SPINGARN AWARD

SPINGARN AWARD Instituted in 1914 by Joel E. Spingarn, chairman of the board of directors of the NAACP, the Springarn Award consists of a gold medal given annually by the NAACP for the "highest or noblest achievement by an American Negro." Unrestricted as to the area or field of achievement, personalities may be chosen to receive the award on the basis of a single noteworthy accomplishment (W. E. B. Du Bois in 1920 for founding the Pan-African Congress) or on the basis of overall achievement (Langston Hughes in 1960 for being the "Poet Laureate of the Negro race"). Other recipients of the Spingarn Award have included George Washington Carver (1923), Carter G. Woodson (1926), Thurgood Marshall (1946), Ralph Bunche (1949), Jackie Robinson (1956) and Roy Wilkins (1964).