise • Andrew Young

1994

Muhammad Ali • Maya Angelou • Mayor Tom Bradley • Congressional Black Caucus • Valerie Ferguson • Dr. John Hope Franklin • Nathaniel R. Goldston • Jesse Hill, Jr. • Lena Horne • Terry McMillan • Gordon Parks • Rosa Parks • Carole Simpson • Wayman F. Smith • Rev. Leon H. Sullivan • Judge Elbert P. Tuttle (5th Circuit Court of Appeals) • Carl Ware • Nancy Wilson • Judge John Minor Wisdom (5th Circuit Court of Appeals)

1995

Henry Aaron • Black Advertising Agencies • Dr. Roy C. Bell • Thomas J. Burrell • Diahann Carroll • Vincent T. Cullers • Dr. Albert M. Davis • Marian Wright Edelman • Dr. James B. Ellison • Jack Greenberg • Robert E. Johnson • Byron Lewis • Jet Magazine • Phylicia Rashad • Randall Robinson • Carl T. Rowan • Dr. Otis W. Smith • Billy Dee Williams

1996

Kathleen Battle • Harry Belafonte • Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. • Virgis W. Colbert • Nat “King” Cole • Myrlie Evers-Williams • Dr. Pedro Jose Greer • Cathy Hughes • Dr. LaSalle Leffall, Jr. • Charley Pride • Ronald Townsend • Lenny Wilkens • Eldrick “Tiger” Woods

1997

Willie E. Gary • Louis Gossett, Jr. • Anthony Mark Hankins • Florence Griffith Joyner • B.B. King • Mayor Ron Kirk • Gladys Knight • Jonathan Kozol • Hazel O’Leary • Bernard Shaw • Louis Sullivan, M.D. • Edward T. Lewis • Clarence O. Smith • Susan Taylor • Essence Magazine

1998

Jacquelyn Barrett • Lerone Bennett, Jr. • Larry Doby • Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds • Beverly Harvard• Margie Lewis • Reginald Lewis • Don Newcombe • General Colin Powell • Whitney Houston • Wynton Marsalis• Eugene Lang • Mrs. Sonya Carson • Father George Clements • Mrs. Deloris Jordan • Mr. & Mrs. Earl Wood

1999

Matel Dawson, Jr. • Bryant Gumbel • Eunice Johnson • Jessye Norman• Smokey Robinson• Dr. Dorothy Height• Congressman John Lewis • Frank Sinatra• Jackie Joyner Kersee• John “Buck” O’Neil• Eddie Robinson

2000

Shirley Caesar•Reverend Jesse Jackson•Judge Damon Keith•Lou Rawls•Marlon St. Julien•Captain Patrice Clarke Washington•Tracey Edmonds• Ann Fudge •Earl G. Graves •Debra L. Lee • George R. Lewis•Richard Parsons• Linda Johnson Rice •Lloyd Ward

2001

Ray Charles•Clive Davis•Geoffrey Holder•Carmen deLavallade•Willie Mays•Jacqueline L. Mims•Leslie Uggams• Senator Edward W. Brooke •Congresswomen Shirley Chisholm • Congressman John Conyers• Governor Charles W. Turnbull•Lieutenant Governor Joe Rogers• Mayor Maynard H. Jackson •Justice Thurgood Marshall • Florida A & M University

2002

Sidney Poitier•Ted Turner•Andrew Young•Cicely Tyson•Harold Ford, Jr.•Tom Joyner•John H. Johnson• Carol Mosely Braun•Rev. Dr. Johnnie Colemon • Sylvia Flanagan• Dr. Audrey Forbes Manley•Dr. Vivian Pinn• Ernesta Procope •Dr. Condoleezza Rice • Congresswoman Maxine Waters• Meharry Medical College

2003

The Honorable Perry Gladstone Christie, LLB•Ossie Davis•Ruby Dee•Destiny’s Child•Thomas W. Dortch, Jr.•Julius “Dr. J” Erving•Pam Grier• Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. •Spike Lee • Mark Whitaker• Lieutenant Colonel Marilyn Wills•Cheyenne Woods

2004

Jordan Adams • Don Barden • Angela Bassett • Isaac Hayes • Norman Lear • President Nelson Mandela • Dr. Anthony Pollard • Della Reese • Sylvia Rhone • Russell Simmons • Dr. C. Delores Tucker • Judge Horace T. Ward