Historian Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham wins National Humanities Medal

The Organization of American Historians is delighted and honored to learn that Past OAH President Vicki Lynn Ruiz and longtime member Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham have been named by the White House as two of the ten distinguished recipients of the 2014 National Humanities Medal.  The National Humanities Medal is the nation's highest award recognizing individuals, groups, and institutions for transformative research, scholarship, and public engagement that advance the humanities and deepen our understanding of American life, history, and culture. 

The National Humanities Medal honors Professor Ruiz "for her contributions as a historian. In monographs and edited volumes, Dr. Ruiz has pioneered the history of twentieth-century Latinas in a distinguished career that began with collecting oral testimony from Mexican immigrants who worked in U.S. canning factories." Professor Ruiz received her Ph.D. at Stanford University and is Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine.  She is the author of many articles and her books include From Out of the Shadows:  Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America; Cannery Women, Cannery Lives: Mexican Women, Unionization, and the California Food Processing Industry, 1930-1950, and co-edited and co-authored books, including the three-volume encyclopedia, Latinas in the United States:  A Historical Encyclopedia, and a major textbook, Created Equal:  A Social and Political History of the United States, now in its fourth edition. 

The National Humanities Medal honors Professor Higginbotham "for illuminating the African-American journey. In her writings and edited volumes, Dr. Higginbotham has traced the course of African-American progress, and deepened our understanding of the American story." 

Professor Higginbotham received her Ph.D. at the University of Rochester and is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African and African American History at Harvard University.  She is the author of Righteous Discontent:  The Women's Movement in the Black Baptist Church:  1880-1920, co-editor of The Harvard Guide to African-American History and the 12-volume African American National Biography, and co-author, with the late John Hope Franklin, of the ninth edition of From Slavery to Freedom. 

The OAH congratulates Professors Ruiz and Higginbotham on the honor of the National Humanities Medal and for their contributions to an informed citizenry and a more thoughtful national life. "The National Endowment for the Humanities is proud to join President Obama in celebrating the achievements of these distinguished medalists," said NEH Chairman William Adams. "The recipients of this medal have sparked our imaginations, ignited our passions, and transformed our cultural understanding. They embody how the humanities can serve a common good."  The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), founded in 1965 as an independent federal agency, manages the nominations process for the National Humanities Medal on behalf of the White House.