“Precious” also won for best independent movie and Lee Daniels picked up the best director prize for the film. The oldest US civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has given out the Image awards for 41 years to honor people of color in TV, film, music and literature.

An emotional Sidibe dedicated her award to “all the Precious girls everywhere. This is for you,” she said.

Daniels, also fighting back tears, recalled how big Hollywood studios told him repeatedly that “no one wanted to see a movie about a 350-pound black girl, who is struggling and who has HIV.”

Morgan Freeman won best actor for playing former  South African President Nelson Mandela in the movie “Invictus,” and R&B star Mary J. Blige won two music awards for best female artist and best album for “Stronger With Each Tear.” Hip-hop singer Wyclef Jean won the NAACP’s Vanguard trophy for his humanitarian efforts on behalf of his native Haiti.

Jean, a founding member of the Fugees, was a leading celebrity campaigner for Haiti disaster relief after January’s devastating earthquake in the poverty-stricken Caribbean nation.