“This is one the best showcases of African Americans in every different field or discipline that is essential for our success – and it was such a great show,” Michael McMillan, License Collector for the City of St. Louis said about the 21st Annual Trumpet Awards.
The nationally renowned awards were given last month. As the recipient of the Community Service Award, McMillan joined a long list of African-American icons who have had the honor bestowed upon them.
He was one of a handful of 2013 Trumpet Award recipients – along with Chaka Khan (Legend Award), Charlie Wilson (Lifetime Achievement Award), Alonzo and Tracy Mourning (Humanitarian Award), Debra Martin Chase (Entertainment Award), Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed (Public Service Award) and Edward Welburn, Jr. (Corporate Award).
On Easter Sunday, St. Louis can see how well McMillan represented for us when the 21st Annual Trumpet Awards air on the TV One Network. Hosted by Rickey Smiley and Essence Atkins, some of the biggest names in black entertainment shared the talent for this year’s ceremony.
“There were some great tributes and some wonderful performances,” McMillan said. “I didn’t realize what a great singer Miguel was until I saw him perform there.”
Fantasia, Anthony Hamilton, Avant, Luke James, Jennifer Holliday and TV One’s R&B Divas Keke Wyatt, Nicci Gilbert-Daniels, Syleena Johnson, LaTocha Scott and Monifah as well as plenty of others are on the performance list for Sunday’s show.
“Tamela Mann brought the whole thing down,” McMillan said of the Grammy Award-winning gospel singer. “She had to come back – she had two standing ovations. People were in tears.”
The attendance list of who’s who in Black America is too long to mention, but includes Tom Joyner, Dr. Steve Perry, Tika Sumpter, Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo, Roland S. Martin, Jason Cooper, Ambassador Andrew Young, Isha Sesay, Ryan Smith and Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire.
McMillan’s Trumpet Award is one of more than 150 community service awards he has received in his young 41 years – including the Ethics Project’s inaugural award and the Ambassador Andrew Young Award for Outstanding Ethics & Service to Family & Community.
McMillan, who is also co-founder and chairman of the Board of Directors of the St. Louis Community Empowerment Foundation, joins Malik Ahmed of Better Family Life and the Roberts Brothers as Trumpet Award recipients from St. Louis.
“It was flattering to have an opportunity to be honored in such a way and have some of the things that we have been doing here locally be promoted on a national stage,” McMillan said.
The awards are in part a celebration of black history, which was the catalyst for him to work in civic and community service.
“When I was first reading black history – W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington and their different philosophies on how blacks can get beyond their circumstances – I decided I wanted to dedicate my life to making a difference,” McMillan said.
“I said I would play whatever part, on a personal and professional basis, and hopefully we all would be better off – and that is still my mission.”
Earning the Trumpet Award compelled him to rededicate himself to doing more to make a difference in St. Louis.
McMillan said, “All of us have a debt to those who have helped us along the way and we should repay that debt by doing everything we can to help others.”
The 21st Annual Trumpet Awards will air on TV One on Sunday, March 31 at 7 p.m. CST and 10 p.m. CST. Check local listings for channel.