“Please, please, please fight the powers that be,” trailblazing model and activist Bethann Hardison said last night in her acceptance speech at the Gordon Parks Foundation spring gala, quoting Public Enemy’s 1989 resistance anthem. Hardison, one of the world’s first high-profile Black models, was presented with the 2025 Gordon Parks Foundation Award for her five-decades-long commitment to championing diversity in the fashion industry. She received the award alongside Vogue’s Anna Wintour, contemporary artist Rashid Johnson, and civil-rights leader and former ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, who have all “enriched our lives in ways that reflect Parks’s ideas and goals by using creative means to inspire the next generation,” according to the foundation.
Clockwise from left: Andra Day and Misty Copeland. Colman Domingo and Anna Wintour. Tory Burch From top: Andra Day and Misty Copeland. Tory Burch Colman Domingo and An… more From top: Andra Day and Misty Copeland. Tory Burch Colman Domingo and Anna Wintour.
The annual awards ceremony and auction — which celebrates the life and legacy of Life magazine’s first-ever Black photographer, Gordon Parks, whose work captured civil-rights issues and race relations in the 1950s and ’60s — comes just four months after Donald Trump signed an executive order to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across federal agencies.
Peter W. Kunhardt Jr., executive director of the Gordon Parks Foundation, echoed Hardison’s sentiment in his opening remarks: “Tonight may be the first time I say that this gala is the most critical one we’ve ever held, because now we are facing some of the strongest forces we’ve ever faced, determined to prevent progress, to erase history, and to silence the voices that challenge injustice.”
From left: Former ambassador to the U.N. Andrew Young. Tyson Beckford, Bethann Hardison and Aurora James. From top: Former ambassador to the U.N. Andrew Young. Tyson Beckford, Bethann Hardison and Aurora James. more From top: Former ambassador to the U.N. Andrew Young. Tyson Beckford, Bethann Hardison and Aurora James.
Kunhardt’s late grandfather, Philip B. Kunhardt Jr., co-founded the foundation with Parks, his best friend and Life magazine colleague, in 2006. Its mission is to “support and produce artistic and educational initiatives that advance the legacy and vision” of the groundbreaking photographer. Every year, 100 percent of the proceeds raised during the awards ceremony and auction go toward scholarship and fellowship programs for rising talents who are “breaking barriers; telling urgent truths, stories; and finding new paths forward,” Kunhardt said in last night’s speech. Last night’s event raised a record-breaking $3 million.
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Despite Vogue’s history of controversial editorial spreads — including the April 2008 cover featuring Gisele Bündchen and Michael Jordan, Karlie Kloss’s geisha shoot, the February 2021 Kamala Harris cover, and the March 2022 Kim Kardashian cover — and complaints of racism in the workplace (which Wintour vaguely acknowledged during her acceptance speech), Wintour emphasized her commitment to platforming Black artists.
Clockwise from left: Rashid Johnson Peter W. Kunhardt Jr. and Dapper Dan. Gayle King From top: Rashid Johnson Gayle King Peter W. Kunhardt Jr. and Dapper Dan… more From top: Rashid Johnson Gayle King Peter W. Kunhardt Jr. and Dapper Dan.
“It’s wonderful to be in the company of such incredible fellow honorees, and it’s practically significant, at this time, when diversity and inclusivity is under attack. I think it’s wonderful to be able to put a spotlight on the work of everyone here tonight. It’s also very meaningful to me, following the opening of our exhibition at the museum, ‘Superfine,’ that has been so well received, which is also wonderful to see during these times,” she told the Cut on the red carpet. “Anything I can do to support and be an ally to the Black community at this time, I intend to do.”
Andra Day, who performed during the ceremony, said on the red carpet that she “treasures” the opportunity to honor legends like Parks as well as those who walked in his footsteps. “We don’t want to miss out on these treasures because of somebody’s politics. Tonight is a good reminder to me that we need to continue doing the work — because things like our basic rights are under attack.”
