The civil-rights drama Selma won top honours at the 46th NAACP Image Awards at the weekend, during a ceremony that highlighted the snubbing of African-American artists and their work by the Oscars.
“This is more than a movie,” said Oprah Winfrey, who was a producer and star of the film, as she accepted the trophy for Outstanding Motion Picture. “It’s important that we all know who we are so we know where we’re going, and claiming the glory.”
Selma, based on events surrounding the 1965 Alabama voting-rights marches, also captured the Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture award for David Oyelowo, who played Martin Luther King Jr.
The awards host Anthony Anderson, the star of new sitcom black-ish, which was the big TV winner, opened the night with a jab at the Academy Awards, which this year has an all-white list of acting nominees. The critically acclaimed Selma is up for Best Picture and Best Song at the Oscars on February 22, but failed to gather nominations for Oyelowo or its director Ava DuVernay.
Taraji P Henson, the star of the new TV hit Empire, was a double winner: she was named Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, for No Good Deed, and Entertainer of the Year.
Anderson won Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series for black-ish, which was also honoured as Outstanding Comedy Series and captured an Outstanding Actress trophy for Tracee Ellis Ross.
How to Get Away with Murder was named Outstanding Drama Series, with its star Viola Davis named Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series. Criminal Minds star Shemar Moore was named Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series.
Spike Lee received the NAACP President’s Award, which recognises those who have combined career success and public service. In his speech, he addressed the obstacles facing black artists. “This stuff is rigged. It’s not set up for us to win,” he said.
The veteran music industry executive Clive Davis, who nurtured the careers of artists such as Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Alicia Keys, received the Vanguard Award, which recognises work that increases understanding of racial and social issues.
The NAACP Image Awards are handed out by the civil rights group the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
