President Joseph R. Biden presented the 2022 and 2023 National Humanities Medals, in conjunction with the National Medals of Arts, on Monday, October 21, 2024, in a private ceremony at the White House. The 19 distinguished medal recipients include writers, historians, educators, and filmmakers.
And a cartoonist!
Cartoonist and author Roz Chast was among those honored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, receiving a 2023 National Humanities Medal.
“The National Humanities Medal recipients have enriched our world through writing that moves and inspires us; scholarship that enlarges our understanding of the past; and through their dedication to educating, informing, and giving voice to communities and histories often overlooked,” said NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo)
Roz wrote on her Instagram page:
Yesterday I received a medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities. President Biden himself placed the medal around my neck. He and Dr. Jill Biden congratulated me. It was more emotional than I was expecting. Also I met Spike Lee, fellow Brooklynite and many others. Biden gave a speech about the importance of the arts in America, about how artists are the truth-tellers and the bridge-builders. It was very moving. Also I didn’t accidentally barf or knock anyone over or laugh for no reason or have some kind of weird outburst, so yay, me.
Here is Roz’s newly added profile page at the National Endowment for the Humanities site.
The National Humanities Medal, inaugurated in 1997, honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities and broadened our citizens’ engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects.
If I’m reading this list of past honorees correctly Roz Chast is the first cartoonist to be awarded the medal. Though David Macaulay, a 1995 honoree and designer of the medal, certainly has connections to cartooning.