There was no red carpet and no new winner for the Freedom Award, but the COVID-19 pandemic did not prevent the museum from celebrating those who fought for civil rights with glamor and an evening to remember.
“Tonight we’re going back in time and witnessing some of the best moments of 28 years of Freedom Awards events,” said Terri Lee Freeman, President of the Museum, and welcomed viewers to a live-streamed Freedom Awards tribute.
Moments later, Rosa Parks herself appeared on the screen, the 1991 Freedom Award Honoree, speaking to a crowd.
Then the voice of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan when she was honored in 1992: “There are some values that are core values,” Jordan said. “Freedom is the core. We cannot compromise on freedom. “
Embedded in videos of entertainers from previous award ceremonies, the live stream showed clips from the speeches of the award winners from previous years.
“When we say we are fighting for freedom, it is not freedom for blacks, it is freedom for all of us,” Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in 1992.
In 2000 Nelson Mandela spoke about the “indivisibility of human freedom”.
“When human rights are violated in one part of the world, we are all humiliated and degraded as human beings,” Mandela said. “Our freedom cannot be complete while others in the world are not free. Your award inspires us to continue the fight for freedom and human rights. It reminds us that the long road to freedom is not over yet. “
In 2004, Congressman John Lewis spoke about his family and told him never to get into trouble – but how he did anyway.
“I got in trouble. It was a good trouble. It was a necessary trouble, and I wasn’t the only one getting in trouble in the 1960s,” said Lewis.
Bono. Oprah Winfrey. Dr. Joseph Lowery. BB King. The Dalai Lama. The Rev. Dr. Bernice King. The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. Everyone had words for Memphis and the nation when they received a Freedom Award.
Several winners, such as Justice Thurgood Marshall and Jackie Robinson, were honored posthumously
After the museum decided to cancel this year’s Freedom Awards program due to the pandemic, 37 sponsors of the event stayed on board, donating $ 725,000 even though the awards program was not taking place and helping to make it financially successful to compensate for the cancellation of the program.
The idea for a tribute to the Virtual Freedom Award, which celebrates the past 28 years of honoring those who have fought for civil and human rights, arose out of a desire “to inspire, promote and celebrate success despite the current circumstances “during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a press release.
Over the years, the Freedom Award nominees have included some of the most prominent civil and human rights advocates.
President-elect Joe Biden received the Freedom Award in 2018. Last year’s recipients included Nigerian civil rights activist Hafsat Abiola, feminist writer Gloria Steinem and recording artist John Legend.
“2020 was a lot, but we have to move on. We have to renew ourselves. We have to think about the world and our lives in it and we have to recognize those men and women who are putting their lives in danger, around this world, this country and this country to accomplish.” Our countries are safer, more equitable and seek freedom for all of us, “said Faith Morris, the museum’s marketing officer.
The virtual tribute was the final Freedom Award with Terri Lee Freeman as president of the museum. In February she will be leaving the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture in Maryland, Baltimore.
“Just like being there … thank you,” Freeman wrote in the chat that accompanied the live stream. “I’m going to miss you terribly, but here in Memphis, TN there will always be a part of my heart and soul. Thank you for being wonderful!”
Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at [email protected], 901-529-2799, or on Twitter @kathsburgess.
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