2021

Hannibal B. Johnson, Esq., Author, Attorney & Consultant

2020

Benjamin Jealous, Civil and Human Rights Leader, Former NAACP President

2019

Bakari Sellars, CNN Political Analyst, Lawyer & Activist

2018

Dr. Kent J. Smith, Jr. President, Langston University

2017

Maryum Ali, Performer and Human Services Activist

2016

Bob Zellner, Civil Rights activist

2015

Eugene Robinson, Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist

2014

Dick Gregory, Civil Rights activist and comedian

2013

Myrlie Evers-Williams, Civil Rights activist, first female chairperson of the NAACP

2012

Andrew Young, US Ambassador, Congressman, Mayor of Atlanta and Co-Founding Principal and Chairman of Goodworks International

2011

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, political commentator and educator

2010

Kweisi Mfume, political and business leader

2009

Dr. Nikki Giovanni, poet, author, essayist and professor

2008

Rev. Dr. James Forbes, Jr., Senior Minister Emeritus, The Riverside Church; President and Founder, Healing of the Nations Foundation

2007

Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, Co-Founder, Southern Christian Leadership Conference

2006

Julian Bond, Chairman, NAACP

2005

Juan Williams, Author, Columnist, NPR Host

2004

Dr. Scott Ellsworth, Author, "Death in a Promised Land..."

2003

*Rep. Opio Toure, Oklahoma State Representative

2002

Hon. Fred R. Harris, Former US Senator, Member of "The Group"

2001

Dr. G. Calvin McCutchen, Sr., Pastor, Mt. Zion Baptist Church

2000

W.A. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma

1999

Ms. Diane Nash, Student Leader of the Non-violent Civil Rights Movement of te 1960s

1998

Rev. Dr. James Lawson, Pastor, Holman United Methodist Church, Los Angeles, California

1997

Mr. Morris Dees, Co-Founder, Southern Law Poverty Center, Montgomery, Alabama

1996

*Rev. Wade Watts, Pastor, Jerusalem Baptist Church, Oklahoma City

1995

*Dr. Ernest Holloway, President, Langston University

1994

*Ms. Clara Luper, Oklahoma Civil Rights Leader, Oklahoma City

1993

Dr. Cynthia Hale, Pastor, Atlanta, Georgia

1992

*Dr. Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, University of Oklahoma Board of Regents

1991

*The Honorable Hannah Atkins, Oklahoma Secretary of State, 1987-1991

1990

Brig. Gen. Frank L. Miller, Jr., Commander, III Corps Artillery, Fort Sill

1989

Dr. George Henderson, Department of Human Relations, University of Oklahoma

1988

*Rev. JL Davenport, Pastor, St. John's Baptist Church

1987

Dr. Melvin Todd, Vice President, Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education

1986

Rev. Gregory Wilson Jones, Pastor, Frederick, OK

1985

Dr. Valree Wynn, Emeritus Cameron Faculty