Socially loud! Can you hear us?

James Baldwin Legacy Awards – 2023

Watch the 2023 awards Again! 

2023 Honorees

The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) proudly presented the 3rd annual James Baldwin Legacy Awards commemorating National Senior Citizens Day on Monday, August 21, 2023, at 1 pm EST. This signature event honored iconic Black GBTQ+/SGL men and masculine elders and celebrate the process of aging while sharing the wisdom accrued by our elders through this virtual event. We honor Black male and masculine elders who have blazed trails across a number of fields and careers. The honorees this year included (in alphabetical order): 

Jonathan Capeheart

(Lives in Washington, DC, grew up in NJ) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Associate Editor of The Washington Post and hosts The Saturday and Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC.

Rev. Frederick Davie

(Lives in New York City, NY, born and raised in Belmont, North Carolina) is the Senior Strategic Advisor to the President at Union Theological Seminary and a glass ceiling-breaking leader in Philanthropy as Interim Executive Director at the Arcus Foundation.

Jamil Fletcher

(Lives in Upper Marlboro, MD, grew up in Wilmington, DE) is the founder and publisher of SWERV Magazine, a national lifestyle periodical celebrating the culture and community of Black LGBTQ+/SGL people.

Judge Darrin P. Gayles

(Lives in Miami, FL, born in Peoria, Illinois) is the first openly gay Black male judge confirmed by the U.S. Senate (98-0) to serve in a federal court: the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Jeffrey C. King

(Born, raised, and lives in Los Angeles, CA) is the founder and Executive Director of In the Meantime Men, a social architect, social justice activist, and community-based researcher creating behavioral-based interventions specifically for Black gay men.

Rev. Louis Mitchell

(Lives in Tucson, AZ, born in Los Angeles, CA) is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Transfaith/Interfaith Working Group and Senior Pastor of Rincon Congregational United Church of Christ.

Darryl Moore

(Lives in Manassas Park, VA, born in Fontana, California) is the first and only openly gay Black man elected to public office in two different states: California (City Councilman in Berkeley) and Virginia (City Councilman in Manassas Park). He serves on the steering committee of the NBJC Good Trouble Network.

The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) is a civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and same gender loving (LGBTQ/SGL) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS.