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2008 Living Legends Award Honorees
2008 Honorees
Simmi Knox
Artist/Presidential
Portrait Artist
1968 Olympic Gold
Medalist/Educator
Historian/Educator
SIMMIE KNOX is a celebrated African American painter who earned his place in history as the first black artist chosen to paint the official White House portrait of former United States President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. His oil painting of former President Clinton was unveiled during a ceremony at the White House. A graduate of Tyler School of Art at Temple University (BFA, Magna Cum Laude, MFA) in Philadelphia, PA, Knox as an artist has specialized in oil portraiture since 1981. Prior to that, he taught at various colleges, universities, and public schools in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, DC.
During the 1970's, Simmie exhibited as an abstract artist and worked for the Museum of African Art in Washington, DC. In 1971, he participated in the Thirty-Second Biennial of Contemporary American Painting at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington with his abstract art. Simmie Knox turned to portraiture after years of painting a wide variety of paintings because he found that there is nothing more challenging and interesting to paint than the human face. He believes that a good portrait is the most difficult thing for an artist to complete successfully, because one must get an accurate likeness and create a good painting. Somehow you must communicate a subject's character, spirit, and personality; and everything must speak the energy of the subject. Simmie has been commissioned by private individuals, organizations, and institutions and has painted portraits of U.S. Supreme Court Justices, a U.S. cabinet member, U.S. congressmen and state senators, a mayor of New York City, respected civic leaders, sports figures, entertainment celebrities, educators, judges, religious leaders, military officers, businessmen, and private individuals.
TOMMIE SMITH is an African American former track & field athlete and wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals of the American Football League. His historic achievements make him a nationally and internationally distinguished figure in African American history. He is the only man in the history of track and field to hold eleven world records simultaneously. Tommie Smith received his Bachelor of Arts degree from San Jose State University in Social Science, with double minors in Military Science and Physical Education. Tommie received his Masters Degree in Sociology from Goddard Cambridge in Boston, MA. As a college student, Tommie amazingly tied or broke a total of 13 world records in track. During the historic 19th Olympiad held in Mexico City in the summer of 1968, Tommie Smith broke the world and Olympic records with a time of 19.83 seconds and became the 200-meter Olympic champion. As he and John Carlos stood on the victory podium, draped with their Olympic medals. Each man raised a clinched fist covered in a black leather glove, in a historic stand for black power, liberation and solidarity. This courageous, unexpected worldwide event propelled Tommie Smith into the spotlight as a human rights spokesman, activist, and symbol of African American pride at home and abroad. Dr. Smith's courageous leadership, talent, and activisim have earned him well-deserved acclaim and athletic and humanitarian awards. Some highlights include: 1978 inductee into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame; 1996 inductee into the California Black Sports Hall of Fame; May 1999 inductee into the Bay Area Hall of Fame; November 1999 inductee into the San Jose State University Sports Hall of Fame; 1999 Sportsman of the Millennium Award; 2000-2001 Commendation, Recognition, and Proclamation Awards from the County of Los Angeles and the State of Texas; and 2004 dedication of the Tommie Smith gymnasium in Saint-Ouen, France. In May 2005, Smith was awarded the Honorary Doctorate Degree of Humane Letters from San Jose State University. Tommie Smith has enjoyed a distinguished 40-year career as a coach, educator, athletic director and activitist.
EMORY J TOLBERT served as chairman of the Howard University History Department from 1991 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2005. He holds a Ph.D. from UCLA in United States History and has taught at UC San Diego, San Diego State University, and California State University at Fullerton, where he was Professor of History and Chairman of the African American and Ethnic Studies Department. He specializes in the history of the United States, African American History and the history of the African Diaspora. Dr. Tolbert is the author of the first regional study of the Marcus Garvey Movement, entitled The UNIA and Black Los Angeles: Ideology and Community in the American Garvey Movement (Center for Afro –American Studies, UCLA, 1981). He was also senior editor of the Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers, Volumes 1-4 (University of California Press, 1983-86). His other publications include Race and Culture in America (Burgess Press, 1986, 1987, and 1988), and Perspectives on the African Diaspora, Volumes 1 and 2 (Houghton Mifflin, 1998 and 2001). His latest book is 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, published by the Review and Herald Publishing Company in 2005. Among his articles are “Outpost Garveyism and the UNIA Rank and File” in The Journal of Black Studies (1973) and “Slaves, Workers and Race Rebels” in the Journal of American Ethnic History. “Federal Surveillance of Marcus Garvey and the UNIA” was published in the Journal of Ethnic Studies in 1987. His article “Marcus Garvey” is published in A Companion to American Thought (Blackwell, 1995). Dr. Tolbert teaches courses in United States History, African Diaspora History, and Oral History.