MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The National Civil Rights Museum announced the honorees for the 31st Annual Freedom Award, which is set for Oct. 20, 2022.
Memphis businessman and FedEx Founder Frederick W. Smith, author Isabel Wilkerson, and author Taylor Branch will be honored during the annual gala this fall.
Museum leaders said Fred Smith was being honored as a global humanitarian, leader in innovation, and his dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which helped to grow his Memphis carrier into the global company it is today.
Isabel Wilkerson is a Pulitzer Prize and National Humanities Medal winner, who authored The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste. She is the first Black woman in American journalism’s history to win the Pulitzer, and the first African American to win for individual reporting. Her book Caste is being adapted to film by another Freedom Award winner – Ava DuVernay, who was honored in 2015.
Author Taylor Branch has won a Pulitzer Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, National Humanities Medal, and an Emmy as Executive Producer for 2018 documentary "King in the Wilderness." The author of a history of the Civil Rights Era, America in the King Years was a trilogy on which he did more than 24 years of intensive research. He also wrote The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement.
A special tribute will recognize Jeffery Robinson, executive director of The Who We Are Project and a Memphis native who has spent more than 30 years working on criminal justice, racial justice, and reform. He produced the documentary “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America.”
Actor, educator, and activist Lamman Rucker of the BET+ series Black Hamptons and OWN’s Queen Sugar will host the event.
The Freedom Award events begin with Student Forum at 10 a.m. on Oct. 20. The Pre-Award Gala begins at 5:30 p.m., with the Award Ceremony at 7 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Memphis.
Tickets for the 31st Annual Freedom Award go on sale September 1 at freedomaward.org.
