The Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

(NAACP) for an outstanding achievement by an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

. The award was created in 1914 by Joel Elias Spingarn, chairman of the board of directors of the NAACP. It was first awarded to biologist Ernest E. Just in 1915, and has been given most years thereafter. At its annual convention, the NAACP presents the award after deciding from open nominations. Should the organization end, it would be managed by

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

or Fisk Universities. The gold medal is valued at $100, and Spingarn left $20,000 () in his will for the NAACP to continue giving it indefinitely.

List of recipients

Notes

;Footnotes ;Specific references ;General references * * {{African American topics Awards established in 1915 American awards Awards honoring African Americans 1915 establishments in the United States NAACP