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Hold up, wait a minute — award season ain’t finished just yet. The NAACP Image Awards are just around the corner and we, as a culture, get to watch Black folks shine and receive all the things they deserve without caucasious interruptions.
Over the years, we’ve seen people boycott the Oscars, Golden Globes and the Emmy’s for not being inclusive enough when it comes to nominations. But in the same breathe, we forget to acknowledge ceremonies like the Image Awards that have been giving Black actors, actresses and directors their flowers when the other shows were leaving African-American talent on the backburner.
Hit the flip to check out all the times the NAACP Awards honored Black stars while the other award shows were sleeping on ’em.
Angela Bassett
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Ms. Bassett is one of those actresses who is so good at what she does, it’s mind-blowing that she doesn’t have every single award there is to win. She may have won a Golden Globe in 1994 for her role as Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got To Do With It”, but Angela still hasn’t gotten her well-deserved Academy Award. Let’s not forget how the Emmy’s snubbed her for her role in American Horror Story. But the Image Awards have always given Ms. Bassett her things. Her 8 NAACP Award wins include:
In 1995, she won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for Malcolm X.
In 1996, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture for Waiting To Exhale.
In 1999, she won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture for How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
Danny Glover
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All these years quality work and Danny Glover still is one of the most underrated actors of our time. He received several Emmy Award nominations over the last 40 years, but never took home an award. He is, however an eight-time Image Award Winner.
Kerry Washington
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Washington received multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for Scandal, but never took home an award. However, she won an Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for her role in “Ray” back in 2005, Outstanding Supporting Actress for Django and Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for Scandal in 2013.
Will Smith
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Will Smith has nominated for an Academy Award twice, thanks to his roles in Ali and Pursuit of Happyness. He snagged several Golden Globe nods for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but he never won either. He did however win an Image Award for his role in Seven Pounds, and was even awarded Entertainer of The Year in 1999.
Phylicia Rashad
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Clearly these award shows don’t know what their talking about anytime Ms. Rashad isn’t as decorated as her caucasian peers. The actress has been nominated for an Emmy three times in the last 30 years, but no win. She is, however, a three time Image Award winner thanks to her roles in The Cosby Show and Raisin In The Sun.
Ryan Coogler
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Ryan Coogler, who gave us Black Panther, wasn’t even nominated for Best Director this award season. However in 2016, he won the Image award for Best Director following the success of Creed.
Yara Shahidi
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Yara is one of the many young, talented, Black actresses everyone wants to see win. She starred on an Emmy Award winning show (Black-ish) that got it’s own spinoff (Grown-ish), yet the awards shows are still sleeping on her. Not the NAACP Awards though. Back in 2015, Yara won the Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Caleb McLaughlin
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Young Caleb has been doing his thing on Netflix’s Stranger Things. And even though the Emmy’s and Golden Globes have been sleeping on his talent, the Image Awards are woke. In 2018, he took home the NAACP Award for Outstanding Performance by a Youth.
Marsai Martin
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Marsai Martin is a star, honey. Not only does she steal the show as Diane on “Black-ish”, she has her very own production company and will star in the upcoming film “Little” with Issa Rae and Regina Hall. The other awards will certainly be tripping over Marsai in many years to come, but the Image Awards are already on it. In 2018, she took home the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in “Black-ish”.