Medal

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Defense Department takes down, then restores ‘DEI’ webpage honoring Black Medal of Honor recipient

The U.S. Department of Defense removed a webpage dedicated to a decorated Black veteran who served in the Vietnam War, characterizing his Medal of Honor as a “DEI” medal, only to later reinstate the page after online fury. The page in question spotlighted Army Maj. General Charles Calvin Rogers, who received the Presidential Medal of Honor from President Richard Nixon in 1970. According to the 2021 Defense article spotlight, Rogers remains the highest-ranking Black American to receive the prestigious Medal […]

todayMarch 17, 2025 1

News

Biden awards Denzel Washington, Magic Johnson and Fannie Lou Hamer with Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 recipients on Saturday afternoon, including Black American luminaries, actor Denzel Washington, former NBA star and business mogul Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and the late civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer.  Other recipients included former Secretary of State, U.S. Senator and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, musician Bono, actor Michael J. Fox, the late Robert F. Kennedy, Sr., fashion designer Ralph Lauren, and longtime Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. The ceremony unfolded […]

todayJanuary 4, 2025

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Bennie Thompson awarded Presidential Citizens Medal by Biden in a full-circle moment for the Mississippi lawmaker

Longtime Congressman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., received one of the highest civilian honors on Thursday when President Joe Biden awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal. Closing out the final days of his term, which ends on Jan. 20, Biden presented Thompson, 76, with the prestigious presidential award during a White House ceremony held in the East Room. For Thompson, who has been in Congress for more than 30 years and before that, served in local government, the presidential honor is years […]

todayJanuary 2, 2025 2

News

VP Kamala Harris honors Shirley Chisholm with historic Congressional Gold Medal bill signing

Vice President Kamala Harris signed a bill bestowing the late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm with a Congressional Gold Medal, a symbolic and historic moment in Washington for America’s first Black female vice president.  Harris’ signature instructed the United States Congress to posthumously award Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and first African American to run for president in a major party, with Congress’s highest civilian honor. Vice President Harris said she “proudly” and “humbly” signed the Shirley Chisholm Congressional […]

todayDecember 10, 2024 2

News

Lawmakers push Rev. James Lawson for posthumous Congressional Gold Medal award

Following the recent death of civil rights leader Rev. James Lawson, lawmakers hope to finally achieve a years-long effort to award him a Congressional Gold Medal.  “There’s not enough knowledge about how profound a role James Lawson played in the civil rights movement in this country,” U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told theGrio in an exclusive about re-introducing a bill to honor Lawson with one of the United States’ oldest and highest civilian awards.  Khanna, who developed a personal relationship […]

todayJune 17, 2024 1

News

Inside Biden’s Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony honoring Black luminaries, including the ‘grandmother of Juneteenth’

The “Grandmother of Juneteenth” and the man who contributed to parts of of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s most famous speech received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Bide at the White House on Friday. They were among 19 people, including current and former elected officials, to be given the highest civilian honor. Known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth” for her decades of work pushing for Juneteenth to become a federal holiday, Opal Lee is a 97-year-old retired […]

todayMay 4, 2024 1

News

Clarence B. Jones, Opal Lee, Medgar Evers among 19 to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

WASHINGTON (AP) — Clarence B. Jones says he thought a prankster was on the line when he answered the telephone and heard the person on the other end say they were calling from the White House. “I said, ‘Is this a joke or is this serious?’” Jones recalled. The caller swore they were serious and was calling with the news that President Joe Biden wanted to recognize Jones with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Jones, […]

todayMay 4, 2024 3

News

Rep. Ivey introduces bill to posthumously award Congressional Gold Medal to Frederick Douglass

U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., has introduced a resolution that would award abolitionist Frederick Douglass with a Congressional Gold Medal for his “contributions to the cause of freedom, human rights and the abolition of slavery.” Ivey told theGrio that Douglass “was one of the giants of the 19th century – not just in U.S. history, but around the world.” In 1818, Douglass was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland. At a young age, he taught himself how to read […]

todayFebruary 17, 2024 1