The National Civil Rights Museum rolled out the red carpet for the 33rd Annual Freedom Awards at downtown Memphis’ on Oct. 17. The evening runneth over with Black pride, Black joy, and most notably, Black excellence, particularly as the tribute relates to its host, the incomparable MC Lyte, Memphis Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson, its 2024 honorees: Xernona Clayton, Sherrilyn Ifill, and Spike Lee, and entertainment: Debra Cox, Brothers And Sisters dance troupe, and Gary Goin, and the Freedom Award house band.
This elite bunch understands that freedom comes at a cost, and it is their actions—in service of civil rights—that warrant such a prestigious honor. They stand on the shoulders and principles of our greatest freedom fighters, who paid with their lives for the freedom and equity of mankind—Dr. Martin Luther King, El Hajj Malik (Malcolm X), Medgar Evers, James Chaney from Meridian, Mississippi, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and Fred Hampton among them.
“Each year, the National Civil Rights Museum pays tribute to individuals whose tenacity, determination, and tireless efforts have contributed significantly to civil and human rights, Dr. Russ Wiggington, president of the National Civil Rights Museum, said when he announced the honorees.
“These are change makers who have made a tremendous difference in the lives of many. These champions of freedom have been tested through trials and tragedies but remain invested in lighting the way for those who struggle.”
MC Lyte opened the award ceremony at the Orpheum Theater with a surprise performance of “Cha-Cha-Cha,” with audience members dancing in their seats and mouthing the lyrics to her chart-topping 1980s hit.
Clayton, 94, was honored for her civil rights work alongside Coretta Scott and Dr. Martin Luther King, her career in broadcasting, the desegregation of Atlanta hospitals, and the establishment of the Trumpet Awards that also honors Black American accomplishments. Clayton shared that her civil rights movement began when as a teenager, she entered a burger restaurant, where white racists called her a “nigger” and threatened her with a knife because she “did not belong.”
“It still bothers me after all these years I’ve been living,” the nonagenarian said after accepting her award.
“I could brood for years to come, but nothing would change. I realized that I had to be the one to make a change.”
Sherrilyn Ifill, too, shared that civil rights work was something she wanted to do as a youth and that it is a “dream come true” to do. The President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund spoke the names of those whose inspiration and shoulders she stands on. Ifill mentioned the work of Thurgood Marshall and Charles Hamilton Houston, Pauli Murray, and Constance Baker Motley, stating that these early activists and advocates were “building a world that they had never seen”:
“Their parents had lived through Jim Crow, their grandparents, many of them had been enslaved people, and yet out of their democratic imagination, they believed that we could create a country that stood true to the words of the 14th amendment.”
Ifill’s acceptance speech was a profound one from start to finish. The legal expert implored citizens to be involved. She pointed at the history of Black voter suppression and laid bare the consequences.
“No man can walk up to a healthy democracy and destroy it in four years, but when your democracy is already weak, then it can be hijacked,” Ifill said.
“Now, we as Black people have always been the early warning system for what ails this country during the civil rights movement. Our demand to live as free people, our refusal to accept second class citizenship, our insistence on respect for our dignity and our lives to push this country toward ever new, evolving and improving conceptions of democracy … Doctor King said it in 1961, ‘Negroes, have illuminated imperfections in the democratic structure that were formally only dimly perceived and have forced a concerned reexamination of the true meaning of American democracy.’”
Before making her exit, Ifill talked through a call to action, instructing the audience to take out their cellphones and save the telephone number to the U.S. House (202) 224-3121), so citizens could contact their state representatives. She said a “higher level of citizenship” is required and that voting alone isn’t sufficient.
“Give them a piece of your mind,” Ifill encouraged.
Remembrance and regard for Dr. King was a unifier among each honoree, which is fitting, considering The Lorraine Hotel the site of King’s senseless murder—and the National Civil Rights Museum centers on the iconic leader’s legacy. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee told the audience about his connection to the King family: “My father was a freshman at Morehouse. Dr. Martin Luther King was a senior,” Lee said.
“Martin King III and I were classmates—The House class of 79.”
Lee remembered the day Dr. King died through the eerie screams of his heartbroken mother.
“April 4, 1968. I was sitting in my stoop …” Lee said. “I heard a woman screaming, and as she walked toward our house: 186 Warren Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, New York.”
Lee continued: “It was my mother screaming, and I never seen my mother hysterical and she was saying they killed him, they killed him, they killed Dr. King. I was 11-years-old, but I will always remember my mother’s cry on April 4, 1968.”
The “Do The Right Thing” movie maker told BLACK ENTERPRISE that it is “a great honor” to receive the 2024 Freedom Award.
“There’s a whole lot of people who we don’t know their names or their stories, but they died to move this country forward,” Lee said.
“I’m not going to get it twisted. I’ve not been put in a place where my life depended on it.”
“I’m very humbled by receiving this prestigious award,” Lee told BE.
Also honored with posthumous tributes were Rabbi James A. Wax, who advocated on behalf of Memphis sanitation workers during the 1968 strike; Margot Stern Strom, who co-founded Facing History & Ourselves; William B. Lucy, Memphis labor movement advocate who coined the slogan “I Am A Man,” to represent the 1300 sanitation workers who went on strike in 1968; and Rev. James Lawson, who worked alongside Dr. King, and trained and developed strategy with some of the most notable civil rights leaders of our time: James Bevel, Diane Nash, John Lewis, Bernard Lafayette, and Marion Barry.
To learn more about the National Civil Rights Museum, visit its website and check out Memphis Tourism.
RELATED CONTENT: National Civil Rights Museum To Honor Spike Lee, Sherilyn Ifill, Xernona Clayton With Freedom Award
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