LOS ANGELES (AP) – The civil rights drama “Selma” won top honors at the NAACP Image Awards in a ceremony that took sharp notice of snubs of African-American artists and their work by the Oscars.
“This is more than a movie,” Oprah Winfrey, who was a “Selma” producer and appeared in it, said Friday in accepting the trophy for outstanding motion picture. “It’s important that we all know who we are so we know where we’re going, and claiming the glory.”
“Selma,” which dramatizes events surrounding the 1965 Alabama voting rights marches led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, also captured best actor honors for David Oyelowo, who played King.
“I want to take this opportunity to say I thank the Lord I was able to play one of the most transcendent human beings who ever walked the planet,” Oyelowo said.
Awards host Anthony Anderson, the “black-ish” star whose freshman ABC sitcom was a big TV winner Friday, opened the night with a jab at the Academy Awards, which this year has an all-white slate of acting nominees.