Kadin Mills
ICT

WASHINGTON — The National Endowment for the Humanities recognized four leaders in Indian Country. President Joe Biden presented 19 humanities medals to award recipients during a private reception at the White House on Monday, October 21. The ceremony also recognized 20 individuals with National Medals of Arts.

The National Endowment for the Humanities is a federal agency established in 1965 pursuant to the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act. Shelly C. Lowe, Navajo, serves as the chair. It was created to support scholarship and the arts at the federal level because “democracy demands wisdom,” according to its mission statement. The endowment has awarded this medal since 1997.

Rosita Worl, Tlingit, received a National Humanities Medal for 2023 and was among those recognized. Worl is an anthropologist with a doctorate from Harvard University. She has served as the president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute for nearly 30 years, a Juneau-based nonprofit which works to preserve Alaska Native languages and cultures. Worl has also served as a scientific and cultural advisor on several research projects and has chaired the Protection and Repatriation Act National Review Committee.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, Citizen Potawatomi Nation, was also awarded a National Humanities Medal for 2023. She is an author and educator who has infused Bodéwadmi teachings and philosophy into her understanding of plant biology, in which she holds a doctorate degree. She is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow, currently teaching at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She’s known for her book, “Braiding Sweetgrass.”

Credit: (Left to Right): Robert Martin of Cherokee Nation, Joy Harjo of Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Rosita Worl who is Tlingit, Robin Wall Kimmerer of Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and National Endowment for the Humanities Chair Shelly C. Lowe of the Navajo Nation at the National Arts and Humanities Reception in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (Photo by Anna Tsouhlarakis)

The ceremony also honored Robert Martin and Joy Harjo, recipients of 2022 National Humanities medals.

Martin, who is Cherokee, has served as president of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the last 17 years. He has built a career of college administration and has previously served as president of the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute and Haskell Indian Nations University, among others. Under Martin’s leadership, Haskell transitioned from a junior college to a university.

Harjo, a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is a former U.S. Poet Laureate. A writer and performer, she has authored two memoirs and 10 poetry collections, in addition to children’s books, plays, and several award-winning albums. Harjo is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently the 2024 Frost Medal from the Poet­ry Society of Amer­i­ca.

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