To honor the legacy of baseball player and country star Charley Pride, Amazon MGM Studios with Amazon Music and the Academy of Country Music hosted the second annual I’m Just Me: A Charley Pride Celebration of Inclusion event. The event highlights the achievements of country artists, as well as executives and allies of country music, who, like Pride, have revolutionized the genre.

The event honors Pride’s trailblazing career

Pride, who died in 2020, faced racial discrimination throughout his career. Still, he persevered and broke down color barriers in country music, becoming the first Black artist to have a No. 1 country record. Pride went on to win three Grammy Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award, the Academy of Country Music Pioneer Award in 1994, and many other accolades.

Pride’s perseverance is what I’m Just Me aims to celebrate in today’s artists.

“We’re honored to support this celebration that uplifts trailblazers pushing the genre forward, while reaffirming our commitment to broadening the narrative and welcoming a wider range of voices into the spotlight,” Amazon Music general manager Ryan Redington said in a statement included in the release.

Country music singer Mickey Guyton hosted the event

Country artist and two-time Academy of Country Music Award nominee Mickey Guyton hosted the event on Tuesday at the new Hall Park Hotel in Frisco, Texas, ahead of the 60th Academy of Country Music Awards. Like Pride, she has advocated for racial diversity in country music throughout her career. Guyton is a four-time Grammy Award nominee and was the first Black female artist to earn a Grammy nomination in a country music category in 2020. The following year, she made history again by becoming the first Black woman to host the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Guyton was also one of the night’s honorees.

“Charley Pride was the blueprint, and he worked so that many artists of color and Black artists could participate in the genre,” she told the Dallas Observer. “He set up so much for us, and it’s just so great to be able to honor him and have an award ceremony like this.”

Brittney Spencer, Shaboozey and more honored

The full list of honorees is below:

• Brittney Spencer (Country singer and songwriter)
• Lionel Richie (Singer, songwriter, producer and American Idol judge)
• Mickey Guyton (Country music artist)
• Shaboozey (ACM Award-nominated singer, songwriter, and record producer)
• Freddy Fender Estate (Mexican American singer-songwriter, actor and activist, as well as a member of The Texas Tornadoes and Los Super Seven supergroups)
• Opal Lee (Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, grandmother of Juneteenth)
• Fletcher Foster (President and CEO of F2 Entertainment)
• Marcus Dowling (Country music reporter for The Tennessean/USA Today)
• Michelle Tigard Kammerer (Country music head at Amazon Music)
• Cameo Carlson (CEO of theory)

The 60th Academy of Country Music Awards will stream on Prime Video and Twitch’s Amazon Music channel on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.