The Spingarn Medal

Updated June 13, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

The Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for outstanding achievement by a Black American.


1915
Ernest E. Just
1916
Charles Young
1917
Harry T. Burleigh
1918
William Stanley Braithwaite
1919
Archibald H. Grimke
1920
W.E.B. Du Bois
1921
Charles S. Gilpin
1922
Mary B. Talbert
1923
George Washington Carver
1924
Roland Hayes
1925
James Weldon Johnson
1926
Carter G. Woodson
1927
Anthony Overton
1928
Charles W. Chesnutt
1929
Mordecai Wyatt Johnson
1930
Henry A. Hunt
1931
Richard Berry Harrison
1932
Robert Russa Moton
1933
Max Yergan
1934
William T. B. Williams
1935
Mary McLeod Bethune
1936
John Hope
1937
Walter White
1938
No award
1939
Marian Anderson
1940
Louis T. Wright
1941
Richard Wright
1942
A. Philip Randolph
1943
William H. Hastie
1944
Charles Drew
1945
Paul Robeson
1946
Thurgood Marshall
1947
Percy Julian
1948
Channing H. Tobias
1949
Ralph J. Bunche
1950
Charles Hamilton Houston
1951
Mabel Keaton Staupers
1952
Harry T. Moore
1953
Paul R. Williams
1954
Theodore K. Lawless
1955
Carl Murphy
1956
Jackie Robinson
1957
Martin Luther King, Jr.
1958
Daisy Bates and the
Little Rock Nine
1959
Edward Kennedy
(Duke) Ellington
1960
Langston Hughes
1961
Kenneth B. Clark
1962
Robert C. Weaver
1963
Medgar Evers
1964
Roy Wilkins
1965
Leontyne Price
1966
John H. Johnson
1967
Edward W. Brooke III
1968
Sammy Davis, Jr.
1969
Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.
1970
Jacob Lawrence
1971
Leon Howard Sullivan
1972
Gordon Parks
1973
Wilson C. Riles
1974
Damon Keith
1975
Hank Aaron
1976
Alvin Ailey
1977
Alex Haley
1978
Andrew Young
1979
Rosa L. Parks
1980
Rayford W. Logan
1981
Coleman Young
1982
Benjamin E. Mays
1983
Lena Horne
1984
Tom Bradley
1985
Bill Cosby
1986
Benjamin L. Hooks
1987
Percy Ellis Sutton
1988
Frederick Douglass
Patterson
1989
Jesse Jackson
1990
L. Douglas Wilder
1991
Colin T. Powell
1992
Barbara Jordan
1993
Dorothy Irene Height
1994
Maya Angelou
1995
John Hope Franklin
1996
A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.
1997
Carl Rowan
1998
Myrlie Evers-Williams
1999
Earl G. Graves, Sr.
2000
Oprah Winfrey
2001
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
2002
John Lewis
2003
Constance Baker Motley
2004
Robert L. Carter
2005
Oliver W. Hill
2006
Benjamin S. Carson, Sr.
2007
John Conyers, Jr.
2008
Ruby Dee
2009
Julian Bond
2010
Cicely Tyson
2011
Frankie Muse Freeman
2012
Harry Belafonte
2013
Jessye Norman

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