Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Honored at NAACP Awards for Humanitarian Work

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, have been recognized for their distinguished public service and humanitarian work at the NAACP Awards.

The couple won the NAACP's Award on Saturday night for their work helping a Texas women's shelter, promoting vaccine equity and creating community relief centers with World Central Kitchen.

In a social media post, the NAACP Image Awards tweeted, “Congratulations to our President's Award recipients Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

#NAACPImageAwards.”

The award ceremony honors people of color across television, music, literature and film, and began with virtual award ceremonies.

Taking to the stage to receive the award, the Duchess of Sussex said, “It's inspiring to think about the legacy of the Image Awards, which began shortly after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed into law.”

She continued, “Today, we can continue that legacy by re-establishing federal voting protections in our country and fulfilling the work of civil rights giants, like the late John Lewis.

We are so deeply humbled to be here in the company of so many illustrious awardees.”

Previous recipients of the accolade include LeBron James, Rihanna, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Muhammad Ali, and Jesse Jackson.

The Duke and Duchess partnered with the NAACP and their Archul Foundation to create a new honor, the NAACP Archul Digital Civil Rights Award, which bestows a $100,000 prize to innovators working at the intersection of technology and social justice.

The first recipient of the NAACP Archul Award was Sophia Noble, PhD, who wrote a 2019 study titled Algorithms of Oppression, How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, exposing how common internet search algorithms are programmed to reinforce racial and gender-based biases.

Taking over from his wife, Prince Harry took a moment to acknowledge the people of Ukraine.

He said, “Before I begin, we would like to acknowledge the people of Ukraine, who urgently need our continued support as a global community.”

He then went on to thank the NAACP for the award.

The Duke of Sussex said, “I also echo the immense gratitude for tonight, both for this award and this community for welcoming me so warmly.

I think it's safe to say that I come from a very different background from my incredible wife, yet our lives were brought together for a reason.

We share a commitment to a life of service, a responsibility to confront injustice and a belief that the most often overlooked are the most important to listen to.”

Meghan then took time to honor the legacy of George Floyd.

She said, “And I couldn't be prouder that we're doing this work together.

We moved to California, my home state, shortly before the murder of George Floyd.

For Black America, those nine minutes and 29 seconds transcended time, invoking centuries of our unhealed wounds.”

“In the months that followed, as my husband and I spoke with the civil rights community, we committed ourselves and our organization, Archul, to illuminating those who are advancing racial justice and progress,” she added.

Prince Harry then said, “In that spirit, we've partnered with the team here to create the NAACP Archwell Digital Civil Rights Award, which will be given annually to leaders creating transformational change at the intersection of social justice and technology.”

Meghan concluded her speech saying, “We are proud to partner with NAACP and each one of you to translate the vital efforts of those who came before us to the modern challenges that exist ahead of us.

Thank you so much for joining us in this work.

And thank you again for this incredible honor.

Truly, my mom is with us here tonight and we all feel very proud.”

The NAACP Archul Digital Civil Rights Award bestows a $100,000 prize to innovators working at the intersection of technology and social justice.