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Spike Lee revealed what he wants his legacy to be after his death in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE
Lee is a prolific filmmaker and a longtime professor of film studies and directing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Some of his most iconic projects include She's Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X and Da 5 Bloods
Spike Leeknows how he wants to be remembered.
Speaking with PEOPLE exclusively at the Critics Choice Association's 8th Celebration of Black Cinema & Television, theAcademy Award winner, 68, revealed what he thinks his legacy will be after his death.
"It's two things: it's the films, and also I'm a teacher," Lee, alongtime professorof film studies and directing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, said.
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"So my students … a lot of them have gone and made careers in it," theDo the Right ThingandBlacKkKlansmandirector continued.
"I've been teaching 31 years. But not all those years were tenured. That came around recently. So they can't fire me. NYU can't fire me," Lee added.
At the Critics Choice ceremony, theMalcolm Xfilmmaker was presented with the Career Achievement Award for "his extraordinary body of work that has made an indelible mark on popular culture over the last four decades, including most recently A24 and Apple Original Films'Highest 2 Lowest."
The Critics Choice Association detailed his career successes in a statement, writing, "Lee has explored race, politics, and African American life in such iconic films asShe's Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Malcolm XandDa 5 Bloods."
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"He also directed the double Emmy Award-winning documentary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil SpillIf God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise,as well as the Oscar-nominated feature documentary4 Little Girlsabout the 1963 bombing of a Black church in Birmingham that killed four young girls," the statement concluded.
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Lee — who recently also received theW. E. B. Du Bois Medal(Harvard's highest honor in the field of African and African American studies) — previously said histwo children will be a major part of his legacy.
"My No. 1 legacy is going to be through my children," he toldVultureof his kids, Satchel, 31, and Jackson, 28.
Lee added, "They both are definitely going to do something in the arts. And they are going to be successful too. I know they are going to be the best legacy that mywife, Tonya, and I leave behind."
Read the original article onPeople
