NAACP Image Awards | Thursday February 12, 2009

Did You Know?

1909
On February 12th, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded by a multiracial group of activists, who answered "The Call," in New York, New York. They initially called themselves the National Negro Committee.
1913
In April, Dr. Joel E. Spingarn instituted the Spingarn Medal, a gold medal that was to be awarded annually to an American Negro of �highest achievement� for the proceeding year or years.
1939
On April 9th, after the Daughters of the American Revolution barred Marian Anderson from performing at their Constitutional Hall in Washington DC, the NAACP successfully moved to have her appear at the Lincoln Memorial that Easter Sunday where more than seventy five thousand people attended the open air concert broadcast nationally by radio.
1942
The Association worked with studio executives and politicians to establish an ad hoc committee with the major film studios to monitor the image and portrayal of African Americans on the silver screen.
1960
Senator John F. Kennedy addressed an audience of seven thousand at the NAACP Civil Rights Rally at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, just four days before he secured the Democratic Presidential Nomination.
1975
On August 6, President Ford signed H.R. 6219, amending and extending certain provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, culminating a two-year effort by the Washington Bureau and cooperating organizations. The 1974 Act extended protection of the right to register and vote to non-English speaking groups, especially Hispanics.
1987
On the 25th anniversary of the use of federal troops to enforce integration of the Little Rock�s Central High, the NAACP reunited the Little Rock Nine and NAACP leader Daisy Bates at ceremonies at the Arkansas Capital.
1991
Following the victory in the Republican gubernatorial primary by former Klansman and neo-Nazi David Duke, the NAACP Louisiana State Conference launched a voter registration and Get-Out-The-Vote campaign resulting in Duke�s defeat.
2006
As part of our on-going efforts to the diversity of emerging talent in Hollywood, the NAACP united with several networks to create Master Degree Writing Fellowships.
2009
On February 12th, the 40th NAACP Image Awards aired live celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the NAACP to the day.

Winners

2009 Winners

Click here for 2009 NAACP Image Awards Photos

Literature Categories

Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction

"Blood Colony: A Novel" – Tananarive Due (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
"Going Down South: A Novel" – Bonnie J. Glover (Random House/One World/Ballentine)
"In the Night of the Heat: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel" – Blair Underwood, Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes (Atria Books/ Simon & Schuster) Watch the Acceptance Speech
"Just Too Good to Be True" – E. Lynn Harris (Doubleday)
"Song Yet Sung" – James McBride (Riverhead Books)

Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction

"Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom" – Cornel West (Smiley Books)
"Letter to My Daughter" – Maya Angelou (Random House)
"Moving to Higher Ground" – Wynton Marsalis, Geoffrey Ward (Random House)
"The Sea is So Wide And My Boat Is So Small" – Marian Wright Edelman (Hyperion)
"There’s No Traffic on the Extra Mile: Lessons on the Road From Dreams to Destiny" – Rickey Minor (Gotham Books)

Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author

"Barack, Race, and the Media: Drawing My Own Conclusion" – David Glenn Brown (David G. Brown Studios)
"The Beautiful Struggle" – Ta-Nehisi Coates (Spiegel and Grau)
"Homeroom Heroes: Freshman Edition" – Michael B. Jordan, Rahfeal Gordan (RahGor Publishing)
"No Way Home" – Carlos Acosta (Scribner)
"War of the Blood In My Veins" – Dashaun "Jiwe" Morris (Scribner)

Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Auto-Biography

"21 Nights" – Prince (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
"Baldwin’s Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin" – Herb Boyd (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
"The Black List" – Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Elvis Mitchell (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
"The Legs Are The Last To Go" – Diahann Carroll (Amistad)
"Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration" – Marcia Ann Gillespie, Rosa Johnson Butler, Richard A. Long (Doubleday)

Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional

"32 Ways To Be A Champion In Business" – Earvin "Magic" Johnson (Crown Business)
"The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life" – Kevin Powell (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
"Dining In" – G. Garvin (Meredith Books)
"Good is not Enough and Other Unwritten Rules for Minority Professionals" – Keith R. Wyche (Portfolio/Centennial)
"Tapping the Power Within: A Path To Self-Empowerment For Women" – Iyanla Vanzant (Smiley Books)

Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry

"Hardheaded Weather" – Cornelius Eady (Marian Wood Books)
"Hip Hop Speaks To Children: A Celebration of "Poetry With A Beat" – Nikki Giovanni (Source Books/Jabberwocky)
"Honoring the Ancestors" – James Cherry (Third World Press)
"Things I Must Have Known" – A B Spellman (Coffee House Press)
"Warhorses" – Yusef Komunyakaa (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Outstanding Literary Work – Children

"Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem" – Maya Angelou (illustrators - Lou Fancher & Steven Johnson) (Schwartz & Wade)
"Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope" – Nikki Grimes, (illustrator - Bryan Collier) (Simon & Schuster) Watch the Acceptance Speech
"Say a Little Prayer" – Dionne Warwick, David Freeman Wooley, Tonya Bolden, (illustrator – Soud) (Running Press)
"We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball" – Kadir Nelson (Disney Publishing)
"You Can Do It!" – Tony Dungy, (illustrator - Amy June Bates) (Simon & Schuster)

Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens

"Beacon Hills High" – Mo’Nique Hicks, Sherri McGee McCovey (Amistad)
"Joseph" – Shelia P. Moses (Simon & Schuster)
"Letters To A Young Sister: Define Your Destiny" – Hill Harper (Gotham Books) Watch the Acceptance Speech
"Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s American Heroes: Robert Smalls, The Boat Thief" – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., (illustrator Patrick Faricy) (Disney Hyperion)
"Sugar Plum Ballerinas: Plum Fantastic" – Whoopi Goldberg, Deborah Underwood, (illustrator - Maryn Roos) (Disney Publishing)