Sheryl Lee Ralph has spent four decades collecting Hollywood’s highest honors. Her newest one is about something else: what she has done with the spotlight.

On October 16, 2026, the Emmy Award-winning actress received the International Humanitarian Award at the American Friends of Jamaica’s 45th anniversary Hummingbird Gala, held at The Plaza Hotel in New York City, according to Caribbean360.

The honor recognized a career on stage and screen, and something longer running than any role: her decades of advocacy, led by her work raising awareness about HIV and AIDS.

But the moment people are still talking about is the one where she turned the evening back toward Jamaica.

She answered the honor with the national anthem

In her acceptance, Ralph sang Jamaica’s national anthem, “Eternal Father, Bless Our Land,” according to TripCast360.

She described the anthem as a prayer she has carried since childhood, learned growing up with, in her words, “one foot in America, one foot in Jamaica,” around the island’s first Independence celebrations in 1962, according to TripCast360 and the Jamaica Gleaner.

Then she gave the room its charge. “Don’t just love Jamaica for your vacation. Love Jamaica for the people,” she urged, pointing to the culture, the food, the music and the communities behind the island’s image, according to TripCast360.

For an audience of business leaders, philanthropists and diaspora Jamaicans, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness, it was the night’s thesis stated plainly: loving Jamaica means investing in Jamaicans.

The advocacy came long before Abbott Elementary

Millions know Ralph today as Barbara Howard on ABC’s Abbott Elementary, the role that won her the Emmy in 2022. The Jamaica Information Service noted at the time that she was only the second Black woman to win in her category since 1987.

Her humanitarian work started far earlier. In 1990, after losing friends and colleagues during the AIDS epidemic, she founded The DIVA Foundation to fight HIV stigma and raise awareness, according to POZ.

Its flagship event, Divas Simply Singing, became the longest-running musical AIDS benefit in the United States. The work continues now: Living Proof, a documentary special produced by Ralph and The DIVA Foundation, is set to premiere on Hulu on World AIDS Day, according to the foundation.

A family legacy written in Jamaican cloth

Ralph’s connection to Jamaica runs through her family. Her late mother, Ivy Ralph, was a pioneering Jamaican fashion designer who created the Kareeba, the celebrated alternative to the traditional men’s suit, according to Jamaicans.com.

Jamaica has already placed its own honor beside her name. In 2022, shortly after her Emmy victory, Ralph received the Order of Jamaica, one of the country’s highest national honors, for her contribution to the international film industry, according to the Jamaica Information Service.

One stage, two honorees

Ralph shared the gala spotlight with Adam Stewart, Executive Chairman of Sandals Resorts International, who received the International Achievement Award the same evening, according to the Sandals newsroom.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett presented Ralph’s award, Prime Minister Holness addressed the gathering, and Sister Nancy and Brigadier Jerry performed, according to Caribbean360. The gala generated more than US$900,000 in donor support for the American Friends of Jamaica, which funds education, healthcare, development and disaster recovery work on the island, according to Caribbean360.

Still building at 69

Ralph, 69, is not slowing into the honor circuit. She continues as Barbara Howard on Abbott Elementary, and her next book, You Better Love What You See: Living With Joy, Confidence, and Unapologetic Self-Worth, arrives on April 6, 2027 from William Morrow, according to Kirkus Reviews.

The book’s message is the same one she delivered at The Plaza: know your worth, carry your roots, and use your voice for somebody besides yourself.

For Jamaicans at home and across the diaspora, that is why this award fits. Sheryl Lee Ralph has never treated Jamaica as a backdrop. She treats it as a responsibility, and on October 16, in front of the island’s Prime Minister and its global family, she sang that responsibility out loud.

Photo credit: Sheryl Lee Ralph, via NBC News.