MEMPHIS, Tenn.—Former NBA star and Michigan native Magic Johnson, historian John Hope Franklin and Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf have been named recipients of the National Civil Rights Museum’s annual Freedom Awards.

The museum on the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination handed out the awards at a banquet Oct. 23.

The museum said it was honoring Johnson for his work since leaving the NBA on promoting economic development, improved health care and educational opportunities in low-income urban neighborhoods.

Johnson, 47, retired from the NBA after contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and became a campaigner for AIDS awareness. His Magic Johnson Foundation supports HIV/AIDS prevention and health care education in low-income communities.