Vaz reached out to Black A-listers such as Sammy Davis Jr., who hosted the first meeting of the NAACP Beverly Hills Hollywood Branch in his home; Sidney Poitier, whom she had worked with on the movie Porgy and Bess; and the late Ivan Dixon, an actor, director and producer of Hogan's Heroes at the time.

Vaz also wrote letters to secure sponsors for the event and booked the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where the first NAACP Image Awards show was held on August 13, 1967.

The ceremony was presented by activists Maggie Hathaway, Sammy Davis Jr. and Willis Edwards, all three of whom were leaders of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood NAACP branch.

Actors such as Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Taraji P. Henson and many others expressed the differences of not being visually seen by the industry's standard and how artists and entertainers should look to the NAACP Image Awards as the highest achievement.

The campaign of #OscarSoWhite began as a protest after seeing the lack of people of color being nominated or win in major categories at the Academy Awards.

[19] Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the organization's Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch, said, "The [film] industry has yet to show diversity or present realistic leading roles for African-American women.

"[19] In several instances, nominees have been perceived as “undeserving” or “unworthy” of recognition by members of the media, fellow celebrities, as well as the general public; in their own defense, some NAACP representatives have stated that the overall quality of an artist's work is the salient issue.

For example, in 1994, rapper Tupac Shakur was nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture (for Poetic Justice), despite sexual assault charges being filed against him in December 1993.