Usher listens to a
question while conducting a roundtable interview with media
at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
in Detroit. (Photo by Karen Fox/Tell Us Detroit)
R&B star
Usher
honored
at
Detroit
awards
program
By
Shena
Penn/Tell
Us
Detroit
DETROIT
- R&B
singer
Usher
Raymond
IV and
magazine
publisher
John
Johnson
were
honored
at the
12th
Annual
Ford Freedom
Fund
Award
gala
Thursday
at the
Charles
H.
Wright
Museum
for
African
American
History.
Entertainment
Tonight
anchor
Kevin
Frazier
and
WXYZ-TV
host
Chuck
Stokes
served
as
emcees.
The gala
featured
video
tributes
to both
honorees
and
civil
rights
leader
Dorothy
Height.
There
were
also
song
tributes,
which
included
Detroit
songstress
Monica
Blair.
This
year’s
Ford
Freedom
Awards
focused
on
entrepreneurship.
Usher
Raymond
IV,
commonly
known as
“Usher,”
was the
Ford
Freedom
award
scholar.
Usher
was
acknowledged
for his
achievements
in the
music
industry,
business
ventures
which
include
part
ownership
in NBA
team the
Cleveland
Cavaliers
and
service
to the
community
through
his New
Look
Foundation.
As the
Ford
Freedom
Award
Scholar,
Usher
gave a
lecture
Thursday
morning
and
presented
awards
and
savings
bonds to
winners
of the
Ford
Freedom
Award
Essay
contest.
Actors
Christopher
and Kyle
Massey
were
emcees
for the
lecture.
At the
gala,
Usher
said he
had been
involved
in
community
activities
for
years,
but
realized
he
wanted
to focus
specifically
on the
youth.
“I
simply
wanted
to
mentor
youth
because
I think
they are
the
future,”
he said.
Usher
said
that
many
people
do not
see the
service
side of
him and
was
happy to
be
recognized
for
something
beyond
his
music.
Near the
end of
his
speech,
Usher
joked
that the
audience
should
“pray
for the
Cavaliers”
to win
the
playoffs.
Johnson,
who died
in 2005,
was this
year’s
Ford
Freedom
Award
Honoree.
Johnson
was a
self-made
millionaire
who
created
Jet and
Ebony
magazines
on a
$500
loan
from his
mother.
Ed
Lewis,
co-founder
of
Essence
magazine
accepted
the
award on
his
behalf.
(Photo
by Karen
Fox/Tell
Us
Detroit)
After
accepting
the
award,
Lewis
described
Johnson
as a
businessman
who
“held no
punches.”
Lewis
also
said
after he
sold
Essence
magazine
to Time
Warner,
Inc. in
2005,
Johnson
offered
advice
and told
Lewis
not to
lose
sleep
over his
decision.
““We
lost him
in 2005,
but what
he
achieved
was one
the
outstanding
stories
of
American
capitalism,”
Lewis
said.
The
honorees
will
have
their
names
inscribed
the ring
of
genealogy
in the
center
of the
museum
with
past
awardees.
Past
honorees
and
scholars
include
poet
Langston
Hughes
and Dr.
Benjamin
Carson.
