The artist gets all of the applause for her Grammy Award nominated 2015 single, “Rise Up,” which has become the unofficial anthem for the Black Lives Matter, according to Time magazine. The track reached No. 10 on Billboard's Hot R&B Songs chart while the album reached No. 48 on the Billboard 200. “It’s a huge honor because Black Lives Matter represents standing up to oppression and persecution,” she tells Time. “Having the group connect with ‘Rise Up’ made me more aware that I need to use my platform to serve the community.” And in her acting debut, she is playing the role of Billie Holiday in the new movie The United States Vs. Billie Holiday. “I want to tell the truth about the racial terror that’s happened and that’s still happening today in this country,” she tells the site. “Too often we change the narrative to make things more digestible, but the reality is, if we don’t address injustice honestly and openly, we’ll never heal.”

Long before Black Twitter existed, there was Hall, the Coming to America star who hosted The Arsenio Hall Show from 1989 to 1993. He put on all of the Black talent when other shows were not, including Spike Lee, Mariah Carey, Eddie Murphy, Mike Tyson and Magic Johnson. He also tackled social issues of the day. On April 30, night two of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, his network was ready to air a rerun. But Hall wanted to do a show on the issue, according to Vulture. “So he called Reverend Cecil Murray of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church and gathered South Central community members, including the Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley, Sinbad, and Sean Penn,” the site writes. “They discussed the trial, particularly the racial demographics of the jury, complained about the LAPD, and, most important, listened to each other.” Check out a video of the conversation below:

Erivo was one of more than 300 Black actors and filmmakers, including Idris Elba, Queen Latifah and Billy Porter, in June 2020 who asked asked Hollywood executives to divest in the police and invest in anti-racist content, according to Reuters. “The open letter addressed to ‘Our Allies in Hollywood’ attacked what it called the industry’s ‘legacy of white supremacy’ and said Hollywood ‘encourages the epidemic of police violence and culture of anti-Blackness,’” the site writes. That’s not all. During the Grammys, she participated in Salute to the Sounds of Change, which put a spotlight on unforgettable songs that catalyzed social change, both reflecting and shaping their time. According to ET, Erivo “kicked off the celebration by singing John Lennon's classic ‘Imagine.’ Dressed in a head-to-toe pearl netted dress with a head wrap, she elegantly belted the song as images of Black Lives Matter demonstrations and protesters in the wake of George Floyd's death were shown on the screen behind her.” Check out the tweet below:

The activist-artist has used his prominent platform to promote causes that he believes in. After the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, he condemned the “moral failure” of institutions for not speaking out about police brutality. “We spoke out on the day of the Pulse shooting,” he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We spoke out when Vice President Mike Pence came to our show 10 days after the election. That we have not yet firmly spoken the inarguable truth that Black Lives Matter and denounced systematic racism and white supremacy from our official Hamilton channels is a moral failure on our part," Miranda said in a video posted on his social media. “As the writer of the show, I take responsibility and apologize for my part in this moral failure." Check out the tweet below:

What more can we say about Forever First Lady Michelle Obama? She has been strong and woke since, well, forever. But in December 2020, she took a moment to reflect on the watershed year, from the coronavirus pandemic to heightened awareness over the Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd. "Black Lives Matter. For me, the holidays have always been a chance to slow down and reflect," Obama wrote on Instagram. "We've endured so much this past year, from the devastation of the pandemic to the ups and downs of a hard-won election. But what has perhaps stayed with me most is the passionate message of justice and empathy that has defined the Black Lives Matter protests around the world." Check out her poignant message below:

The first African American female principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre is a history maker in her own right. The former member of President Obama's Council of Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, recently told Elle magazine that the Black Lives Matter movement has been a reset for ballet, a bastion of white privilege. “It’s giving us kind of a reset button on many levels and it’s probably one of the best things that could have happened to ballet, not only with BLM but with the pandemic and theaters shutting down,” she said. “It’s forcing our industry to think of new and inventive ways to present this art form and open it up to a much wider, more diverse audience. It’s been long overdue.”

Through her roles, King has tackled issues of social justice as a police officer or in the prison system because the issues are important to her. Indeed, the actress-turned-director of the film, One Night in Miami, described the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice protests as a powder keg moment in the making of the film. King told The New York Times: “We started shooting in January 2020 and left New Orleans in February, because we always intended to shoot two more scenes in Los Angeles,” she told the news outlet. “And then Covid hit, so we figured that we’d pause and not be hasty because these conversations are always happening. We felt like they weren’t going anywhere. But we could not have guessed that the uprisings were going to happen. So, when we found ourselves in that powder keg moment [in June], I began speaking to [producers] and the other actors, and everyone was like, “Oh, got to do it.”

The tell-it-like-it-is actor is never at a loss for words, especially when it involves issues of social justice. He fought for equal rights as a young man, and served as an usher at the funeral for Dr. Martin Luther King. In a June 2020 interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, he described today’s social justice environment as “very personal memories of the civil rights struggle.” He also noted that "There are institutions that need to be blown up that have not been blown up since the inception of captured people coming to this country," he said, speaking metaphorically on the changes needed.

Amid the global pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020, Perryn was one of the first Hollywood producers to share a production plan during the pandemic. The predominant African-American cast of Sistas found itself fighting for the Black Lives Matter movement. According to HollywoodMask, “KJ Smith, who plays Andi in Sistas, remained in the Los Angeles protests’ front lines, using her voice and brand to spread awareness where many others had fallen silent.This is literally life or death. …It is Black people who support my show, it’s Black people who have changed my life. I have to fight for the people have changed my life.”

The actor-comedian’s humor belies his activism. But the funny man, who recovered from a multivehicle accident in 2014, is apparently down for the cause. In 2009, he published an autobiography, I Am the New Black, which tells the story of his rise from a Brooklyn housing project to starring on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2003. His father died of AIDS when he was just 17. He says his father taught him the key to survival was to learn from your mistakes. During the height of Black Lives Matter protests during the pandemic in June 2020, he took to social media to support the movement. “I love all of you and I hope we can all find a way to love each other. PLEASE be safe. #BlackLivesMatter,” he tweeted. Check out the tweet below:

Watch the 52nd Annual NAACP awards on BET on Saturday, March 27, 2021 at 8/7C