Two Black Scholars Receive the Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement

The Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement is the premier recognition of excellence in scholarship by the American Academy of Sciences and Letters. This prestigious annual prize, open to scholars across diverse fields and disciplines, honors those whose work has made outstanding contributions to humanity’s knowledge, appreciation, and cultivation of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Ten scholars were presented with the Barry Prize in 2024. Two of the 10 recipients are African Americans. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. An Emmy- and Peabody-Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates has published numerous books and produced and hosted an array of documentary films. He was a member of the first class of “genius grants” awarded by the MacArthur Foundation in 1981, and in 1998 he became the first African American scholar to be awarded the National Humanities Medal. The citation for Professor Gates’ Barry Award reads: “With tenacity, sensitivity, and verve, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has transformed literary and social studies by cultivating our appreciation of African and African-American literature. His tireless efforts in unearthing...