Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are set to receive the President’s Award during the 53rd NAACP Image Awards, which airs live on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on BET.
The President’s Award is presented in recognition of special achievement and distinguished public service. Previous recipients from the world of public affairs include the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Alexis Herman (secretary of labor under President Clinton), President Bill Clinton, Condoleezza Rice (secretary of state under President George W. Bush), Colin Powell (also secretary of state under President George W. Bush) and Lonnie Bunch III (secretary of the Smithsonian Institution).
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The NAACP and Archewell Foundation, co-founded by the Duke and Duchess, are also partnering on a newly created annual NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award. Dr. Safiya Noble is the inaugural recipient.
“We’re thrilled to present this award to Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who together have heeded the call to social justice and have joined the struggle for equity both in the US and around the world,” Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement. “Not only do they continue to lead by example, the Duke and Duchess have also decided to inspire the next generation of activists through the NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award, ensuring the support and recognition of generations of civil rights leaders to come.”
“It’s a true honor to be recognized by president Derrick Johnson and the NAACP, whose efforts to propel racial justice and civil rights are as vital today as they were nearly 115 years ago,” Prince Harry and Meghan Markle said in a statement. “We’re proud to support the NAACP’s work and to also partner with the organization on the newly created annual NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award, which will be bestowed to Dr. Safiya Noble as part of the 53rd NAACP Image Awards.”
Dr. Noble is an internet studies scholar and professor of gender studies and African American studies at UCLA, where she serves as the co-founder and faculty director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, which is a partner to Archewell Foundation.
Dr. Noble has pioneered the study of how digital technologies intersect with culture, race, and gender. In 2021, she was recognized as a MacArthur Fellow for her work on algorithmic discrimination, which enabled her founding of Equity Engine, a non-profit committed to creating the conditions for Black women and other women of color to thrive through access to education, investment, mentorship, and mutual aid. She is the author of a highly-regarded book on racist and sexist algorithmic bias in commercial search engines, entitled Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (NYU Press).
“At both the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, and at the Equity Engine, we are working toward greater possibilities for vulnerable people,” Dr. Noble said in a statement. “Digital civil rights and protections from harm on the internet are a crucial pathway to a more just world, and I am grateful for the support of the NAACP and Archewell Foundation for contributing to our efforts to create more compassionate and democratic societies where Black women and women of color can thrive, too.”
The NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award, supported by Archewell Foundation and administered by the NAACP, is a newly created annual award that recognizes leaders creating transformational change at the intersection of social justice and technology.
The award seeks to recognize long-term contributors to the digital rights space while also supporting a new generation of visionaries working to expand equity, including issues related to discrimination, misinformation, privacy, countering biases, limiting profiling and surveillance, improving transparency, increasing diversity in the tech sector, and more. Each year, the honoree will be awarded an unrestricted $100,000 stipend.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex won’t be the only royalty in the house at the NAACP Image Awards. The show will feature a performance by the queen of hip-hop soul, Mary J. Blige.
The show will also feature appearances by Issa Rae, Kerry Washington, LL Cool J, Michael Strahan, Morgan Freeman, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Paula Patton, Questlove, Samuel L. Jackson, Simu Lius, Tiffany Haddish and Zendaya.
For more information, follow NAACP Image Awards on Instagram @NAACPImageAwards.