2024 Recap
James Baldwin: Born With The Thunder – Discussion Panel
A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde
W. E. B. Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices
Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space
It Was All A Dream
Searching for Augusta Savage
Love Machina
A Mother Apart
James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket
2024 Honorees

- The John Robert Lewis Lifetime Legacy Award
Congressman Steny Hoyer
The March On Awards were created to honor leaders across disciplines whose commitment to advancing civil rights is unwavering. Through their actions and with courage, they have ignited national conversations, compelled progress, and used their platforms as instruments for social justice and cultural change. As foot soldiers in the fight against injustice everywhere, we honor their work, commitment, and sustained efforts to continue the march forward.
2023 Recap

March on 2023 Awards Gala
Hosted by Jonathan Capehart, this year we honored Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock and Reverend Al Sharpton for their visionary leadership in the fight for civil rights.

The Vivian Malone Courage Award: Honoring Michelle Browder
This year’s award was presented to Michelle Browder, American artist and activist known for her historical tours, murals and sculptures in Montgomery, particularly the Mothers of Gynecology Monument. This year’s Vivian Malone Courage award was a print of an original painting by award-winning abstract and figurative artist Avis Collins Robinson.

PulPits, Protests, & Power: Live Event
This year’s award was presented to Michelle Browder, American artist and activist known for her historical tours, murals and sculptures in Montgomery, particularly the Mothers of Gynecology Monument. This year’s Vivian Malone Courage award was a print of an original painting by award-winning abstract and figurative artist Avis Collins Robinson.
2023 Honorees

- March On Lifetime Achievement Award
Reverend Al Sharpton
presented by Symone Sanders Townsend as the March On Lifetime Achievement Award

- March On Lifetime Achievement Award
Senator Raphael Warnock
presented by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley
2022 Recap

Opening Night Gala
With the theme of Story, Stage & Screen, the Festival’s annual awards Gala honored visionary leaders in the fight for civil rights – Congresswoman Barbara Lee, veteran Broadway publicist and producer Irene Gandy, and Tony Award-winning director and playwright George C. Wolfe.
Special guests Congressman James E. Clyburn, Broadway costume designer Emilio Sosa and famed actor Jeffrey Wright presented the awards to the honorees.
Hosted by Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post contributor and host of The Sunday Show on MSNBC, this highly anticipated event welcomed 300 leaders of industry, the media, and several members of Congress.

Signature Event: The Mississippi Defenders
They were few in number, with limited resources, and lost more cases than they won during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement. With the country’s conscience pricked by images of violence against marchers in the news, hundreds of lawyers from around the country became inspired to work in Mississippi…and ultimately transformed the state’s legal infrastructure.
This timely discussion featured a panel of distinguished voices including Rashad Robinson, Color of Change; Derrick Johnson, President, NAACP; Vangela Wade, President, Mississippi Center for Justice; and Roderick Red, filmmaker, and was moderated by legal scholar Paul D. Butler, attorney and Albert Brick Professor in Law, Georgetown University Law Center.
A dynamic performance by Ms. Rutha Mae Harris, original member of the SNCC Freedom Singers, accompanied by members of Dream Launchers followed the panel.

March on the World: Acting While Black on French Screens
American audiences may know French actor Omar Sy from his star turn in the Netflix series, Lupin. But he’s not the only African actor on French screens. Unfortunately, racially stereotypical roles, underdeveloped storylines still indicate that “French Cinema is a dinosaur refusing to die or change.”
A panel of French and American advocates in the cinema of the African diaspora shared their insights on the movement of African French actors, directors, journalists and activists who are seeking to change the faces and stories portrayed on French screens. Panelists: Rokhaya Diallo, journalist, Washington Post Opinion Writer and filmmaker, Steps Toward Liberty, Not Your Mama’s Movement); Dr. Imani Cheers, Associate Professor, Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University.
Moderator: Maboula Soumahoro, author, Afro-feminist, and Associate Professor, English, University of Tours, France.

The State of American Theater - Executives’ Roundtable
In 2020, diverse members of the American theater community published “We See You, White American Theater,” a clarion call listing principles for building anti-rascist theaters nationwide. Culminating a festival devoted to Story, Stage & Screen, our Closing Event presented a stimulating roundtable conversation on culture, community and representation with the guiding creative and administrative lights of some of America’s most prominent regional theaters.
Panelists: Kamilah Forbes, Executive Producer, Apollo Theater, Harlem, NY; Maria Manuela Goyanes, Artistic Director, Wooly Mammoth Theater, Washington, D.C.; Jamil Jude, Artistic Director, Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre, Atlanta, GA; Molly Smith, Artistic Director, Arena Stage, Washington, D.C.; and Nikkole Salter, Chair, Dept. of Theatre Arts, Howard University,
Moderator: Donna Walker-Kuhne, writer (Invitation to the Party), educator, community engagement strategist, and founder, Walker International Communications Group
2022 Honorees

- March On Lifetime Achievement Award
Irene Gandy
presented by Emilio Sosa

- March On Lifetime Achievement Award
George C. Wolfe
presented by Jeffrey Wright

- March On Lifetime Achievement Award
Congresswoman Barbara Lee
presented by Congressman Jim Clyburn
2021 Recap

A TRIBUTE TO FRED GRAY
Celebrates the career of Civil Rights attorney, strategist,and former AL representative Fred Gray, featuring Claudette Colvin, Montgomery Bus Boycott pioneer; Hon. Doug Jones, former U.S. Senator, AL; and Taylor Branch, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian. With political analyst and television commentator Jamal Simmons as moderator.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PAULI MURRAY
Profiles the late non-binary activist, strategist, legal scholar, poet, first African American woman Episcopalian priest, and co-founder of the National Organization for Women. With presenters Dr. Nii-Quartelai Quartey, AARP Senior Advisor & National LGBTQ Liaison; Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas, Washington National Cathedral; and Dr. Janet Dewart Bell, author.

ONE ON ONE WITH LITTLE MISS FLINT
Flint, Michigan water activist Mari Copeny, joins Naomi Wadler, youngest speaker at the 2018 March for Our Lives in a conversation on the impact national front line organizing has had on their young lives.

CLIMATE DEFENDERS AT WORK IN THE HALLS OF GOVERNMENT
Representatives from the Clinton, Obama and Biden administrations discuss the effects of environmental racism and the need for parity in the ongoing climate change crisis.
Panelists: Rosemary Enobakhare, U.S. EPA Office of the Administrator; Brandi Colander, DC Green Bank; Diane Dillon-Ridgley, Environmental and Human Rights Activist. With Special Guest: Michael S. Regan, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and moderator: Danielle Deane-Ryan, Jade Advisor.

HOW TO BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST
Join 19-year-old climate change activist Jerome Foster II as he shares tips and tools for researching, interviewing, writing and pitching timely stories for publication. Foster is Co-founder and Editor of the digital news service Climate Reporter, and is the youngest member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

YOUNG ACTIVISTS ROUNDTABLE
Gen Z activists Isra Hirsi, (Youth Climate Strike and 2020 Fortune Magazine’s 40 Under 40 Government and Politics List) and Jerome Foster II (OneMillionOfUs, and The Climate Reporter) talk with Koralie Barrau, (Producer, BBC News) on what drives them to action, how they organize, what obstacles they face, and how they stay committed.
2021 Honorees

- March On Lifetime Achievement Award
Donors of Color Network
presented by Reggie Van Lee

- March On Lifetime Achievement Award
Sam Pollard
presented by Judy Richardson

- March On Lifetime Achievement Award
Congressman James Clyburn
presented by Lauren Underwood