The 28th Annual Freedom Award ceremony took place at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, TN on Oct. 30.
Sponsored by the National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM), the event recognizes and honors those who have made contributions toward civil and human rights causes. The award was given to three honorees, including John Legend, Hafsat Abiola and Gloria Steinem.
John Legend, a two-decade industry veteran, has used his popular platform to bring awareness to prison reform, social injustices and inequality.
“We aren’t in a good place right now,” Legend said. “We are still the most incarcerated country in the world. That incarceration falls heavily on black and brown communities. We also have a lot of segregation in our school system and in housing…Brown versus Board may be the law of the land but it is no secret that black kids and white kids are not getting the same education.”
The second recipient, Hafsat Abiola, has fought for democracy in her native Nigeria her whole life. She has helped women achieve status in politics and business to mitigate inequality in power positions.
“I feel honored to be in the place where Dr. Martin Luther King lived his last moments and be in the center of the struggle that made it possible for me as a black, African American woman to come to the United States,” the Nigerian bred activist said.
The third recipient, feminist Gloria Steinem, spent her life advocating for women’s rights.
“Until we have a country that doesn’t label people by gender or by race, we’re not going to have a democracy,” Steinem said at the event.
