lori stewart, daughter of stax founder jim stewart, and to mr. al bell, a former owner of the storied label. [ cheers and applause ] >> i thank you, creator of the universe, for blessing me to be alive tonight. [ applause ] this is truly an historic occasion. from slave music to race music to r&b music to soul music to black music honors. thank y'all. [ cheers and applause ] at the time when otis redding had transitioned, we lost sam and dave and we lost our catalog, clarence avant came along and resurrected stax by putting together a music and financial business arrangement that allowed us to carry it on. at stax records, our creative goal was to create music that reflected and influenced what was going on in the lives, the lifestyles, and living of our people. that's all we did -- music to [ cheers and applause ] thank you, museum of african american music. the founder of stax records, my dear friend, the s-t-a-x -- the "s-t" of the s-t-a-x in "stax" couldn't be here tonight. so he sent his lovely daughter, lori stewart, to accept this tonight.