Race Amity Medal of Honor
The Race Amity Medal of Honor Program is an annual event through which NCRA recognizes and honors individuals who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to advancing access and equity in society through interracial partnerships.
The awards are generally presented at a banquet held on the eve of the National Race Amity Conference.
A Distinctive Honor
The word “honor” carries with it the synonyms of rectitude, integrity, righteousness and uprightness. The individuals awarded the National Center for Race Amity Medal of Honor demonstrate these qualities.
We hold a sense of deep pride in their accomplishments and dedication and aspire to emulate their efforts of engaging race amity to advance access and equity in society.
Thank You to our Sponsors
The Race Amity Medal of Honor Awards Program is made possible through the support of these generous donors.
2023 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
John Calipari
University of Kentucky Basketball Coach
Robert C. Henderson
Fortune 500 management and diversity consultant
Debby Irving
Best-selling author and social activist
Steve Sarowitz
Philanthropist and Entrepreneur
2022 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
Johnnetta Betsch Cole, PhD
CEO/President Emeritus of the National Council of Negro Women
Paul Chavez
President of the Cesar Chavez Foundation
Fred Ross, Jr.
Labor organizer and co-founder of Neighbor to Neighbor
2021 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
Ireland National Men's Lacrosse Team
Sports Team
Iroquois Nationals Men's Lacrosse Team
Sports Team
Layli Miller-Muro, J.D.
Founder, Tahirih Justice Center
Cornel West, J.D.
Philosopher and Civil Rights Activist
2020 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
William E. Cohen, J.D.
Co-Founder, Race & Reconcilation in America and Former US Secretary of Defense
Janet Langhart Cohen
Journalist, Playwright and Activist, Co-Founder, Race & Reconciliation in America
Mitch Landreau
Founder, E Pluribus Unum Fund and Former Mayor of New Orleans
2019 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
Honorable Michael Higgins
President of Ireland
Robert Rosenfeld
CEO and Founder of Idea Connection Systems and Mosaic Partnerships
Cherry Steinwender
Co-Founder, Institutes for the Healing of Racism
Timothy Wise
Anti-Racist Educator and Author
2018 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
Barbara Madeloni, Ph.D.
President, Massachusetts Teachers Association
Dorothy Nelson, J.D.
Judge, 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals
Yvonne Spicer, Ed.D.
Mayor, City of Framingham, MA.
Rev, Nancy Taylor, Ph.D.
Senior Minister, Old South Church, Boston
2017 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
Ashley Bryan
Artist and Educator
Raymond S. Elliott
Civil Rights Activist
Dawn Frazier-Bohnert
VP Diversity and Inclusion, Liberty Mutual Insurance Companies
Robert Liekind
Director, American Jewish Committee New England
Rev. David Purdy
Activist and Author
Pamela Chatterton Purdy
Artist
2016 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
Liz Cheng
Manager WGBH Televiosn and CEO World Channel
Ben Cohen
Co-Founder, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream
William E. Davis III, J.D.
Founder, DPK Consulting, Administrator California Court Systems
Jean McGuire
Educator and Executive Director of METCO, Inc.
Charles Ogletree
Educator and Attorney
Robert Rivers
President, Eastern Bank
Nancy Stager
Exec. VP of Human Resources, Eastern Bank
2015 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
Sylvia Farrell Jones, J.D.
President/CEO YW Boston
Doug Mitchell
Founder, Next Generation Radio
Don Mullan
Author/Filmmaker and Founder Hope Initiatives International
Howard Ross
Author and Activist
Margaret Stern Strom
Founder, Facing History in Ourselves
William Grant Still
Composer and Conductor
Richard W. Thomas, Ph.D.
Hostorian, Author and definer of The Other Tradition
2014 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
Dolores Huerta
Co-Founder, United Farm Workers
Jackie Jenkins-Scott, MSW
Educator, President, Wheelock College
Hubie Jones
Educator, Founder Boston Children’s Choir and City Year
Viola Liuzzo
Civil Rights Activist and Martyr
Patricia Locke, Ph.D.
Educator, Founder America Indian College System, McArthur Fellow
Beverly Morgan Welch
Director, Museum of African American History/African Meeting House
2013 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
Dwight Allen, Ed.D.
Educator, Dean of the School of Education, U Mass Amherst
Ken Burns
Historian and Documentary Film Maker
Xernona Clayton
Founder, Trumpet Awards
Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D.
Educator and Anti-Racist Advocate
Thomas Menino
Mayor of City of Boston
Luis Gilberto Murrillo
Governor, Choco, Colombia
Deval Patrick
Governor, Massachusetts
Colette Phillips
Founder, Get Konnected
William F. Winter
Governor, Mississippi