| 1915 |
Ernest E. Just (head,
Department of Physiology, Howard University
Medical School) |
| 1916 |
Major Charles A. Young (U.S.
Army) |
| 1917 |
Harry T. Burleigh (composer,
pianist, singer) |
| 1918 |
William S. B.
Braithwaite (poet, editor, literary critic). |
| 1919 |
Archibald H. Grimke (U.S.
Consul, president of the American Negro Academy,
president of the D. C. Branch of the NAACP) |
| 1920 |
William E. B. duBois (author,
editor of The Crisis) |
| 1921 |
Charles S. Gilpin (actor)
|
| 1922 |
Mary B. Talbert (president,
National Association of Colored Women) |
| 1923 |
George Washington Carver
(head, Department of Research, Tuskegee Institute)
|
| 1924 |
Roland T. Hayes (singer,
soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra) |
| 1925 |
James Weldon Johnson (poet,
U. S. Consul, secretary of the NAACP) |
| 1926 |
Carter G. Woodson (historian
and founder of the Association for the Study of
Negro Life and History, editor of “Negro
Orators and Their Orations”) |
| 1927 |
Anthony Overton (businessman,
president of the Victory Life Insurance Company) |
| 1928 |
Charles W. Chesnutt (author)
|
| 1929 |
Mordecai W. Johnson (president
of Howard University) |
| 1930 |
Henry A. Hunt (high
school principal) |
| 1931 |
Richard B. Harrison (actor)
|
| 1932 |
Robert Russa Moton (principal
of Tuskegee Institute) |
| 1933 |
Max Yergan (missionary) |
| 1934 |
William T. B. Williams (dean
of Tuskegee Institute) |
| 1935 |
Mary McLeod Bethune (founder
and president of Bethune-Cookman College) |
| 1936 |
John Hope (president of
Atlanta University) |
| 1937 |
Walter F. White (executive
secretary of the NAACP) |
| 1938 |
No award given |
| 1939 |
Marian Anderson (contralto)
|
| 1940 |
Louis T. Wright (surgeon) |
| 1941 |
Richard N. Wright (author)
|
| 1942 |
A. Philip Randolph (international
president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car
Porters) |
| 1943 |
William H. Hastie (jurist
and educator) |
| 1944 |
Charles R. Drew (scientist)
|
| 1945 |
Paul B. Robeson (singer,
actor) |
| 1946 |
Thurgood Marshall (special
counsel of the NAACP) |
| 1947 |
Percy L. Julian (research
scientist) |
| 1948 |
Channing Heggie Tobias (participant
on the President’s Committee on Civil Rights)
|
| 1949 |
Ralph J. Bunche (international
civil servant, acting UN mediator) |
| 1950 |
Charles H. Houston (Chairman,
NAACP Legal Committee) |
| 1951 |
Mabel K. Staupers (leader
of the National Association of Colored Graduate
Nurses) |
| 1952 |
Harry T. Moore (NAACP
leader, martyr in the “crusade for freedom”)
|
| 1953 |
Paul R. Williams (architect)
|
| 1954 |
Theodore K. Lawless (physician,
educator, philanthropist) |
| 1955 |
Carl J. Murphy (editor,
publisher, civic leader) |
| 1956 |
Jack R. Robinson (athlete) |
| 1957 |
Martin Luther King, Jr.
(clergyman) |
| 1958 |
Daisy Bates and the
Little Rock Nine |
| 1959 |
Edward “Duke”
Ellington (composer, orchestra leader) |
| 1960 |
J. Langston Hughes (poet,
author, playwright) |
| 1961 |
Kenneth B. Clark (professor
of Psychology at CCNY) |
| 1962 |
Robert C. Weaver (Administrator
of Housing and Home Finance Agency) |
| 1963 |
Medgar W. Evers (NAACP
Field Secretary, veteran, martyr) |
| 1964 |
Roy O. Wilkins (Executive
Director of the NAACP) |
| 1965 |
M. Leontyne Price (Metropolitan
Opera star) |
| 1966 |
John Harold Johnson (founder
and president of Johnson Publishing Co.) |
| 1967 |
Edward W. Brooke, III (first
Negro to win popular election to the U.S. Senate)
|
| 1968 |
Sammy Davis, Jr. (entertainer,
civil rights activist) |
| 1969 |
Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.
(NAACP regional director, civil rights lobbyist) |
| 1970 |
Jacob Lawrence (artist,
teacher, humanitarian) |
| 1971 |
Leon H. Sullivan (clergyman,
activist, prophet) |
| 1972 |
Gordon A. B. Parks (photographer,
writer, film-maker, composer) |
| 1973 |
Wilson C. Riles (educator)
|
| 1974 |
Damon J. Keith (jurist) |
| 1975 |
Henry L. Aaron (athlete)
|
| 1976 |
Alvin Ailey, Jr. (choreographer,
dancer, artistic director) |
| 1977 |
Alexander P. Haley (author,
biographer, lecturer) |
| 1978 |
Andrew J. Young, Jr. (diplomat,
civil rights activist, minister) |
| 1979 |
Rosa L. Parks (community
activist) |
| 1980 |
Rayford W. Logan (educator,
historian, author) |
| 1981 |
Coleman A. Young (public
servant, labor leader, civil rights activist) |
| 1982 |
Benjamin E. Mays (educator,
civil rights activist, president of Morehouse
College) |
| 1983 |
Lena Horne (entertainer,
humanitarian, symbol of excellence) |
| 1984 |
Thomas Bradley (government
executive, public servant, humanist) |
| 1985 |
William H. Cosby, Jr. (humorist,
artist, educator, humanitarian) |
| 1986 |
Benjamin L. Hooks (Executive
Director of the NAACP) |
| 1987 |
Percy E. Sutton (public
servant, businessman, community leader) |
| 1988 |
Frederick Douglass
Patterson (educator, veterinarian, visionary,
humanitarian) |
| 1989 |
Jesse L. Jackson (presidential
candidate, minister) |
| 1990 |
L. Douglas Wilder (public
servant) |
| 1991 |
General Colin L. Powell
(military service) |
| 1992 |
Barbara C. Jordan (public
servant) |
| 1993 |
Dorothy I. Height (president
of the National Council of Negro Women) |
| 1994 |
Maya Angelou (poet) |
| 1995 |
John Hope Franklin (historian,
educator) |
| 1996 |
A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.
(jurist, public servant) |
| 1997 |
Carl T. Rowan (journalist)
|
| 1998 |
Myrlie Evers-Williams (civil
rights activist, Chairman of the NAACP) |
| 1999 |
Earl G. Graves, Sr. (chairman
of Black Enterprise Magazine) |
| 2000 |
|
| |
|
