Charles H. Wright Museum, in partnership with Ford Motor Company, launched the Ford Freedom Award program in 1999 to create a forum to celebrate and recognize individuals whose achievements brought forth lasting and positive change for African Americans – and the world. The Ford Freedom Award is an annual fundraiser for The Wright Museum, one of the world’s largest institution dedicated to the African-American experience.
Ford Freedom Award
Scholar
Floyd Norman
Floyd Norman is an animator, writer and comic book artist who broke barriers at Walt Disney as well as in the world of animation. 1956 he began his career at Disney as the first African-American artist to remain at the studio on a long-term basis. His work can be seen in classic animated movies such as: Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc., just to name a few. Norman is not only a pioneer in his field and paved the way for other African American animated artists but he has contributed to the African American community by producing films about black history and created an internet space where African American children can be entertained at the same time as educated.
Ford Freedom Award Honoree (posthumous)
August Wilson
August Wilson (April 27, 1945-October 2, 2005) authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of the descendants of Africans brought to North America, decade-by-decade, over the course of the twentieth century. These plays form a compilation entitled The American Century Cycle. His plays have been produced on Broadway, at regional theaters across the country and all over the world.
