Among those selected to receive the 2021 MacArthur Fellowship are people primarily known for their work in critical race theory, internet activism, and the promotion of social and racial equality values.

Ibram X. Kendi, author of the bestselling book How to Be an Antiracist; Cristina Ibarra, a documentary filmmaker who focuses primarily on Mexican family traditions and border towns; and filmmaker Alex Rivera, who focuses on topics surrounding politics and illegal immigration in the United States, were three of the 25 recipients of the award from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation that came amid a reckoning on race that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in the summer of 2020.