Medal of Honor
Recognizing the ordinary people doing extraordinary work — one bridge-builder at a time.
Every hero has a name.
The Race Amity Medal of Honor exists because too many of the people doing the most important work in America never get recognized. They're teachers and coaches, clergy and community organizers, neighbors and friends who quietly build the bridges that hold this country together. This award is for them.
About the Award
The Race Amity Medal of Honor recognizes exceptional commitment to race amity. Recipients are nominated by the community and selected by the NCRA board for their outstanding contributions to building genuine friendship and solidarity across racial lines.
Past recipients include educators who transformed their schools, faith leaders who opened their congregations across the color line, activists who built unexpected coalitions, and artists who told stories that changed hearts and minds.
What unites them: they didn't wait for permission. They saw a need for connection and acted — often quietly, always courageously.
Who Is Eligible?
The Medal of Honor is for anyone — of any background, in any field — whose work embodies the spirit of race amity. We look for:
Genuine Connection
Recipients build real relationships across racial lines — not transactional partnerships, but authentic friendships grounded in respect and love.
Community Impact
Their work touches lives beyond their own — in schools, neighborhoods, faith communities, or civic institutions where their example inspires others.
Long-Term Commitment
Race amity isn't a moment — it's a practice. Recipients demonstrate sustained commitment to the work of building friendship across difference.
Quiet Excellence
Many of our recipients are doing extraordinary work that rarely makes headlines. We believe in honoring those who show up even when no one is watching.
2026 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
The 7uice Foundation
Founded by Jaylen Brown
Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali
Environmental justice leader
The Floor Lords
Boston hip-hop pioneers
2025 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
Ron Burton Training Village
Riders for Race Amity
Youth Cycling Initiative
Randie Gottlieb
Founder, UnityWorks
2024 Race Amity Medal of Honor Recipients
Celeste Headlee
Journalist, author, and CEO of Headway DEI Training
Robert Lewis, Jr.
President and CEO, Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston
William H. "Smitty" Smith
Founder and Executive Director, National Center for Race Amity
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
Civil rights and labor leader
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 Television 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
Know Someone Worthy of This Honor?
Nominations for the Race Amity Medal of Honor are welcomed through NCRA. Reach out to learn more about the nomination process.