BET Networks and Beverly Bond, CEO, Founder and Creator of “BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™” have announced that Taraji P. Henson will host the “BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™” 2017 Awards this year, taping on Saturday, August 5, 2017 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Prudential Hall in Newark, NJ. The broadcast will premiere on Sunday, August 20, 2017 at 8:00 P.M. ET/PT on BET.
The 2017 BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™ celebrants are “Insecure” creator, actress, writer and producer Issa Rae (Star Power Award), actress and activist Yara Shahidi (Young Gifted and Black Award), GRAMMY Award-winning songstress Roberta Flack (Living Legend Award), Wall Street powerhouse and pioneer Suzanne Shank (Shot Caller Award) and Community organizers Derrica Wilson and Natalie Wilson of The Black & Missing Foundation (Community Change Agent Award). Created by celebrity DJ and women’s empowerment advocate Beverly Bond, the 2017 “BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™” Awards honors the groundbreaking achievements of Black women who have fearlessly broken barriers in the areas of art, business, entertainment and community service.
The dynamic, three–time NAACP Award winning “BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™” on BET, celebrates women throughout the diaspora by shining a light on the accomplishments and successes of influential Black women and girls in a night honoring their beauty, brilliance and everlasting resilience.
“The BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™ Awards continues to be instrumental in propelling Black girl pride across the diaspora. Every year we are able to honor a cross-section of dynamic women who represent a range of industries, genres and generations. This year’s cohort of honorees is another incredible example of Black women’s unparalleled contributions to the world. BLACK GIRLS ROCK!TM on BET has become an annual culmination of Black girl preeminence and is a beautiful salute to our glory.” says Beverly Bond, BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™ CEO, Founder and Creator.
BET Networks CEO and chairman, Debra Lee added, “Celebrating the incredible accomplishments of these outstanding women and girls is the highlight of my year. Black women are continuing to lead in amazing ways across a multitude of platforms and I am so proud that BET Networks has the opportunity to honor them and show the world why “Black Girls Rock”! Every year this show goes higher to showcase the beauty, talent, intelligence and sisterhood among African-American women. This year won’t be any different.”
The “BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™” 2016 celebrants included: GRAMMY Award winning recording artist Rihanna (Rock Star Award), ShondaLand producer and television writer Shonda Rhimes (Shot Caller Award), The Walking Dead actress and Eclipsed playwright Danai Gurira (Star Power Award), social activist, actress and musician Amandla Stenberg (Young, Gifted and Black) and Black Lives Matter founders Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi and Alicia Garza (Community Change Agent Award). R&B icon Gladys Knight (Living Legend Award) brought the audience to its feet with a medley of her most popular classics including “Love Overboard” and “Midnight Train to Georgia”. Additional performers included some of R&B’s reigning queens: Andra Day, Brandy, Jazmine Sullivan, Monica, Corinne Bailey Rae, Marsha Ambrosius and Imani Uzuri. Lauryn Hill’s special surprise performance of “Lost Ones” closed out the epic evening.
