Spike Lee on what will define his legacy

Spike Lee says his films and his students will define his legacy.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker, 68, made the statement at the Critics' Choice Association’s 8th Celebration of Black Cinema & Television.

“It’s two things: the films, and also I’m a teacher,” Lee told People.

Lee, a longtime professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, said teaching has been as meaningful to him as his career in film.

“So my students, a lot of them have gone on to make careers in it,” he added as he looked back on his teaching journey of 31 years.

Lee also joked about recently securing tenure, saying, “So they can’t fire me. NYU can’t fire me.”

At the ceremony, Lee was honored with the Career Achievement Award for his influential work over more than four decades.

The Critics' Choice Association also praised his films for redefining Black life through his films like She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods.

The organization also highlighted Lee’s documentary work, including 4 Little Girls, which earned an Academy Award nomination, and If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise, which won two Emmys.

Lee, who recently received Harvard University’s W. E. B. Du Bois Medal, has previously said his most personal legacy will be his family.

“My No. 1 legacy is going to be through my children,” he told Vulture, referring to his son Satchel, 31, and daughter Jackson, 28, whom he shares with wife Tonya Lewis Lee.