Muhammad Ali Center humanitarian award to honor Bryan Stevenson

The Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards will include Cape Region native Bryan Stevenson among the esteemed honorees Saturday, Nov. 9, in Louisville, Ky.

A lifetime achievement award will go to Stevenson, a Cape Henlopen High School alumnus and widely acclaimed public interest lawyer. Stevenson has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned. He is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization in Montgomery, Ala.

Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aiding children prosecuted as adults. Stevenson has argued and won multiple cases at the United States Supreme Court. He and his staff have won reversals, relief or release from prison for more than 140 wrongly condemned prisoners on death row and won relief for hundreds of others wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced.

Shaquille O'Neal, one of the most dominant basketball players in NBA history, will be recognized with the Humanitarian of the Year Award. Philanthropically, O’Neal has raised millions of dollars for charity. He is a national spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and a national board member for Communities in Schools. In 2019, he established the Shaquille O’Neal Foundation, which creates pathways for underserved youth to help them achieve their full potential.

A global citizen award will go to Nile Rodgers, a songwriter, producer, musician and philanthropist. A Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Rodgers has used his talents, influence and connections to build a bridge between music and philanthropy by participating in numerous historic fundraising efforts. He co-founded the We Are Family Foundation, which focuses on empowering young people at the forefront of fighting systemic racism, inequality and injustice.

Honoree and Louisville native Dawne Gee is an award-winning broadcast journalist and a tireless advocate for countless nonprofits in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Her nonprofit A Recipe to End Hunger & Need supports meeting the needs of families who find themselves asking for assistance, often for the first time.