Foward will be the sole recipient of the Activist of the Year award. Other special award winners this year include 30-year Congressman Bennie Thompson, entertainer Gabrielle Union and attorney Benjamin Crump.
Foward said he didn’t know he was nominated until he got a phone call from the vice president of the NAACP Hollywood Bureau, which administers the awards.
“It was a total shock and humbling to know that someone would think of me in that manner to nominate me for such a prestigious award,” Foward said.
He credited the team he works with at the Dayton NAACP.
“My team makes me shine,” he said. “I have a robust team, and our unit is a model unit.”
Foward will be the fourth person to receive the award.
“Dr. Foward has been a strong advocate for civil and human rights for nearly two decades through his work with the NAACP,” said the press release from the NAACP Image Awards.
Tiwona L. Branham, treasurer for the Dayton NAACP and a teacher at Thurgood Marshall High School, nominated Foward for the award.
“Dr. Foward is a person who just will go above and beyond in my opinion, as an activist, as a person,” Branham said.
She added, “There’s not a time of day he won’t help someone.”
The NAACP Image Awards, hosted by entertainer Queen Latifah in Los Angeles, will be televised on BET at 8 p.m. Eastern time Saturday. The show will also be broadcast across Paramount Global Networks, according to a press release from the NAACP Image Awards.
Foward was first elected as the president of the Dayton Unit of the NAACP in November 2006. He is currently serving his ninth two-year term and is also in his seventh two-year term as a vice president of the NAACP for the state of Ohio.
Foward retired from the Speedway corporation after 28 years and has received several awards previously, including the Top Ten African American Male Award (2009), Heart of Gold Award (2009), Rupert Richardson Memorial Leadership Award (2012), Thalheimer Award (2012-19 and 2022), Access to Justice Community Advocacy Award (2015), CSU Dayton Alumni Chapter Inaugural Class of Luminaries Award (2015) and Gospel Superfest Community Service Award (2018).
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